Mariita told AP that race day started like any other: with pills — three reddish-colored capsules — given to her by Mikhaylova.

Mariita said the agent regularly gave her tablets for races, starting from when she joined her camp in 2011. Some came in a plastic bag, "and she was telling me to take them twice a day," Mariita said. She said her assumption was that anything in pill form couldn't be a banned substance.

"She was saying they were multi-vitamins," Mariita said. "All I knew is that when you are injected is when it is bad. Medicines taken orally are OK."