Nikolai Kuksenkov, Russia's leading male gymnast, failed a recent doping test for meldonium and has withdrawn from the ongoing national championships, according to Inside The Games. Russian national coach Valentina Rodionenko​ stated that Kuksenkov has not taken meldonium since August.

As yet, no one knows how long a period is needed for meldonium to leave the body. It's a kind of wild, wrong situation, which needs to be sorted out with joint effort.

This news comes on the heels of Kuksenkov winning the 2016 Russian National Championships' individual all-around title in Pensa on Friday (April 1). Kuksenkov also contributed to Russia's gold medal-winning teams at the 2014 European Championships as well as the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Kuksekov is originally from Ukraine, where he competed under the name Mykola Kuksenkov, but he switched his nationality in 2013 and began competing for Team Russia.

He is the first gymnast to have failed this doping test out of 25 other Russian athletes, including tennis superstar Maria Sharapova.