RUSSIAN figure skater Kamila Valieva burst into tears as she failed to win a second Olympic gold medal – after crashing twice to the ice during her error-ridden routine.
The 15-year-old, subject to a doping inquiry, was favourite to win the women’s single skating competition on Thursday night, having led after the first day of competition.
However she was left in an emotional, disbelieving state after two big touchdowns and a failure to stay upright after a triple axel at the Capital Indoor Stadium.
Valieva, who had a snake on the back of her red-and-black costume, failed to live up to her pre-event hype as she danced to Bolero.
Her display, which was clearly affected by the controversial build-up and pre-Games drugs test, saw her finish in fourth place with an overall score of 224.09 from two days.
Gold and silver went to her Russian teammates Anna Shcherbakova (255.95) and Alexandra Trusova (251.73) respectively. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto took the bronze (233.13)
Valieva had to be consoled by teammates and coaches as she missed out on individual medal.
To the delight of the IOC, there will be a medals ceremony as Valieva surprisingly missed out on the podium.
@font-face{font-family:’The Sun’;src:url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-Regular.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-Regular.woff’) format(‘woff’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-Regular.ttf’) format(‘truetype’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-Regular.svg#’) format(‘svg’);font-style:normal;font-weight:400;font-display:swap;}@font-face{font-family:’The Sun’;src:url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-Medium.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-Medium.woff’) format(‘woff’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-Medium.ttf’) format(‘truetype’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-Medium.svg#’) format(‘svg’);font-style:normal;font-weight:500;font-display:swap;}@font-face{font-family:’The Sun’;src:url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-HeavyNarrow.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-HeavyNarrow.woff’) format(‘woff’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-HeavyNarrow.ttf’) format(‘truetype’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-HeavyNarrow.svg#’) format(‘svg’);font-style:normal;font-weight:400;font-stretch:semi-condensed;font-display:swap;}@font-face{font-family:’The Sun’;src:url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-Bold.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-Bold.woff’) format(‘woff’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-Bold.ttf’) format(‘truetype’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-Bold.svg#’) format(‘svg’);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;font-stretch:normal;font-display:swap;}@font-face{font-family:’The Sun’;src:url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-HeavyNarrow.woff2’) format(‘woff2’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-HeavyNarrow.woff’) format(‘woff’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-HeavyNarrow.ttf’) format(‘truetype’),url(‘/assets/fonts/the-sun/TheSun-HeavyNarrow.svg#’) format(‘svg’);font-style:normal;font-weight:700;font-stretch:condensed;font-display:swap;}.css-qu9fel{border-top:1px solid #dcdddd;}.css-b9nmbi{margin-bottom:16px;border-top:1px solid #dcdddd;}
Most read in Athletics
.css-1gojmfd{margin-bottom:16px;}
Speaking after the performance, Polina Edmunds, the retired American figure skater, said: “Very traumatising Olympic experience for Kamila Valieva.
“She should not have been allowed to compete, it’s devastating that she was put in this situation, on all levels.”
Ashley Wagner, a former US skater, who won bronze in the team competition in 2014, said: “This is a moment where you genuinely have to say: that poor kid.
“She should not have ever been put in this position. She shouldn’t have been out on that ice, she shouldn’t have been put in a position where she became the face of a problem bigger than her.
“I can’t watch this. They all look devastated. This just shows that these a children that are put in a position that is so wildly unhealthy and harmful to them. I’m sick to my stomach.”
After helping Russia win the team gold last week, it was announced by a Wada lab in Stockholm that one of her samples taken on Christmas Day during the Russian Figure Skating Championships in Saint Petersburg contained a banned heart medication.
She was cleared to carry on skating by a Court of Arbitration for Sport panel – it was felt that kicking her out of the competition would cause her “irreparable harm” given the exceptional circumstances of her case.
But there is the chance that she could be retrospectively banned from the sport, meaning that the team result could be declared invalid.
Long after these Olympics have finished, the merits of her case will be determined and she could have her gold medal taken away and her name scrubbed from the record books.
It is one of the most controversial drugs stories in Olympic history and the IOC have said that there is “an asterisk against the results because they will be preliminary – under further investigation”.
JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET A FREE £10 BONUS WITH 100s OF GAMES TO PLAY AND NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED (Ts&Cs apply)
Source: Athletics - thesun.co.uk
