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‘Why did you stop fighting?’ – Valieva’s team’s ‘chilling’ reaction to 15-yr-old’s horror falls has IOC boss ‘disturbed

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OLYMPICS boss Thomas Bach was left “disturbed” by the “chilling” reaction to Kamila Valieva’s Great Fall of China.

Controversial figure skater Valieva – who is subject to a doping probe – fell twice and left the ice in tears as her individual medal chances disappeared in Beijing.

Olympics boss Bach was disturbed by the lack of empathy shown to Russian teen Valieva by her bosses after her horror fallCredit: Reuters
The figure skater Valieva fell twice – ending her hopes of winning an Olympic gold medalCredit: The Mega Agency
The doping scandal-hit 15-year-old was visibly emotional after her fallsCredit: The Mega Agency
But her coach Tuberidze was only concerned about why the tearful teen didn’t carry on ‘fighting’Credit: Getty

TV viewers around the world were shocked to see the cold post-display reaction the 15-year-old got from the Russian camp.

There was no hug or comfort after the error-ridden free skate routine and uncaring coach Eteri Tutberidze asked the teen: Why did you stop fighting?

IOC president Bach was left shocked by the coldness of the entourage, saying: “I was very, very disturbed when I watched the competition on TV.

“This pressure is beyond my imagination. In particular for a girl of 15-years-old to see her there struggling on the ice.

“You could feel that immense mental stress and maybe she would have preferred just to leave the ice, and leave this story behind.

“When I saw how she was received by her closest entourage with what appeared to be such tremendous coldness, it was chilling to see this rather than giving her comfort.

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“You could feel this chilling atmosphere, this distance. It was even worse because this was even some kind of dismissive gestures I saw there on TV.

“All of this does not give me much confidence in this closest entourage of Kamila, neither with regard to what happened in the past nor as far as it concerns the future.

“We can only hope, for her, to see that this is addressed in the right way and that it isn’t a traumatic experience for such a young woman from this situation.”

Moscow-trained Valieva was given the green light to compete this week despite the emergence of a positive drugs test from Christmas Day.

She will face drugs busters after the Olympics and there is the chance her team title could be stripped retrospectively.

German Bach, a former international fencer, says there will be discussions in the corridors of power about minors – those under the age of 16 – competing at senior Olympic level.

These Games, which have been criticised heavily by human rights campaigners, will draw to a close on Sunday.

Bach, 68, expressed his satisfaction with the event, arguing that the closed-loop system had prevented any outbreaks of Covid within the media, athletes and officials.

He said: “The closed loop situation was a great success with an infection rate of 0.01%.

“I guess it was one of the safest places on this planet, if not the safest place. And this is a great achievement.”

Source: Athletics - thesun.co.uk

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