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IMAGE: Kamila Valieva faltered after a triple Axel and made numerous uncharacteristic stumbles after that in a free skate routine set to Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” within the ladies’s singles occasion on Thursday. {Photograph}: Catherine Ivill/Getty Pictures
Russian teenage determine skater Kamila Valieva tumbled to fourth place within the ladies’s singles occasion on Thursday, yielding to the stress of a doping controversy that has rocked the Beijing Video games.
In a ultimate twist that ensures a medal ceremony will go forward on Friday, Valieva’s compatriots Anna Shcherbakova claimed the gold medal and Alexandra Trusova took the silver, whereas a beaming Kaori Sakamoto of Japan claimed the bronze medal.
After stumbling to the ice greater than as soon as, 15-year-old Valieva gave one final compelled smile to the judges and masked her face along with her hand as she skated head down in the direction of the exit along with her supporters shouting “Molodets!” “Molodets!” (Bravo, bravo).
The skating prodigy, favorite for gold forward of the Video games, had been hoping to close out the noise of a doping scandal after testing optimistic for a banned substance in late December, information of which solely broke on February 8 – a day after she helped the Russian Olympic Committee win the staff competitors.
Decked out in a glowing black and crimson gown and vibrant crimson gloves, she saved her composure for 30 seconds and landed her opening quadruple Salchow soar.
However she then faltered after a triple Axel and made numerous uncharacteristic stumbles after that in a free skate routine set to Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero”.
After coming to a cease, she threw one hand ahead in open frustration at a efficiency that was nowhere close to her traditional excessive requirements, and ended nearly 50 factors beneath her personal world document rating on 224.09.
Shcherbakova claimed gold with a complete rating of 255.95 forward of Trusova on 251.73. Japan’s Sakamoto scored 233.13.
Within the stands, loud cheers and applause had greeted Valieva’s arrival on the ice, and her followers chanted her identify after her stumble – whereas the digicam shutters went into overdrive.
IMAGE: Kamila Valieva is without doubt one of the youngest athletes to have a optimistic take a look at revealed on the Olympics, prompting questions concerning the position of the adults round her and the persevering with scourge of Russian doping in worldwide sport. {Photograph}: Catherine Ivill/Getty Pictures
Valieva was left sobbing within the “kiss and cry” space after her efficiency, whereas her coach Eteri Tutberidze, who additionally trains Shcherbakova and Trusova, underlined the stress the teenage skaters are underneath.
“Why did you let it go? Clarify it to me, why? Why did you cease preventing fully? Someplace after the axel you let it go,” Tutberidze demanded of the distraught Valieva.
“It is a second the place you genuinely must say – that poor child. She mustn’t have ever been put on this place,” former US skater Ashley Wagner mentioned on Twitter.
“She shouldn’t have been out on that ice, she shouldn’t have been put ready the place she grew to become the face of an issue greater than her.”
In a high-octane routine, Valieva’s staff mate Trusova, the 2021 world championships bronze medallist, tried 5 quads to the soundtrack of “Cruella” and the Stooges’s “I Wanna Be Your Canine” for a season’s greatest free skate rating of 177.13.
Fellow 17-year-old Shcherbakova’s free skate was not as highly effective, however the world champion skated with accuracy as she landed two quads early in her programme.
“I’m glad I managed my nerves and worries and confirmed my most on the proper time and place,” mentioned Shcherbakova, whose coronary heart went out to Valieva.
“In fact I used to be very anxious about her throughout the skate as a result of from the primary soar it was clear that the skate was not doing nice. I actually perceive what an athlete feels in these moments.”
Shcherbakova, Trusova and Sakamoto got here again for the rostrum ceremony, staying on the ice for a number of minutes to take in a second they in all probability thought was not going to occur.
“I wasn’t anticipating to position within the high three so I’m simply overjoyed,” mentioned a delighted Sakamoto.
The medal ceremony will happen on Friday.
Valieva examined optimistic for a banned coronary heart drug after the nationwide championships on December 25 however the end result was not revealed till February 8. She was finally cleared to compete within the ladies’s single occasion by the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday.
She got here into Thursday’s skate as the new favorite and it was anticipated that the medal ceremony wouldn’t go forward due to the unresolved doping case.
Valieva is without doubt one of the youngest athletes to have a optimistic take a look at revealed on the Olympics, prompting questions concerning the position of the adults round her and the persevering with scourge of Russian doping in worldwide sport.
It has additionally fueled a debate over elevating the age restrict for determine skating.
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