Controversial Olympic figure skating competition comes to an end. Here's what happened
Anna Shcherbakova won a stunning gold medal in women's figure skating at the Beijing Games on Thursday, relying on her experience to deliver a clean performance, while Russian teammate Kamila Valieva tumbled out of the medals in a mistake-filled end to her controversial Olympics.
Shcherbakova performed a near-flawless free skate to leap over the 15-year-old Valieva, the leader after the short program, who threw up her arms in resignation and disgust after her program. Russian teammate Alexandra Trusova leaped to silver with her quad-packed program while Japan's Kaori Sakamoto held onto the bronze medal.
Valieva, the center of the latest Russian doping scandal, was left sobbing in the kiss-and-cry area after her scores were read. She was heavily favored to win the gold medal but is headed home with nothing from the women's program and still faces investigation for a positive drug test.
Moments after she walked off, workers began setting up for a flower ceremony that the International Olympic Committee said would not take place if Valieva was in the top three. Medals will be handed out Friday at a ceremony that would not have occurred in Beijing if Valieva had reached the podium.
Valieva tested positive for a banned heart medication at the Russian championships in December, but the result was not revealed until last week, shortly after she helped to win a team gold medal that is now also in doubt.
She was cleared to compete earlier this week by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled that she had protected status as a minor and would suffer 바카라 게임 웹사이트irreparable harm바카라 게임 웹사이트 if she was not allowed to perform. The court did not rule on the full scope of the case, leaving that anti-doping investigators.
The court바카라 게임 웹사이트s decision has cast a polarizing shadow over one of the marquee events of the Winter Games.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Do I feel sorry for her? I don바카라 게임 웹사이트t think so. I wouldn바카라 게임 웹사이트t say so,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Sakamoto said after her short program. 바카라 게임 웹사이트Of course, there were moments where I thought: 바카라 게임 웹사이트What바카라 게임 웹사이트s going to happen? What바카라 게임 웹사이트s happening?바카라 게임 웹사이트바카라 게임 웹사이트
Valieva has claimed the drug triggering her positive test, trimetazidine, entered her system by accident. But the World Anti-Doping Agency filed a brief stating that two other substances she acknowledged taking, L-carnitine and Hypoxen 바카라 게임 웹사이트 though both legal 바카라 게임 웹사이트 undercut the argument that a banned substance could have been ingested in error.
바카라 게임 웹사이트You use all of that to increase performance,바카라 게임 웹사이트 U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart said.
In the meantime, IOC President Thomas Bach tried to appease angry American skaters by offering Olympic torches to those who helped win their team silver medals, The Associated Press learned late Wednesday. The torches are meant to serve as holdover gifts while the world awaits the resolution of Valieva바카라 게임 웹사이트s doping case.
바카라 게임 웹사이트It바카라 게임 웹사이트s unfortunate that we aren바카라 게임 웹사이트t able to get our medals,바카라 게임 웹사이트 said Karen Chen, who competed in the team event for the U.S. and finished 16th in the women바카라 게임 웹사이트s program Thursday night. 바카라 게임 웹사이트I have yet to see the torch, but once that is like given to us, I think it will be such a special moment that we will cherish forever.바카라 게임 웹사이트
As the doping case unfolded around her, Valieva tried to go about her business as usual, taking part in every practice on her schedule. And though she looked calm and cool during a run-through for her short program, the first cracks began to appear when she skated off the ice and broke down in tears 바카라 게임 웹사이트 even though she was leading the event.
The collapse came with the eyes of the world watching.
Valieva was shaky on an opening quad salchow, then stepped out on a triple axel and fell altogether on a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination. She fell again on her other quad toe loop, preventing her from completing a high-scoring combination, and spun out on another jump late in the program 바카라 게임 웹사이트 though by that point, her fate was sealed.
The calamitous program only made Shcherbakova바카라 게임 웹사이트s just before it look better.
With the fewest quads of the three Russian women, the 17-year-old world champion instead captured the gold medal with back-to-back clean programs. She was flawless in her short program and, beginning with a quad flip-triple toe loop, peerless in her free skate, making her the third straight Russian to stand atop the Olympic podium.
Just not the one that everyone was expecting.