Kamila Valieva, of the Russian Olympic Committee, falls in the women's free skate program at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Feb. 17.The Associated Press
Taking to the ice on Thursday, Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was in first place and the favourite to remain there. But regardless of how good her performance was, there would be no medal for the 15 year old.
Ahead of the women’s solo final, the International Olympic Committee, or IOC, said no ceremonies would be held were Valieva to finish in a podium position, after she failed a doping test in December. In the end, this did not matter, as Valieva failed to make the top three, falling twice in an error-strewn program.
Her teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova took gold and silver, respectively, with Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto in bronze position. Valieva came in fourth place, nine points short of Sakamoto.
The scandal around the Russian teenager had come to dominate these Olympics, with questions at one point over whether Valieva would be permitted to continue. Nearly flawless in the short program and practice this week, Thursday’s performance will be seen by many as reflective of the immense pressure she was under.
Canada’s Madeline Schizas, who skated to Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and was supported by a raucous cluster of her teammates in the stands, placed 19th with a final score of 175.56.
Canada's Madeline Schizas competes in the women's single free skating event.ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP/Getty Images
After Thursday’s shock ending, attention will now turn to the IOC and the still undecided team event, held last week. No medals have been handed out pending a probe which is expected to last beyond the end of these Games.
The decision not to hand out the medals, robbing the athletes of their chance to stand atop the podium in front of the world, has been almost as controversial as this week’s Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling clearing Valieva to continue.
Ahead of Thursday’s final, members of the U.S. figure skating team, who finished in second place behind the Russians, met with IOC president Thomas Bach.
“The athletes have expressed their view that they would like to go home with the medals, albeit at this point with the silver medals,” Sarah Hirshland, chief executive officer of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, told reporters.
“It’s a really frustrating and difficult situation. It’s unfair to these athletes, not only on our team, but all the athletes who show up here and expect the integrity of the competition to be intact, and we did not give it to them and that’s not right.”
The Russian Olympic Committee has urged the International Skating Union not to revise the team event results regardless of what comes out of the full Valieva probe, it said in a statement Thursday.
Earlier this week, Hirshland said the scandal “appears to be another chapter in the systemic and pervasive disregard for clean sport by Russia.”
Other Americans have been equally outspoken in their criticism. Former U.S. Olympian Adam Rippon described Valieva’s participation in the Games after failing a doping test as a “complete slap in the face” for clean athletes.
Rippon said Valieva must be going through what he said was a “traumatizing” experience.
“That is child abuse,” he added. “Somebody on her team failed her miserably and now she is going through this whole circus and everyone else is suffering along with her.”
In its ruling to let her compete, CAS cited Valieva’s age and the potential for “irreparable harm” were she to be ejected from the Games. At a news conference on Wednesday, IOC spokesman Mark Adams said “she is in the centre of a lot of speculation and it must be very tough for her.”
“We of course are in touch with the team, her welfare is the team’s first priority, and obviously we are very careful of that,” he told reporters.
The scandal has renewed calls for a higher age limit for skating, which was already being discussed ahead of these Games, amid a greater focus on athletes’ mental health.
“I think there would be benefit to it really being a women’s sport right now,” said Canada’s Schizas, who turned 19 this week, after her skate Thursday. “I think you’re seeing a lot of girls in the sport.”
Schizas skated her first senior international event at 16, and said she felt she could have handled the Olympics at that age, too. “But at the same time, I think there’s a lot of benefit to raising the age limit,” she added. “I guess we’ll see what they do with it.”
Asked about her apparent struggle on Thursday to match the strong performance she gave in the team competition last week, Schizas said that “doing two events in two weeks, it’s always hard.”
“I had a hard time bringing that energy back for the individual events,” she told The Globe and Mail. “But the most important event here for me was the team event, as Canada had a chance at a medal there. That’s really where my focus was.”
Because of the Valieva scandal, that chance technically still exists. Canada placed fourth in the team competition: were the top-ranked Russians to be disqualified, Schizas and her teammates could yet find themselves with bronze medals.
With a report from Reuters.
Our Olympic team has a daily newsletter that lands in your inbox every morning during the Games. Sign up today to join us in keeping up with medals, events and other news.