Kamila Valieva misses out on Winter Olympics medal after multiple falls

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Kamila Valieva finished fourth after multiple falls in error-strewn performance Russian teenager scored 224.09, which was not enough to place in the medals Russia still came top, with Anna Shcherbakova claiming gold, Alexandra Trusova taking silver, and Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto won bronze

Kamila Valieva, the teenage tragedienne of these Winter Olympics, sat stunned in her coaching booth, unable to comprehend what had just happened to her. The outstanding figure skater of this or perhaps any generation had fallen twice in her free program to Ravel’s Bolero, gifting victory to compatriot Anna Shcherbakova and tumbling to fourth, thus sparing Games organisers the monumental embarrassment of needing to scrap the medal ceremony. After so much scandal and skullduggery over the 15-year-old’s positive test for trimetazidine, this was perhaps the least expected twist of all.

She was barely recognisable from the virtuoso celebrated for quadruple rotations on her jumps. Instead, she fell four times, an error count she had never committed in this repertoire before. But then perhaps no minor has experienced such a merciless period of international exposure in the name of sport. It was deeply uncomfortable throughout as Valieva, the overwhelming favourite, turned in a ragged and distracted display, outshone in every respect by Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova, the third member of the Russian “quad squad”.

The astounding talent that Valieva exhibits through her skating is such that, when she put together a program inspired by Picasso’s “Girl on the Ball” as a junior, the artist’s daughter Diana was so moved that she requested to meet her in Paris. It offers a reminder of the emotions that her gift, unsullied, can inspire. As such, there can only be sadness at how the Girl on the Ball has since morphed, perhaps irrevocably, into the Girl with the Asterisk.

This is not simply the perception of Russia’s rivals. It is the explicit assertion of the International Olympic Committee, who have decreed that Valieva’s result shall be “preliminary pending further investigation”, given her positive reading for a banned heart medication on Christmas Day. You can imagine how this decision was received within the Russian camp, who argued firmly that the scores here in Beijing should stand. But so strewn with mistakes was Valieva’s free skate, you half-suspected she wanted to erase all memory of her experience.

Shcherbakova more than merited her gold, showcasing jumps that shimmered with technical excellence. Trusova’s routine for silver was a touch more mischievous, set to the strains of “Call Me Cruella” by Florence and the Machine: a nod, surely, to her coach Eteri Tutberidze, infamous for having previously styled herself as Cruella de Vil. Tutberidze, for all that she sought to reassure a desolate Valieva, can be a notoriously demanding mentor. Not one of her protegees has yet been to multiple Olympics. It was tempting to wonder when, if ever, we would witness Valieva on this stage again. Even at 15, she seemed utterly broken.

Kamila Valieva’s free skate, as it happened .

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