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Hosts: Beijing, China Dates: 4-20 February |
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An emotional Kamila Valieva launched her bid for Olympic determine skating gold after a court docket cleared her to compete regardless of a optimistic medication check.
All eyes had been on the Russian 15-year-old as she stepped on to the ice for a two-minute 40-second routine the place the main target was briefly on her skating and never the doping scandal round her.
She chanced on a leap, had tears on the finish however went prime with 82.16.
She then left the ice to face the inevitable cameras and questions.
Valieva, whose continued presence on the Video games was proving divisive amongst her fellow rivals and past on Tuesday, will return on Thursday for the free skate that may determine the medals.
Not that there can be any medals or a medal ceremony that day if she finishes within the prime three, with the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) having determined it desires to attend till the result of an anti-doping investigation into Valieva’s optimistic check for trimetazidine, which is utilized in angina therapy.
IOC official Denis Oswald mentioned earlier within the day that the Russian had argued her optimistic medication check was due to contamination together with her grandad’s drugs.
Valieva is being allowed to compete at Beijing 2022 after the Court docket of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) dominated on Monday {that a} provisional suspension shouldn’t be re-imposed.
She found every week in the past that she had failed a medication check however then efficiently appealed in opposition to a Russian Anti-Doping Company choice to impose a provisional suspension.
That call was upheld by Cas after appeals by the IOC and others.
Feelings come to floor after turbulent week
The primary time we noticed this routine of Valieva’s at these Video games was simply over every week in the past – we oohed and ahhed over a flawless efficiency that fell simply shy of her personal world report rating.
Her music of alternative, In Memoriam by Kirill Richter, is in reminiscence of her grandma who died in 2019. Now it felt prefer it may be in reminiscence of a happier time earlier than an obvious mix-up together with her grandad’s coronary heart medicine.
And it was removed from the right show we had seen because the Russian made a mistake on her opening triple axel. That mentioned, she additionally boasted the identical chic spins and step sequences that had made her the pre-Video games gold-medal favorite.
Nevertheless it was on the finish of the routine that the pressure of the previous week was seen, with Valieva hunching over and combating again tears earlier than leaving to attend for her rating within the aptly named ‘kiss and cry’ space.
No different subject of dialog
It was inevitable for the opposite rivals that the day was by no means going to be about their Olympic debuts, their season’s bests and even their errors.
Their second on the massive stage grew to become all about what they thought concerning the reality they had been knowingly competing in opposition to somebody who had failed a medication check after they and their coaches walked previous the ready reporters.
Adam Rippon, coach of US determine skater Mariah Bell, mentioned it was “stunning” and “disappointing” that Valieva was being allowed to compete.
“I do not suppose, within the historical past of the Olympics, any person with a optimistic check has been allowed to compete,” he advised BBC Sport.
“I feel it ruins the integrity of the Olympics. I feel lots of people at residence are left scratching their heads, understanding that there is somebody with a optimistic check on the market.
“I feel, on prime of it, it is so layered as a result of I feel all of our hearts are breaking that it is a 15-year-old lady. It is a actually unhappy state of affairs for her and it is a unhappy state of affairs for all the rivals right here on this occasion.”
British skater Natasha McKay, who completed twenty eighth and doesn’t qualify for the free skate, mentioned it was “not a stage enjoying subject”.
“In determine skating, and each sport, it needs to be a stage enjoying subject. We do not get the chance right here, however that is the choice they’ve made and we have now to stay with that,” McKay mentioned.
“I really feel sorry for anybody who will get on the rostrum right here. They will not have the ability to get that have of being on the rostrum.”
However Valieva additionally had her supporters, with Ukrainian Anastasiia Shabotova saying: “They’re simply proficient and work arduous. No-one ought to have a problem about that.
“I hope that she wins, finishes within the prime three. Even when no-one receives a medal, everybody will nonetheless know who has gained.”
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