| Hosts: Beijing, China Dates: 4-20 February |
| Coverage: Watch stay on BBC TV, BBC iPlayer, BBC Red Button and on-line; pay attention on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds; stay textual content and highlights on BBC Sport web site and cellular app |
Kamila Valieva’s controversial Winter Olympics led to tears with a fourth-place end within the ladies’s occasion after the 15-year-old fell a number of occasions within the free skate.
Russian Olympic Committee’s Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova claimed gold and silver with Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto taking the bronze medal.
Valieva, within the highlight after a court docket dominated she may compete in Beijing after a failed medicine check, sobbed whereas awaiting the rating.
She had led going into the free skate.
Those who witnessed the occasions questioned the knowledge of permitting her to skate within the first place – the Court of Arbitration for Sport had mentioned it will do “immeasurable hurt” to not permit it.
Many of those that witnessed it will say it could have executed that by permitting it.
“I’m barely speechless for all of the fallacious causes,” mentioned an emotional BBC commentator and 1980 gold medallist Robin Cousins.
“Someone thought having her do this was higher than having her go dwelling to her household and to attend and kind this out, realizing she may have two extra Olympics forward of her.
“To see the expertise and the unquestionable high quality of Valieva… To see it put into this area in that method ought to by no means have occurred.”
From asterisks to agony
Valieva landed her opening quadruple bounce however then faltered on the subsequent triple, triggering a sequence of errors that had the gang gasping in disbelief at what they have been seeing.
As the errors mounted and the falls got here, the gang cheered her on and applauded the strikes she did full.
She threw her arms up on the finish earlier than leaving the ice in tears – for a second time this week, having additionally burst into tears after the quick programme as the strain of current days informed.
As she left the ice Russian-flag waving supporters stood and chanted “properly executed” in Russian.
The Russian has set a number of world data since making her senior debut in October, together with for a free skate rating, however Thursday’s free skate rating of 141.93 fell properly quick and was solely the fifth better of the day.
The medal-winning skaters acquired their medals at an official ceremony, with the International Olympic Committee having beforehand mentioned there can be no ceremony if Valieva got here within the prime three whereas the doping investigation was nonetheless ongoing.
The medals for the group occasion, the place Valieva helped the Russian Olympic Committee to victory, is not going to be handed out till the case is concluded.
The discuss earlier than Thursday’s skate was in regards to the IOC’s resolution that there can be an asterisk towards the ladies’s consequence till the doping case was over, however ideas of that shortly evaporated throughout a efficiency the place the errors got here with agonising frequency.
Why was Valieva allowed to compete?
Valieva was allowed to compete within the ladies’s occasion after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) dominated towards re-imposing a provisional suspension on her.
She found on 8 February that she had examined optimistic for angina drug trimetazidine however then efficiently appealed towards a Russian Anti-Doping Agency resolution to impose a provisional suspension.
That resolution was upheld by Cas after appeals by the IOC and others, with the court docket’s ruling pointing to “distinctive circumstances” relating to her age and the timing of the check consequence, which got here throughout the Games and practically six weeks after the pattern was taken.
There have been combined reactions from her fellow opponents, with some sad they have been knowingly skating towards somebody who had failed a medicine check and others sorry {that a} little one was caught up in a doping scandal.
A unique Russian teen wins gold
The consideration across the Valieva state of affairs meant that the majority skaters had face questions on what they thought of her participation and potential for gold somewhat than their very own performances.
Instead it was two different Russian youngsters within the prime two spots on the podium.
Gold medallist Shcherbakova, who can also be the world champion, mentioned she “is not going to say something about this case” round Valieva.
Instead she was attempting to in a position to get pleasure from personal success, saying: “I nonetheless have not realised that my Olympic Games have ended. I simply know that I skated clear. I’m so completely happy that I nonetheless have not realised the consequence.”
