Singles, Women

Of the three Russian skaters who competed at the 2018 Games, gold medallist Alina Zagitova took an indefinite break from the sport in December 2019, saying she lacked motivation to continue competing, silver medallist Yevgeniya Medvedeva announced her retirement a few weeks before the Beijing Games on account of a chronic back injury, and the third member of the team, Mariya Sotskova, was serving a 10-year ban for forging a medical certificate to explain a doping violation for a diuretic.

But despite this, the Russian conveyor belt of talent rolled on. Although Anna Shcherbakova was the current world champion, she had been conclusively beaten by her young teammate Kamila Valiyeva at both the Russian National and European Championship in the previous months and it was Valiyeva who had earned the title of favourite as the Winter Olympics approached. With Aleksandra Trusova ranked second in the world it was widely accepted that the training group, coached by Eteri Tutberidze, would sweep the medal positions.

All this changed dramatically after the events of the team competition when it was revealed that Valiyeva had tested positive for trimetazidine at the Russian Championships in December. The lab result was revealed to Russian authorities on the 8th of February, the day the team event finished. The next day, however, she had her provisional suspension lifted by the Russian Skating Union and that decision was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport two days before the start of the women’s event on the grounds that, as a 15-year-old and by WADA rules a “Protected person”, she was subject to different rules than adult athletes, that the delay in processing her test impinged upon her ability to establish certain legal requirements for her benefit, and that she did not test positive during the Games itself. The IOC decided that if Valiyeva finished in the top three positions there would be no medal presentation at these Olympic Games and if she reached the free skating portion of the competition an extra skater would also qualify alongside her.

Valiyeva’s display in the short program, while not quite up to the standard of her performances prior to the Games, was enough to give her a narrow lead over Shcherbakova and Kaori Sakamoto of Japan with the third Russian, Alexandra Trusova, trailing in fourth after falling on a triple Axel attempt. This paled into insignificance compared to the events of the free skating two days later. Firstly, Trusova produced a hugely athletic performance in which the woman nicknamed “The Quad Queen” landed all five of her quadruple jumps to move ahead of Sakamoto. Shcherbakova, having suffered falls at her previous two major competitions, this time skated cleanly though without the bravura of Trusova’s performance. It was still enough to keep her at the top of the leader board.

Then came Valiyeva. Perhaps understandably considering the intense pressure she had been under in the previous days, her performance made for very uncomfortable viewing. She fell twice, stumbled on further occasions and was reduced to tears by the time she left the ice. She was also visibly upset by criticism from her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, immediately afterwards. This incident was later commented on by the usually diplomatic IOC President Thomas Bach – ““When I saw how she was received by her entourage with what appeared to be a tremendous coldness, it was chilling to see this, rather than giving her comfort or help.” When the scores were announced she had fallen out of the medal positions and into fourth place.

Shcherbakova, the gold medallist, appeared numbed by the situation whilst silver medallist Trusova was herself in a dire emotional state “Everyone has a gold medal, everyone, but not me,” she wailed. “I hate skating. I hate it. I hate this sport. I will never go out on the ice again! Never! I hate it! It’s impossible, it’s impossible! You cannot do it this way.” In the end, with Valiyeva dropping off the podium, a medal ceremony did eventually take place.