Valieva misses out on medal in Beijing campaign clouded by doping scandal
Sports Desk, Feb 17 (EFE).- Russian ice skating sensation Kamila Valieva finished outside the podium spots to take 4th place in the women’s free skate event on Thursday, bringing her tumultuous 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics campaign to an end without a medal.
Her Russian Olympic Committee teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova took gold and silver followed by Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto with the bronze.
Valieva headed into Thursday’s program at the top of the leaderboard but a fall and a stumble during her performance saw her pull up short.
Her participation in the Winter Olympics was shrouded in controversy after it was revealed that a drug test she submitted in December returned a positive result for trimetazidine, a drug prescribed to treat angina pectoris and which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances.
The pressure of performing at the Olympics was compounded by the international attention sparked by the scandal.
Valieva, just 15-years-old, was visibly emotional at the end of her routine.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Monday cleared Valieva to compete in the Winter Olympics despite a failed drug test in December. EFE
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