The drug is used to treat angina, a condition that causes severe pain in the chest. Just 15 years old at the time, Valieva was a heavy favorite and led Russia to gold in the team event.Īfter the team event and before the individual event, Valieva tested positive for the banned substance Trimetazidine. Valieva, 17, was the world record holder in women's figure skating for the short program, free skating and combined total heading into the Beijing Games. The ruling invalidated all of her results from that date forward, including the 2022 Winter Olympics, which were held in February. 29, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled to disqualify Valieva for four years for violating anti-doping rules starting on Dec. Related: See All the Drama from Thursday's Women's Figure Skating Final in Photos 'In the end, it's a question where we need the support of governments.No further reason for Valieva's removal was given, despite her finishing third at the recent Russian National Championships held in December. 'All of this does not give me much confidence in Kamila's closest entourage.'īach admitted that the IOC, while it was addressing the matter, could not do much to control an athlete's entourage. 'Rather than giving her comfort, rather than to try to help her you could feel this chilling atmosphere, this distance and if you were interpreting the body language of them, it got even worse because this was even some kind of dismissive gestures. 'When I afterwards saw how she was received by her close entourage.

'Why did you let it go? Explain it to me, why? Why did you stop fighting completely? Somewhere after the axel you let it go,' Tutberidze said. Valieva left the ice hiding tears behind her hands and sobbed in the 'kiss and cry' area as her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, confronted her. 'To see her struggling on the ice, to see her, how she tries to compose herself again, how then she tries to finish her programme and you could see in every movement, in the body language, you could feel that this is immense, immense mental stress and maybe she would have preferred to just leave the ice and try to leave this story behind her,' said Bach. 8, a day after Valieva had already helped the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) win the team event. Valieva failed a doping test at her national championships last December but the result was only revealed on Feb. The saga has opened a debate on the suitability of the Olympic environment for minors, but Bach said the International Olympic Committee had limited means of action. 'I must say I was very, very disturbed yesterday when I watched the competition on TV,' Bach told a news conference. Valieva, who had been leading the women's figure skating event after the short programme, cracked in her free skate on Thursday night, and stumbled down to fourth place as compatriot Anna Shcherbakova skated to gold.

INTERNATIONAL: Olympic chief Thomas Bach said on Friday it had been 'chilling' to witness Russian teenage skater Kamila Valieva crumble under pressure at the Beijing Olympics as a doping scandal continued to swirl, hitting out at the 15-year-old's entourage.

Russian skaters meltdown