In tears after having come close to perfection and taking the lead in the short figure skating program, Tuesday, February 15, in a special atmosphere, Kamila Valieva lives only 15 years from the Olympic Games looking like a roller coaster.
She is on familiar terms with the peaks on the ice, but has been sailing in troubled waters since her positive test for trimetazidine, a molecule used to treat angina pectoris and placed on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list since 2014, because it would promote blood circulation.
Temporarily suspended by the Russian anti-doping agency (Rusada), she was finally authorized on Monday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) – which did not rule on the merits of the case – to continue the Olympic Games.
A decision justified by his young age which involves specific rules of evidence and reduced penalties.
A student of the sulphurous coach Eteri Tutberidze
Before the announcement of her test, which had the effect of a bomb, and sparked a media outburst, the young Russian figure skating prodigy was only known for her unparalleled talent and her technical prowess making her a meteorite at exceptional trajectory.
Launched on skates at three and a half years old, in Kazan, her hometown, and promised a bright future, in 2018 she joined the factory for champions of the sulphurous Eteri Tutberidze.
📹 A suspended moment and tears on arrival: the short program of Kamila Valieva 🇷🇺, finally authorized to continue the competition after her positive doping control #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/iXzeBP4Kas
– Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) February 15, 2022
Reputed to be extremely severe with very controversial methods, manhandling the bodies of her young athletes, the Russian coach, who trains Anna Chtcherbakova, reigning world champion, or Alexandra Trusova, world and European medalist, both 17 years old, therefore takes under his orders Kamila Valieva.
With her, the young athlete grows up quickly.
And for the past few weeks, for his first season among seniors, he has been pushing the limits of his sport at full speed.
Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathan Chen as sources of inspiration
The one whose source of inspiration (according to the official site of the Olympic Games) is the skating of the Japanese Yuzuru Hanyu, Olympic champion 2014 and 2018, and the American Nathan Chen, triple reigning world champion and gold medalist. in Beijing, has been breaking world records since the end of last year.
Until writing the most beautiful page of his young career, on February 7, with the most beautiful metal won in team figure skating.
During the short program, she became the fourth skater in history to land a triple axel on Olympic ice, then, during the free program, the first to achieve a quadruple jump in the history of women's figure skating at the Olympic Games.
Currently leading the short program of the individual competition, she will compete in the free program on Friday.
For a new contested coronation?
The Kamila Valieva affair, when it is examined on the merits, could in any case revive suspicions surrounding Russian sport, whose reputation is already well tarnished in terms of doping by the scandal of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi.