Press on the Valiyeva drama: “One of the saddest chapters of Olympia”

Press on the Valiyeva drama
“One of the saddest chapters of Olympia”

Kamila Valiyeva writes one of the great stories of the Winter Olympics. It begins as a fairy tale and ends in tragedy. The 15-year-old is doped before the games, the fuss about the teenager is huge. In the end she is a victim, her tears after the last performance move the world.

After the Olympic short program, figure skater Kamila Valiyeva still leads in the women’s individual after an impressive run. In the final freestyle, the 15-year-old falls several times and falls back to fourth place and thus out of the medal ranks. If the young Russian had won precious metal, the victory ceremony would have been canceled for her and her competitors – because Valiyeva is suspected of doping. Her case has been making waves internationally for days, and the fuss about the teenager is not diminishing.

The world is watching her program and the world is witnessing a tragedy: Valiyeva leaves the ice in tears after a completely botched run. She gets no support from her trainer, a team colleague wins gold. How things will continue with Valiyeva, who is expecting further doping investigations and probably a trial after the Winter Olympics, is completely unclear. Because of sports law, the 15-year-old is initially responsible for the substances in her body. The international press is of course moved by the case.

Russia

“Sport Express”: Kamila Valiyeva did her best and she can already be called a hero for stepping on the ice. But the circumstances she faced had to impact her performance. (…) Unfortunately, the dream of millions did not come true.

USA

“Yahoo Sports”: Olympic figure skating hit a new low Thursday night, a cold tragedy of abuse and pain played out over three and a half hours. When it was over, the Russians dominated the podium, the figure skaters reached new heights in grace and athleticism, a ceremony awarded medals to the deserving winners…and almost everyone looked miserable as if they were at a loved one’s funeral be.

“Washington Post”: Kamila Valiyeva’s agony will be the sad legacy of the Beijing Games. These will forever be the Olympia that tormented a 15 year old. With the results in, the true cost of the doping scandal – as well as the questionable harshness that Russia’s great rotary revolution has brought us – became apparent. A competition is disrupted, figure skaters are marked, and no one is sure what’s coming next.

Great Britain

‘Guardian’: A question hung at Capital Indoor Stadium as Kamila Valiyeva’s head dropped to her ankles, the tear duct refused to close and the Olympic dream of history’s greatest figure skater tumbled horribly to the ground. Was it all really worth it? The negotiations and global uproar over the past week were far beyond what a 15-year-old should endure.

“Daily Mail”: When it was all over, after the storm, the bitterness, the falls, so many falls, a broken child covered her face and cried. Kamila Valiyeva had lost and was lost. (…) Maybe we will find some answers in the future. Probably not. But what we do know is that a 15-year-old was buried under the weight of a global scandal on her shoulders on Thursday night.

France

“Le Figaro”: For almost five minutes, the world witnessed the collapse of a 15-year-old figure skater live. Overwhelmed by the pressure and the consequences of a positive doping control. Those games in Beijing should have been Kamila Valiyeva’s accession to the throne. The culmination of a meteoric rise (…). Everything pointed to a royal road to Beijing and a first Olympic title. Before the situation completely slips away from her and a huge mess breaks out.

“L’Équipe”: So that’s it. A collapse in front of the whole world. (…) One fall, then two. The feeling that four minutes is too long.

Italy

“Gazzetta dello Sport”: Sinking star. Collapse of Valiyeva. And her fourth place saves the world from an embarrassment. Because there will be no medal with an asterisk. The 15-year-old Russian is overwhelmed by the doping case.

“Corriere della Sera”: Kamila breaks up. Double victory of the Russians with psychodrama. The saddest gold of the Beijing Games goes to Russia. Kamila Valiyeva collapses under the pressure of the medal she should have won. Kamila cries as the age of innocence ends abruptly. She arrived in China as a child prodigy and left the country dirty as an ex-exceptional.

“La Repubblica”: The Tears of Valiyeva. Now her career is a leap into the unknown. She slips and falls, the Russian team is already celebrating other stars. It ends one of the saddest chapters of the Olympic Games as dictated for days.

Spain

“El País”: The pressure sinks Kamila, who does not make it onto the podium. (…) In the poisoned air of Beijing, the “Bolero” did not accompany a triumphal procession, as is usually the case, but rather a kind of requiem for Kamila Valiyeva, whose score is only enough for fourth place.

“El Mundo Deportivo”: The Russian ended her participation in China in tears and without a medal, with a program full of mistakes that left her with no chance of an Olympic podium. First out of the short program, in the spotlight for her positive doping test, amidst the war between different sports organizations over the ongoing debate over her guilt or innocence, Kamila Valiyeva has been reminded of the inescapable reality: she is still only a 15-year-old girl .

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