Kamila Valieva scolded for failing to win medal, IOC president Thomas Bach orders inquiry

Thomas Bach, the president of the International
Olympic Committee (IOC), is furious over the reaction of Russian coach Eteri
Tutberidze on Kamila Valieva’s fourth-place finish performance in the free
skate event in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. He termed the reaction
“tremendous coldness” towards the 15-year-old athlete.

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Valieva, a world record holder, fell twice and
committed a few unprecedented mistakes in the free skate event and eventually
failed to win a medal. She left the arena in tears.

Russian television telecasted a controversial scene
from the event where Tutberidze was seen scolding Valieva for her
underperformance. He was heard asking her: “Why did you let it go? Explain to
me, why. Why did you stop fighting? You let it go after that Axel [the jump on
which she made her first mistake]. Why?”

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‘Very,
very disturbed’: Bach

Bach, an Olympic gold medallist in the fencing team
event in 1976, was not happy with the incident and expressed his displeasure, criticising the Russian figure skating team’s treatment of its athletes. “I was very, very disturbed,” Bach said.

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“When I afterwards saw how she was received by her
closest entourage with what appeared to be such tremendous coldness, it was
chilling to see this rather than giving her comfort, rather than try to help
her. You could feel this chilling atmosphere, this distance.”

“This pressure is beyond my imagination. In particular
for a girl of 15 years old to see her there struggling on the ice. See how she
tries to compose herself,” he added.

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“Again she tries to finish her programme and every
movement in the body language, you could feel that immense mental stress and
maybe she would have preferred just to leave the ice, and leave this story
behind.”

Inquiry
has been launched into the incident

Asked if Tutberidze had any place in Olympic sport,
Bach replied said, “This is why we have asked for the inquiry to shed light on
all this. We trust this will come to light and we will not hesitate to
implement the appropriate measures. And these will be tough measures.”

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“It is of extreme importance, because it is a minor. I
have my experiences over many years having had to listen to many lies and many
explanations over doping cases. And realising that doping very rarely happens
alone by the athlete. And the role of the entourage is ranging from assisting
to initiating to imposing,” he added.

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“And this is for the WADA investigative unit which has
tools we don’t have and have been very successful in Sochi. We have full
confidence and WADA have already confirmed that they will look into it with all
the necessary intensity,” Bach further added.