Anna Shcherbakova won a stunning gold medal in women’s figure skating at the Beijing Games on Thursday night, while teammate Kamila Valieva tumbled all the way out of the medals after a mistake-filled end to her controversial Olympics.
Shcherbakova performed a near-flawless free skate to leap over the 15-year-old Valieva, the leader after the short program, who threw up her arms in resignation and disgust after her program.
Russian teammate Alexandra Trusova leaped to silver with her quad-packed program while Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto held onto the bronze medal.
Valieva, the center of the latest Russian doping scandal, was left sobbing in the kiss-and-cry area after her scores were read. She was heavily favored to win the gold medal but is headed home with nothing from the women’s program and still faces investigation for a positive drug test.
Moments after she walked off, workers began setting up for a flower ceremony that the International Olympic Committee said would not take place if Valieva was on the podium.
Later, there would also be a medal ceremony that likewise would not have occurred until after the full investigation into Valieva’s positive test for a banned substance was transpiring.
