By Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Chang-Ran Kim and Julien Pretot

BEIJING, (Reuters) – Russian teenager Kamila Valieva stunned the figure skating community by landing in fourth place for the women’s single-event event. This ensured that the Beijing Games Olympic medal ceremony would go ahead.

Anna Shcherbakova, her compatriot in Russia won the gold medal with a total score 255.95. Russian colleague Alexandra Trusova came second with 251.73, while Japan’s Kaori Samoto was third with 233.13. Valieva ended up with a total score of 224.09.

In a sparkly black and red gown with bright red gloves, she landed her first quad. However, her triple Axel was the beginning of many stumbles during the free routine to Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero.”

In frustration, she raised her right arm and threw it forward. This ended a routine lasting four minutes 15 seconds that wasn’t up to her high standards.

She arrived on the ice to loud cheers and applause from the fans. As the shutters of their cameras went into overload, fans chanted her name.

Valieva had hoped to get rid of the doping scandals and legal arguments in order to give the performance of her life to Ravel’s “Bolero”, to which she now has a fresh lease on life.

As the teenage girl landed her quadruple Salchow within 30 seconds of starting her program, it seemed as if the mere brushing her blade on the ice was enough to silence all the criticisms.

The rest was not so great.

After she had landed a triple-Axel, the tip of her hand touched ice. This was just the beginning of her many embarrassing mistakes.

Trusova was the bronze medallist at the 2021 World Championships. She attempted five quads to “Cruella”, and “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by the Stooges. The result? A season-best score, 177.13.

Shcherbakova was 17 years old and her free skating skills were not as strong, however the world champion skated very accurately landing two quads at the beginning of her programme.

Daniil Glaikhengauz and Sergei Dudakov were the coaches. They sat at the rink watching each move.

After the Dec. 25 national championships, Valieva was tested for a banned drug in her heart. However, the results were not available until February 8, which is the same day that she had helped the ROC win their team competition.

Valieva wasn’t allowed to compete in Monday’s women’s single event at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The hot favorite came in Thursday’s skating as she did not know how to skate. It was widely expected that the medal ceremony would be cancelled due to an unsolved case of doping.

Her positive result at the Olympics is the first to be revealed. This raises questions about her role in the lives of those around her, and also the ongoing problem of Russian doping in international sports. This has sparked a discussion about raising the age for figure skating.

American Tara Lipinski is the Olympic figure skater’s youngest gold medallist.

When she won 1998 Nagano women’s event, Valieva was more than one month older than her. She became the first woman to complete a triple loop-triple in women’s competition.