If you keep up with the news or have watched the 2022 Winter Olympics you probably have heard about the scandal of Kamila Valieva. If you haven’t, let’s find out what happened to Kamila Valieva.

Kamila Valieva is a 15-year-old Russian figure skater under the coaches Eteri Tutberidze, Sergei Viktorovich, and Daniil Markovich. She is known for her outstanding ice presence, spins, and jumps specifically quads an all-in-one package.

Everything was going well for her winning gold in the team event, until the morning of Feb. 8. On that day, a Stockholm lab confirmed that Kamila tested positive for a heart drug called trimetazidine, which is used to treat people with a heart condition called angina.
As a 15-year-old skater, it was believed that she did not decide to dope by herself but it was her coaches that forced her to. Looking up to Kamila Valeiva and seeing that her skills might not just be of hard work was kind of disappointing and sad. I hope that it was not her fault and that this was just a casualty in her career.

Kamila was cleared to participate in the women’s free program final but officials were told to refrain from the medals ceremony if she were to get on the podium.

On Feb. 17 during the Women’s final, we saw a heartbreaking free program from Kamila Valieva, falling two times and she ended up getting 4th place. Nobody knows if it is because of the drugs out of her system or because she knew she messed up.

Watching this performance from her made me want to cry. She did amazing in the team event with a record-breaking score. Then in the final when she had those two falls, I felt so sad because I was sure she would get gold. As a 15-year-old getting caught up in a doping scandal in the biggest event in your life is a lot of mental pressure. I don’t think she could handle it.

Valieva posted this message on her Instagram after the scandal “Thank you, my fans, my family and friends, my coaches, the entire ROC team, my country, and people from all over the world. THANK YOU ALL!!!! I AM FOREVER GRATEFUL!!!! I will always remember this, be grateful to you and skate for you.”