International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach expressed concern for Russian skater Kamila Valieva after she fumbled multiple times during the free-skate final of the Beijing Olympics. He slammed her coach and "entourage" for their "tremendous coldness" toward the teen following her performance.
"I must say I was very, very disturbed yesterday when I watched the competition on TV," said Bach at a press conference on Friday.
"I know from my athlete's time a little bit about pressure, but this pressure is beyond my imagination, and in particular for a girl of 15 years. And to see her there struggling on the ice, seeing as she tries to compose herself again," Bach, who is a former competitive fencer, continued.
"You could in every movement in the body language, you could feel this immense, immense mental stress and that maybe, she would have preferred just to leave the ice and try to leave this story behind her," he said.
Valieva, a 15-year-old skating superstar, fell twice in the free-skate program final on Thursday and finished fourth in a shocking drop from the podium. The teen had been allowed to compete despite testing positive for the banned heart drug trimetazidine that put her at the center of a doping scandal.
She burst into tears after falling out of medal contention on Thursday. Her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, offered her only words of criticism.
Bach said on Friday: "When I afterward saw how [Valieva] was received by her closest entourage, with such, what appeared to be a tremendous coldness. It was chilling to see this."
"Rather than giving her comfort, rather than to try to help her, you could feel this chilling atmosphere, this distance," he added.
"I was pondering about this last night, whether you can be really so cold to your athlete," Bach continued.
The World Anti-Doping Agency is investigating Tutberidze and other members of Valieva's coaching team following the teen's positive drug result.
"I can only wish for [Valieva] that she has the support, then, of her family, the support of her friends, and the support of people who help her over this extremely difficult situation," Bach said.
"We can only hope for her to see that this is addressed in the right way and that there is not a traumatic experience for such a young woman," he added.
