Kamila Valieva found herself down on the ice instead of up on the podium.
Uncharacteristic falls and stumbles during the women's individual free skate cost the 15-year-old Russian figure skater an Olympic medal at the 2022 Winter Games.
Latest News on Kamila Valieva
The women's free skate was one of the most memorable events at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Here's everything that happened.
There would not have been a podium ceremony in Beijing had Valieva medaled in the event Thursday. The award presentation would have been postponed indefinitely, per the International Olympic Committee, pending the results of a doping investigation after Valieva failed a pre-Games drug test for a banned heart medication.
After Valieva faltered during her free skate to finish fourth, the ceremony went on as scheduled -- even with skaters temporarily receiving toy pandas instead of medals, as has been customary for many events in Beijing.
Valieva was denied a spot on the podium despite entering the event as an overwhelming gold-medal favorite following her dominant performance in Tuesday's short program that produced a leading score of 82.16.
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Here's a breakdown of what happened at the women's free skate in Beijing:
How did Kamila Valieva fall from first to fourth?
After underrotating on her opening quad salchow and triple axel, Valieva stumbled on the quad toe loop and crashed to the ice on the combination's ensuing triple salchow. She fell again while attempting a quad toe loop and later spun out after a triple toe loop.
She left the ice in tears.
Valieva received a technical score of 73.31 and component score of 70.62 with a two-point deduction for a combined total of 141.93. While it was the fifth-best free skate score, her total of 224.09 was not enough to earn a medal.
That was due in part by two near-flawless performances in the free skate by two of her Russian teammates, Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova.
Olympic women's figure skating results
Anna Shcherbakova, who scored an 80.20 in short program and 175.75 in free skate for a combined score of 255.95, landed two quads on her way to a gold-medal victory.
Fellow ROC skater Alexandra Trusova took silver in the women's individual free skate with a 251.73 (74.60 short program, 177.13 free skate).
Japan's Kaori Sakamoto denied the Russians a podium sweep. Sakamoto finished third with a 233.13 (79.84 short program, 153.29 free skate).
