Nation
After disastrous performance, Kamila Valieva falls to fourth, Russian teammate wins gold
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BEIJING — In a story full of shocking twists, this might be the one that nobody saw coming.
With a disastrous performance in her long program Thursday, Russian teenager and heavy gold-medal favorite Kamila Valieva dropped out of first place and all the way outside of medal contention, finishing fourth.
It was a shocking finale to a weeklong international saga. Valieva, 15, had been at the center of a media hurricane after news that she tested positive for a banned substance – and subsequent news that the Court of Arbitration for Sport would allow her to compete anyways.
Valieva sat stunned in the kiss-and-cry as her score was announced, and for several minutes thereafter.
Compatriots Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova ended up taking gold and silver, respectively, followed by Kaori Sakamoto of Japan, who won bronze.
Valieva’s fourth-place finish effectively wiped away a decision announced by the International Olympic Committee days earlier, that it would not hold a medal ceremony or award presentation after Thursday’s competition if the 15-year-old favorite finished inside the top three. There was a fear that she would be awarded a medal that would later need to be returned, if her doping case was upheld on appeal.
The Russian teen’s performance Thursday changed all of that. She touched the ice with her hand on her first jump, then fell twice on subsequent jumps – a meltdown for the woman who had long been favored to win gold.
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Even before her 16th birthday, Valieva has already established herself as the world’s best female skater. She is the 2020 junior world champion, and the reigning European and Russian national champion. She has smashed world records for short, long and overall program scores. And she became the first woman to reach overall scores of 250, 260 and 270 points – putting her in a class all her own.
Valieva’s career forever changed, however, on Dec. 25, when she gave a urine sample that would later test positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication that has been banned by the World Anti-Doing Agency since 2014 because it can improve endurance and blood flow.
Because a WADA-approved lab did not report the findings of the positive test until midway through the Olympics, the Russian teen skated in the team event in Beijing, helping Russia win gold. But it took a complex legal battle to allow her to return to the ice for the individual competition, starting with Tuesday’s short program.
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.
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Uber, Lyft made safety improvements, but many of those protect riders more than drivers. But drivers are also in danger.
Naomi Ogutu
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I’ve been a rideshare driver in New York City for six years, and I take pride in my job and helping my passengers get where they need to go safely. But my safety is not a guarantee. I’m a mom of three. I need to know that I’ll make it home to my kids at the end of each night.
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Business
'A bad déjà vu': Under the crush of Western sanctions, Russians fear a return to dark economic days
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The lone No. 1 seed still alive heading into the Elite Eight, Kansas needs only a win against No. 10 Miami (Fla.) to book a spot in the Final Four.
No. 2 Duke and coach Mike Krzyzewski can make one last Final Four and chase one final national championship by beating No. 4 Arkansas.
No. 2 Villanova can reach the national semifinals for the third time in six tournaments by winning what should be a defense-dominated brawl against No. 5 Houston.
And after beating No. 4 UCLA in the Sweet 16, No. 8 North Carolina is one win from reaching the Final Four under first-year coach Hubert Davis.
If everything goes according to plan, this year’s Final Four will consist of some of the biggest names in the history of the sport.
But the last week has taught us that this year’s NCAA Tournament will inevitably deviate from the script.
So look for the Jayhawks to be shocked in the Elite Eight, as the Bill Self collection of tournament collapses adds another painful chapter. Based on how things have gone through three rounds, Arkansas is a lock to send Krzyzewski into retirement one game shy of the Final Four. Villanova may be a two-time champion under Jay Wright, but the Wildcats will be smothered by Houston.
And, of course, the Tar Heels will lose to the team that embodies the wackiness and uncertainty of this entire tournament.
Saint Peter’s stands at the precipice of another outlandish achievement: being the first No. 15 seed — the first seed lower than No. 11, in fact — to reach the Final Four.
The Peacocks will be the underdog once again come Sunday, when they’ll match against a deeper and more talented opponent with decades of history to more than overshadow the Peacocks’ three-game run.
But beating another college basketball giant will simply take what we already know the Peacocks can bring to the table: Saint Peter’s reached the Elite Eight with energy, aggressiveness and composure, following the model set by unflappable coach Shaheen Holloway, and that same combination will give the Peacocks a chance at etching themselves into an even more permanent place in NCAA Tournament history.
“We’re happy but don’t mistake, we’re not satisfied, we’re not satisfied at all,” said guard Doug Edert. “The job is not finished. We feel like we belong and the more games we win the more confidence we build.”
That sounds like bad news for the Tar Heels, who might’ve righted the ship after a poor start to ACC play but could be the latest blueblood to the Peacocks’ formula.
At some point, the magic has to run out — for Saint Peter’s, which somehow keeps stacking upsets of higher-ranked opponents, and for the tournament at large, which has been wackier than ever but could suddenly snap back to the status quo.
But this March has not gone according to plan. Several big names lost early. Others failed to get out of the second round. The story of this year’s tournament has been upsets, shockers, letdowns, unpredictable officiating and unpredictability, period — why should the next two days be any different?
Follow colleges reporter Paul Myerberg on Twitter @PaulMyerberg
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