Kamila Valieva: What It Cost to Be Perfect

Описание: At fifteen, Kamila Valieva held seven world records in figure skating and was the heavy favorite for Olympic gold in Beijing. By the end of that same week, a positive drug test had turned her into the center of the biggest doping scandal since Russia's state-run program was exposed in 2016.

This video traces the full arc of Valieva's story, from a childhood in Kazan where her mother put her on the ice at three years old, to the move to Moscow, to the brutal training system of Eteri Tutberidze, where ten-hour days and daily weigh-ins were the price of entry. It covers her record-breaking 2021 season, where she set seven world records in a single autumn, and the Beijing Olympics, where she became the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the Games, only to have her result erased the very next day. The video breaks down the doping case, the strawberry dessert defense that CAS rejected, the four-year ban, and the ceremony at the 2024 Paris Olympics where Team USA finally received their gold medals. It ends with Valieva's return to competition in January 2026 and the question of what comes next.

0:00 The girl who held seven world records
0:30 Kazan, her mother, and the first time on ice
1:30 Eteri Tutberidze and the cost of the system
2:50 The 2021 season that rewrote the record books
3:55 Beijing Olympics and the positive test
5:05 Skating to Bolero under the weight of the world
5:50 The ban, the ruling, and what was taken away
6:30 The comeback at nineteen
7:10 Where does Kamila Valieva go from here

Sources and further reading:
Olympics.com - Official coverage of the 2022 Beijing figure skating events and team event medal reallocation
https://olympics.com
BBC Sport - Reporting on the Valieva doping case, CAS hearings, and four-year ban
https://www.bbc.com/sport/winter-olym...
The New York Times - Investigative reporting on the Russian figure skating system and Valieva scandal
https://www.nytimes.com
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) - Official ruling and media release on the Valieva case (CAS 2023/A/9451)
https://www.tas-cas.org
Associated Press - Timeline and factual reporting on the doping case, ban, and 2024 Paris medal ceremony
https://apnews.com

Journey of Icons tells the real stories behind the people who defined their fields, built something lasting, and paid a price for it.

Contact: [email protected]