IOC president Bach 'very disturbed' by Valieva Olympic performance
IOC president Bach 'very disturbed' by Valieva Olympic performance
IOC president Thomas Bach said Friday he was "very disturbed" by Russian skater Kamila Valieva's performance in the Beijing Olympics final when she fell several times and seemed overwhelmed by the doping scandal that has engulfed her.
"I was very disturbed when I watched it on TV," Bach said, adding 15-year-old Valieva was treated with "a tremendous coolness" by her coaches after the calamitous free skate routine which saw her finish fourth and miss out on a medal.
After a visibly upset Valieva finished her routine, her famously demanding coach Eteri Tutberidze repeatedly asked her teenage charge "why did you let it go?"
Bach said: "When I saw how she was received by the closest entourage with such a tremendous coolness, it was chilling to see this."
He told a news briefing that seeing Valieva's Russian teammate Alexandra Trusova also highly agitated after her silver medal-winning routine confirmed his concerns about the entourage around the young skaters.
"I was pondering about whether you can be really so cold but when I saw and read today how Alexandra Trusova was being treated, I am afraid that this impression I had last night was not the wrong one.
"All of this does not give me much confidence in this close entourage of Kamila."
J.Burmester--HHA
