Kamila Valieva is back — and she appears to be making a very strong statement about what she went through at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.
Of course, the 16-year-old figure skater was at the center of a shocking doping scandal during that Olympic event months ago after she failed a drug test late last year at the Russian Nationals. The controversy blew up at the time, with allegations of cheating and doping coming from aghast Olympic commentators and viewers.
Perezcious readers will recall how the then 15-year-old was eventually allowed to skate her short program in the women’s singles event in mid-February. However, she stumbled four different times during that skate, and lost out on a medal in the process. The tense arc ended after she was extremely emotional leaving the ice. But now, she’s back.
Related: Skaters Call Out Kamila Valieva’s Shocking Olympic Performance!
On Sunday, she performed a test skate in Moscow, Russia as part of her role on the national figure skating team. Her free program for the event was set to Truman Sleeps, Philip Glass‘ musical score from the 1998 movie The Truman Show, starring Jim Carrey. Glass’ music wasn’t the only audio track on for her skate, though. Valieva’s four-minute-long routine also played out while news commentary from journalists played over the loudspeaker. The audio appears to reference back to the teen’s months-old scandal as a sort of meta-commentary on what she went through. At one point, you can hear a female American newscaster’s voice as she says, “…it was unexpected, it was shocking.”
Valieva then performed her free skate routine. The crowd showered her with flowers and stuffed animals following the event, and she came off the ice to hugs and support from those waiting in the wings. It appears she was very emotional during and after this skate, as well.
You can see video of this new routine, and hear the spliced audio commentary from her failed drug test coverage at the Olympics, at the link HERE. Down in the comments, fans showered their love on the figure skater — and referenced her recent tribulations as being inspiration for this new program, the music chosen, and the audio commentary laid over the top.
Here are just a few of the reactions online to the athlete’s new routine:
“What can I say, just a work of art. Camila [sic], you are a hero of Russia.”
“This is her story. She watches with tears in her eyes”
“She seems to be telling the story of all this experience. Brilliant as always”
“Better not to describe everything that this little girl went through at the Olympics. God bless ALL TEAM of health and patience to fight! You are best!!!”
“this is an echo of the events of the last season, her confusion, emotion, tears … Personally, I felt her program this way”
Wow.
Reactions, Perezcious readers??
[Image via NBC Sports/YouTube]
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