One of the youngest female figure skating competitors in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing became the first woman to ever land a quad jump and went on to become the first to land two of them.
Kamila Valieva, a 15-year-old skating for the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), made history on Monday in Beijing by landing a quadruple Salchow–which involves four complete revolutions in the air.
You can see the moment here.
HISTORY MADE!\n\n15-year-old Kamila Valieva becomes the first woman to land a quadruple jump at an Olympic Games. \n\n#Beijing2022 #figureskatingpic.twitter.com/zHxRiETNfi— Olympics (@Olympics) 1644207866
Not only did she make history by landing the jump, but she also became the first woman to land the quad twice in the women's free skate of the team final event.
OMG! #KAMILA!! JUST WOW! 15 yrs. old? CONGRATULATIONS! ON YOUR GOLD MEDAL! WELL DONE AND VERY WELL DESERVED! I'm WOWWWWED!\nQUAD!!!! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! #KAMILA #WinterOlympics #WowMoments— Lynne M. Barry (@Lynne M. Barry) 1644234080
Incredibly impressive performance from Kamila Valiyeva! 2 quads at age 15 is insane.— Matthew D'Souza (@Matthew D'Souza) 1644207935
Valieva's routine skating to Ravel's "Bolero" had three quad jumps.
She landed the first two but fell on her third, a quad toe loop.
A single toe loop involves a backward jump taking off from the outside edge of a skate followed by a rotation in the air and landing on the outside edge of the same skate.
Despite her stumble on the third quad jump, Valieva's historic display won the free skate with a score of 178.92–beating Japan's second-place finisher Kaori Sakamoto by 30 points.
The ROC's team total came to 74 points–its second gold at the Beijing Games.
EPIC! And she skated to Bolero, a competition piece made epic by Torvill and Dean so many years ago.— Jill R. Powers (@Jill R. Powers) 1644208058
The USA scored 65 points–earning its first silver medal in the event–and Japan took home the bronze with 63 points.
The teen competitor told reporters:
"It's been quite overwhelming. I was very nervous, but I am just glad I was able to execute all of my elements well."
"To perform with a team like this means everything. We all did such a good job. I'm very proud of my team."
She looks like she goes into great detail for her accuracy of her performance on the ice dedicated to her craft. All the more glory to her indeed very much so. She's living her dream and has succeeded in this particular performance.— KybeScythe (@KybeScythe) 1644212965
Valieva already made history in the Games this weekend during the women's short program.
She scored 90.18 points while being only the fourth woman to ever land a triple axel at the Winter Olympics.
Kamila Valiyeva made Olympic history at 15 years old. #WinterOlympicspic.twitter.com/tTC1TgfTqK— NBC Olympics (@NBC Olympics) 1644123027
Her performance was just short of her world record of 90.45 points set at the European Championships in Estonia last month.
Valieva, who only made her senior debut last year, said:
"I am more than happy. This is a fantastic feeling. I had a burden of responsibility, but I came out a winner. I do feel this burden a bit and this pressure."
I'm definitely old school (artistry over quads) but I have to admit, I get more & more fascinated every time I see her skate.— Michelle Frissora (@Michelle Frissora) 1644213643
She added:
"This is my first season among adult skaters and I believe I am coping with this pressure; sometimes it even pushes me forward and helps me."
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