'Thank God': Commentators' telling act after teen's horror Olympics

Sports Reporter

Fri, 18 Feb 2022, 4:35 pm·3-min read

NBC commentators Johnny Weir and Lapinski (pictured left) during the Winter Olympics and Kamila Valieva (pictured right) crying while skating. — NBC commentators Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski (pictured left) were critical of Kamila Valieva's (pictured right) participation at the Winter Olympics. (Getty Images)

Kamila Valieva's doping scandal has overshadowed her participation in the Winter Olympics and two American figure skating commentators expressed their relief when the 15-year-old didn't finish on the podium.

Valieva, already under immense worldwide scrutiny after being allowed to compete in Beijing despite failing a doping test, was reduced to tears after falling several times in the finale of a women's figure skating event she was favoured to win gold in.

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In scenes that IOC president Thomas Bach has described as 'chilling', Valieva proceeded to be berated by Russian coach Eteri Tutberidze after the unusual stumbles that saw her end up finishing outside the medals in fourth place.

Valieva's participation meant that if she finished in a medal position, the Olympics would forego a podium ceremony until a decision was reached on her ongoing doping case.

And when it was clear Valieva wouldn't be on the podium, American NBC commentators Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir, both former Olympians, let their feelings known.

"Thank God," Weir said.

“Thank goodness for all the other medallists to have that moment,” Lipinski said.

"And to have done it cleanly," Weir added.

Kamila Valieva's controversial Winter Olympics

On Friday, the pair said they felt sorry for the 15-year-old and took aim at the people around her.

“I can’t imagine how tough this has been on Kamila and it makes me angry that the adults weren’t able to make better decisions and guide her and be there for her because she is the one now dealing with the consequences,” Lipinski said.

“And she’s just 15 and that’s not fair. With that being said, she should not have been allowed to skate in this Olympic event.”

Weir and Lipinski have both been forthright about their feelings that Valieva shouldn't be skating at the Winter Olympics.

Kamila Valieva (pictured) cries after her scores were revealed at the Winter Olympic Games. — Kamila Valieva (pictured) was distraught after her score at the Women Single Skating Free Skating on day thirteen of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. (Photo by Nikolay Muratkin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Earlier in the week, Weir said he: "condemned the decision with every ounce of my soul."

"The Olympics has to be clean or it's not fair...it doesn't matter how old you are or the timing of the test results come in."

Lipinski and Weir also expressed their displeasure during their commentary of her routine on Tuesday for NBC.

The retired American Olympians were largely silent during the routine, with Weir only speaking once it was complete.

"All I can feel like I can say is that was the short program of Kamila Valieva at the Olympics," Weir said.

Lipinski was more direct, saying: “She had a positive test. We should not have seen this skate."

The commentators each noted one difficult jumping pass, but gave no emotion to it and did not give any further critiques.

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