Valieva’s gold dreams dashed as Olympic figure skating brings dazzle, doping and all the drama
From Nathan Chen finally achieving Olympic greatness to the doping scandal that rocked Beijing and everything in between, figure skating brought all the drama to the Winter Games. Yahoo Sports’ Liz Loza hands out awards to deserving parties in recognition of the good, bad and downright wild action on the ice.
Video Transcript
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LIZ LOLA: The Winter Olympics is full of awesome sports. But my favorite is figure skating. Listen, before you say a word, figure skating has everything-- elegance, strength, sparkles, dance, flexibility, jumps, more sparkles, tears, joy, and drama. Ooh, lots and lots of drama. You know, maybe even more drama than sparkles.
So we here at Yahoo Sports are showing our appreciation for the most popular sport in the Winter Games by handing out some awards. Our Blades of Glory Award goes to Nathan Chen. Nathan Chen Zamboni'd away any memory of his disappointing performance at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games by leaping over the competition in Beijing. Chen put up five quad jumps in his free skate.
He also set a personal best record during the team competition and set an international figure skating scoring record in his individual short program. To say he was golden is an understatement. Up next is our Barry Bonds Award. This award goes to the person who's so talented they didn't need to cheat but they cheated anyway. And damn, it showed.
You know her, you probably love to hate her-- it's our girl, Kamila Valieva. The Russian phenom had herself a, shall we say, busy Olympic experience. Valieva's journey started on a high note, as she became the first woman to land a quad jump at an Olympic games. Shortly thereafter, news broke that she tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and was subsequently suspended from competition.
But then she was reinstated by an appeals court, which led to her competing again and medalling. For now. Yeah, it's been a lot. The award for favorite Non Medal-Winning Skater goes to Jason Brown, whose routines for Nina Simone's "Sinnerman" and music from "Schindler's List" were as beautiful an artistic expression that you'll ever see on ice.
Because he's one of the only men in the field who didn't do quad jumps, Brown wasn't expected to win a medal. But he came damn close, finishing in sixth place overall. Even though he wasn't selected to participate in the team event, he showed up to the arena anyway, decorating Team USA'S hangout area and cheering on his teammates en route to their silver medal.
Our Best Chemistry Award goes to Hubbell and Donohue. Oh, you thought I was going to say Chock and Bates, right? Um, because those two lovebirds are in a world of their own and just watching them makes us feel like a voyeuristic third wheel, nah, that is too obvious. I got to give the chemistry nod to a different American ice dancing duo. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue have been skating partners for 11 years.
And during that time, they dated, broke up, and now Madison is engaged to a different skater. Ho-ho! I like it when it's messy. These exes are totally profesh, though, and gave the skate of a lifetime in Beijing, winning the bronze medal before they ride off into the sunset of retirement. Our final award is about fashion, honey. Listen, we could do an entire award show just about the adorned Spandex in this sport.
There's glamor, camp, the deep V, retro, beadwork, outer space, flannel. But for this occasion, we're going to recognize the Most Audacious Outfit at the 2022 Winter Olympics. This honor, I guess you could call it, is bestowed upon Russian skater Mark Kondratiuk. Yes, my man served up the crown and thorns costume as he skated to show tunes from "Jesus Christ Superstar." It was, uh-- it was a choice. Listen, for better or worse, figure skating has lived up to the hype, and then some, at the 2022 Games.