Kamila Valieva’s disappointment was palpable after an error-filled free skate.Credit…Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
Kamila Valieva, the Russian star at the center of a doping scandal, knew immediately it had all gone wrong.
Her program over, her Olympics over, Valieva broke her final pose with a dismissive wave of her right hand. By then, she was already fighting back tears. Those would arrive in earnest soon enough — the bitter, disappointing, emotional end of more than a week of whispers and insinuations that followed the revelation that she had tested positive for a banned drug.
The women’s free skate had promised to be one of the most-watched events of the Games. But few could have expected its stunning denouement.
For more than a week, Valieva, 15, had been buried under…
