2 Russians medal at the Olympic figure skating final, but not Kamila Valieva

2 Russians medal at the Olympic figure skating final, but not Kamila Valieva

Transcript¹

BEIJING — Russian figure skater Anna Shcherbakova took the gold medal in women's individual program at the Beijing Winter Olympics, in a competition that took place under the shadow of a positive drug test from her teammate Kamila Valieva.

Another skater from the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexandra Trusova, won silver. Japan's Kaori Sakamoto took bronze.

Of the top performers was 15-year-old Valieva, who has been the subject of scandal in the days leading up to her performance. Valieva, who skated last, finished the night in fourth place.

The 15-year-old tested positive for a banned drug before the Olympics — a revelation that came out during the Games — but officials in Beijing allowed her to continue to compete anyway.

The pressure of that scandal and the days of headlines it made appears to have had an impact to the young teen. She landed her first quad² jump, but after nailing the difficult trick, Valieva unraveled. She stumbled multiple times and fell at one point. When she finished her program, she waved her hand in disgust. And as she awaited her score, she broke down into tears.

Had Valieva medaled, officials would've postponed³ the ceremony after an investigation⁴ into the doping controversy⁵. But because Valieva placed fourth, officials held a venue⁶ ceremony to honor the top three skaters. A medal ceremony will be held Friday in Beijing.

Later that night, the 17-year-old Trusova appeared upset. She left the rink earlier than Shcherbakova and Sakamoto, who continued to take pictures after the venue ceremony.

"I am not happy with the result. There is no happiness," Trusova told reporters after taking the silver medal, and cast doubt on her future in the sport.

Trusova said she thought winning gold was within reach by attempting five quad jumps in competition — a feat⁷ that she said she worked incredibly hard for.

When asked about her emotional response, she said, "I wanted to cry, so I cried. I've been here for three weeks, alone without my mom, without the dogs, so I am crying."

Skaters nail big jumps

It was a night of big tricks for the top skaters of the night, with the Russian athletes nailing hard-to-hit quad jumps in their routines — marking a landmark⁸ moment in the evolution of the sport.

Nicknamed "The Quad Queen," Trusova was set to complete five quad jumps in her routine. She stumbled later in her performance, but her first major jump — a quad flip⁹ — received big applause from the audience. She finished with 251.73 total points.

Shcherbakova, also 17, whose score of 255.95 earned her a gold medal, started her performance with two, successful quad flips¹⁰.

Though this trick is common in men's figure skating, few women have been able to land the jump in competition.

During the team figure skating event earlier in the Games, Valieva became the first woman to execute the quad jump in competition.

The U.S.'s Alysa Liu, who is 16, landed a triple axel — the hardest triple-rotation jump — at the start of her routine. Liu ended the night in seventh place, with 208.95 points, unable to come out above stellar performances from the Russians.

Skaters deal with low-energy crowd and distractions¹¹

The Capital Indoor Stadium noticeably lacked the energy and joy that existed for the men's skating program. The arena¹² was roughly a third full Thursday night in Beijing, with mostly media filling the stands.

A couple hundred local Chinese fans and a small delegation¹³ from the skaters' countries attended the program.

Perhaps it was the cloud of scandal over the event. Or maybe Chinese spectators were less enthusiastic about the program with no hometown hero to cheer on. But until the final group of six skaters took the ice, most excitement shown by those fans appeared when the announcer called on them to stand up and wave their flags during intermission.

That is, until Trusova nailed the first quad jump of the night to huge applause.

U.S. skater Karen Chen said she felt the lack of energy of the stadium Thursday night.

"It was a hard performance to get through," Chen said. "I think it's definitely tough with the situation that's been unfolding to just stay focused, there's so much buzz. It is pretty tough."

Chen placed 16th with 115.82 points, bringing her combined total to 179.93.

"Speaking for myself, I've been here for quite some time now," she said. "I've done my best with the pacing but at the end of the day I may have been just a little fatigued¹⁴ from everything skating related and non-skating related."

Mariah Bell, also of the U.S., skated a solid routine after many skaters stumbled or fell earlier in the night. Bell's performance gained her 136.92 points, giving her a combined total of 202.30. This pushed her to the top of the leader board, temporarily.

At the end of the night, Bell placed 10th.

Some skaters told reporters the Valieva controversy affected¹⁵ them leading up to their big night.

"There's always drama," said Madeline Schizas, who skates for Canada. "I think it's always a little bit hard to tune¹⁶ that stuff out. It can be hard to know you're going to be asked about something you have no control over."

But Schizas said it was appropriate that the issue drew so much coverage¹⁷.

"It's something everyone wanted to know about. There's often some kind of scandal at the games. This time it was our sport that got it."

At least one skater said adjustments to the line-up and schedule made ahead of the event may have affected their performance.

"I was kind of upset at the situation in general," said Alexia Paganini, age 20, who grew up in Connecticut but now competes for Switzerland. Paganini placed 22nd.

The best 25 skaters, not 24, took to the ice Thursday night. The extra skater was added to the program lineup in case Valieva was later disqualified.

Paganini noted¹⁸ that last moment change can get inside an Olympic skater's head.

"The practices [before the programs began] were more hectic¹⁹ than usual. Mentally, I was annoyed in general," Paganini said.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 quad   

n.四方院；四胞胎之一；v.在…填补空铅

参考例句：

• His rooms were on the left-hand side of the quad.他的房间位于四方院的左侧。
• She is a 34-year-old mother of quads.她是个生了四胞胎的34岁的母亲。

3 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

6 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

7 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

8 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

9 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

10 flips   

轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时，打开电视收看节目。
• He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。

11 distractions   

n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱

参考例句：

• I find it hard to work at home because there are too many distractions. 我发觉在家里工作很难，因为使人分心的事太多。
• There are too many distractions here to work properly. 这里叫人分心的事太多，使人无法好好工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

13 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

14 fatigued   

adj. 疲乏的

参考例句：

• The exercises fatigued her. 操练使她感到很疲乏。
• The President smiled, with fatigued tolerance for a minor person's naivety. 总统笑了笑，疲惫地表现出对一个下级人员的天真想法的宽容。

15 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

16 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

17 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

18 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

19 hectic   

adj.肺病的；消耗热的；发热的；闹哄哄的

参考例句：

• I spent a very hectic Sunday.我度过了一个忙乱的星期天。
• The two days we spent there were enjoyable but hectic.我们在那里度过的两天愉快但闹哄哄的。