AFP, Beijing :
Russian teenager Kamila Valieva made figure skating history Monday, becoming the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the Olympics — and not content with one, she nailed two on the way to team gold.
The 15-year-old landed the quadruple jumps — when a skater rotates four times in the air — as she once again demolished the competition in the free programme in Beijing.
Despite finishing 30 points ahead of second-placed Kaori Sakamoto, Valieva looked distraught at the end of her performance — she had fallen attempting a third quad jump.
Later though she said it was a “fantastic feeling” to have landed the first.
“While I had this burden of responsibility, I came out a winner. I coped,” she said. Valieva is also now an Olympic champion after the Russians won the team event ahead of the United States and Japan.
The teenager recounted how she had been fascinated by the Olympics as a child. “When I was three years old I would tell my mother, I want to be an Olympic champion, which I am, thank god, and I believe my next dream will come true too,” said Valieva.
She is part of a team trained by coach Eteri Tutberidze expected to dominate the podium in the women’s individual event in Beijing — and Valieva is favourite for gold. All three skaters have comfortably landed quad jumps in competition before — but it has never been done at an Olympics. A quad jump has been attempted at the Games before, according to the Olympics news site — Surya Bonaly tried it in 1992 but it was considered not fully rotated on landing and so was downgraded.
On how she deals with the pressure of expectation at such a young age, Valieva said: “Sometimes it even pushes me forward, it helps me.”
