International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has blasted the "chilling" actions of Kamila Valieva's coaching team after the Russian figure skater missed out on a medal at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
The 15-year-old - who has been at the centre of a doping scandal during the games - produced an error-strewn performance in the free skate and could only place fourth in the event for the Russian Olympic Committee.
Valieva was not offered a hug or a shoulder to cry on by coach Eteri Tutberidze following her failure to secure a medal, with the 47-year-old instead criticising the teenager for not "fighting".
Tutberidze's actions alarmed Bach, with the IOC chief telling reporters: "When I saw how she was received by her closest entourage with what appeared to be a tremendous coldness, it was chilling to see this, rather than giving her comfort, rather than to try to help her.
"All of this does not give me much confidence in this closest entourage of Kamila, neither with regard to what happened in the past, nor as far as it concerns the future. How to deal, how to address, how to treat a minor athlete at the age of 15 under such an obvious mental stress.
"To see her there struggling on the ice, seeing how she tries to compose herself again, how then she tries to finish her programme, you could in every movement in the body language, you could feel that this is immense mental stress and maybe she would have preferred just to leave the ice and try to leave this story behind her.
"I can only wish for her that she has the support of her family, the support of her friends and the support of people who help her over this extremely difficult situation."
Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova placed first and second respectively for the ROC as Valieva settled for fourth, with Kaori Sakamoto of Japan claiming the bronze.
Ben Knapton
