Kamila Valieva becomes first woman to land quad in figue skating at Olympics
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 freestyle programme team event in Beijing.
Russian teenage star 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 landed two.
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 freestyle programme team event 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.
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She is part of a team trained by coach Eteri Tutberidze expected to take the podium in the women's individual event in Beijing, and Valieva is a 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.
