Watch 15-Year-Old Sensation Be “Perfect” In Her Olympic Debut
Imagine being the pinnacle of perfection at your career when you’re just a ripe teenager? Many of us probably can’t claim to have been doing anything extraordinary at 15 years old, but Kamila Valieva is one of the greats. She isn’t nicknamed “Miss Perfect” for no reason.
Valieva shined in the women’s short program of her recent team event in figure skating by becoming the fourth woman to land a triple axel at the 2022 Winter Olympics and earning first place for the ROC. Her final score of 178.92 was vast—more than 30 points higher than the second-place star, Kaori Sakamoto of Japan.
“Kamila was perfect,” said Russian captain Nikita Katsalapov. “She’s in perfect shape. We’re very happy for her, happy for the team. She was absolutely glorious, everything was done very cleanly.”
This was not her only flawless performance at the Olympics. She also finished first in the short program as part of the team event, with a score greater than 15 points from all of her competitors.
She continues to make waves in everything she does, partly in thanks to her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, who also works with teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova. ” I feel the strength and confidence she sends me, and it helps me cope with the excitement,” said Valieva. “I always want to please her with my performance, to show that everything that has been invested in me is not in vain.”
Valieva may be just 15, but she’s been figure skating for 12 years—she began when she was just 3 years old. “My parents have no days off, no holidays, they’ve given up their life for this dream. It’s my dream, it’s their dream and it’s Eteri’s dream too,” she said. “I have no secret, I just work, work, work. There is a quote that I love which says ‘Art is jealous: it demands that the person surrendered to him entirely’.” She added. “I’m completely devoted to my art, figure skating.”
She’s impressed everyone around her, including fans who saw her moves via the Internet. A video capturing her triple axel garnered more than 1.5 million views and thousands of comments of people in awe of the young professional.
“Forget jumps. She’s a pure artist. Just look at her head and eye orientations, the facial expressions, the flowy soft hands, the musicality, the evenness of her movements on ice like she’s floating. All movements thrown into emotion with beautiful extensions. THIS. IS. REAL. ARTISTRY,” someone wrote.
“The hyperextension of her split positions, the fluidity and expression of her arms and hands, so effortless-she is breathtaking,” another said. “She skates like a ballerina. Absolutely gorgeous in every phase. She is beyond her years, and beautiful,” someone else noted.
Take a look and see for yourself the beauty and grace that is Miss Perfect in the video below!
How breathtaking is this Olympic skater?