NBC Reporter on ‘Crumbling’ of Russian Skater Who Failed Drug Test Failing to Medal: ‘Saddest Moment at the Olympics I Think I’ve Ever Seen’

NBC reporter Gadi Schwartz lamented what he called “a crumbling” as 15-year-old Russian ice skater Kamila Valieva, who competed despite failing a drug test, failed to get a medal in the women’s free skate on Thursday during the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

During Thursday’s MSNBC Reports, host Chris Jansing remarked to Schwartz, “It would be hard to overstate what a stunning development this is. Tell us what we saw this morning and how this drama is all playing out.”

“I think everyone that watched it live is still processing what we saw. It was the saddest moment at the Olympics I think I’ve ever seen. It was a crumbling of a 15-year-old on the ice with the entire world watching,” said Schwartz. “Kamila Valieva falling apart in jump after jump after being flawless for so long, just wrecked with emotion and despair and then leaving the ice in tears. Her coach’s words immediately afterwards seemed to be of criticism.”

As Schwartz was about to describe the aftermath of Valieva’s performance, Jansing interjected, “Wait, what, what, what, what. Her coach then like did what?”

Schwartz said:

Yeah. Instead of the hugs and the consolation, what you saw after that, just it shocked everybody. You see her teammate Alexandra Trusova breaking down and crying as well. It’s unclear why she was crying.

But Chris, you have to understand, Alexandra had just won silver. She should have been celebrating. She hit a historic five quads, something that’s never been done. And yet, she was sobbing in Russian, saying “I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go to the podium.”

Meanwhile, the winner of the gold in all of this, Anna Shcherbakova, she was off by herself, standing alone as the coaches tended to Valieva and Alexandra.

Shcherbakova, like Valieva and Trusova, is Russian.

Watch above, via MSNBC.