IOC president's words ‘ring hollow’ amid lackluster Olympics: Yahoo Finance’s Dave Briggs

Yahoo Finance’s David Briggs discusses the IOC president's remarks on figure skater Kamila Valieva's treatment off the ice and how the Winter Olympics are playing out.

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, there is yet another twist in an ongoing saga involving Russian Olympic figure skater Kamila Valieva, who tested positive for a banned substance. Now Valieva failed to medal in the women's event Thursday after slipping multiple times in the long program, leading to an emotional outburst after she finished. Now the head of the International Olympic Committee is now speaking out criticizing her coaches for publicly chiding her.

THOMAS BACH: When I afterwards saw how she was received by her closest entourage with such a-- what appeared to be a tremendous coldness. You-- it was chilling to see this. Rather than giving her comfort, rather than to try to help her.

AKIKO FUJITA: The IOC's Thomas Bach there speaking to reporters over in Beijing. Want to bring in Yahoo Finance's Dave Briggs for more on this story. And Dave, for those who didn't watch this last night, essentially Valieva came off the ice rink after she had completed what was really a disastrous performance for her. And her coaches could be heard saying why did you let it go? Why did you stop fighting? I mean, it--

DAVE BRIGGS: That was [? the first. ?]

AKIKO FUJITA: --was uncomfortable to watch.

DAVE BRIGGS: You know, it was an agonizing routine first, Akiko. To watch the best figure skater on the planet, and that she is-- and that's why she was the gold medal favorite-- fall multiple times. It felt like about a 30-minute performance like she might just skate off the ice. You got to give her credit just for finishing that routine. But yeah, those words from her coach, why did you stop fighting? Are the words that you could see and that really do ring disturbing like Thomas Bach said.

But ultimately, it's hard to really understand Thomas Bach. This is the system on which he's built the Olympics. Should they even be in China, a human rights abuser? Should they even allow Russia to compete after a massive doping scandal in 2014 under the Russian Olympic Committee banner?

And then to have a system that the rule makes sense, if you're under 16 you should be treated as a minor and it's not necessarily your responsibility what goes into your body. Well, then someone needs to be held accountable. Most notably, that coach who did not comfort her athlete, and the team doctor should have been suspended from the Olympics and from this next Olympics. And until Thomas Bach changes that system, it's hard to really care what he's saying there or to really buy how sympathetic he is for that young athlete who was just torn apart in tears, in front of the entire planet on the biggest stage of her career.

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, and also, those other skaters who actually medaled, I mean, they didn't look so happy either just given how emotional everything was. I mean, how far do you think this particular incident goes in tarnishing what is one of the signature events for the Winter Olympic Games?

DAVE BRIGGS: Unfortunately, I think unless something bigger happens in these next 48 hours, this is going to be what we're stuck with. Because there wasn't really an iconic performance in these Winter Games that we can all be inspired by, someone that's going to come home and be an Olympic hero because Mikaela Shiffrin struggled, and Shaun White, the GOAT and snowboarding retired. None of the huge household name stars really had a gold medal-winning inspiring performance. So I think this is what we're going to be stuck with. And this is the IOC.

One other story that fell way under the radar, a good friend of mine is a snowboarder who won a silver medal earlier in these games. They decided that in her second competition suddenly her snowboard sponsor Prada wasn't actually an official Olympic sponsor and said she needs to cross out the sponsorship on the bottom of her snowboard. She had no choice but to cross it out with a Sharpie. She then got hurt because any friction you add to a board impacts the way a snowboarder lands. The IOC needs to stop pretending this is about the athletes or make some major structural changes to these games, otherwise those words from Thomas Bach just kind of ring hollow.

Dan Wetzel, who writes for Yahoo Sports called this frankly, child abuse what happened to Valieva. And it's hard to argue with what he said there given the treatment from her coach and sponsors. That rule needs to be changed. If you're not going to be held accountable what goes into your body, someone has to be and therefore someone has to be suspended from these Olympics and another Olympics. This is what Russia does. This is their playbook we've seen it for decades now.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, and David, it was interesting to see how NBC treated this too. I mean, Tara Lipinski who, of course, was calling this, she won the gold medal, saying, look, it's the adults who didn't protect her. She's just 15 years old. And she is the one that is now having to take on that emotional toll. But just really kind of a painful performance all-around and something that I think the IOC will continue to be asked about. Dave Briggs, thanks so much for bringing us that story.