Teenage figure skater first woman to land quad jump at Winter Olympics

BEIJING: Russian teenage star Kamila Valieva made figure skating history on Monday (Feb 7), 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.

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.