John Riordan: Ice storm intrigue in Beijing leaves skaters feeling cold

The curious case of Olympic athlete Kamila Valieva played out against the backdrop of escalating US-Russia tensions

Russia’s Kamila Valieva competes in the women’s single skating free skating at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing yesterday. Picture: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP via Getty Images

Americans look at you bemused when you tell them you didn’t grow up skiing and they can’t fathom a world where the quadrennial Winter Olympics are anything but a rite of passage.

Here in the US, it ranks equally with the Summer Games; in Ireland in the 90s, Cool Runnings and the odd bit of passive consumption of Ski Sunday on the BBC was about as far as we got. No further than the catchy opening credits, honestly.