For almost 40 years Bolero represented perfection on ice. In Beijing it was the soundtrack to a car crash.
Kamila Valieva, the secondary school kid with the positive drugs test, was so sure a thing they postponed the medal ceremony to save having to later ask for hers back.
Yet when Ravel’s haunting orchestral struck up, the one synonymous with Torvill and Dean and their 12 maximum 6.0s in Sarajevo all that time ago, it signalled only an implosion.
Valieva, at 15 already the best there’s ever been, disintegrated before the watching world.
She fell twice, and even when upright looked as uncertain as young Bambi. By the end the world number one ranked only third in her club.
“Watching Kamila I saw from her first jump how difficult it was, what a burden it was for her,” said Anna Shcherbakova, whose feat of adding Olympic gold to her world title was rather lost.
Robin Cousins, Britain’s own ice legend, squirmed in his seat as the tearful youngster melted under the harshest spotlight.
"Someone thought having her do that was better than having her go home to her family and to wait and sort this out, knowing she could have two more Olympics ahead of her," he said.
"To see the talent and the unquestionable quality of Valieva... To see it put into this arena in that way, should never have happened."
If that was enough drama nobody told runner-up Sacha Trusova who brought fire to the ice by landing no fewer than five quad jumps - then raged against the decision to give her Russian rival the prize.
“I will never go on the ice again in my life,” the red-headed ‘Russian Rocket’ exploded back stage. “I hate everyone, I hate this sport! You can’t do it this way.”
At first it was unclear whether her wrath was directed at critics of Valieva, her coach for trying to talk her into a simpler routine, or the judges who somehow saw fit to deny her.
It turned out to be the latter and few argued that the 17-year old was not entitled to her Diva moment given 10 days ago the Olympics had never seen a quadruple leap.
Still the drama was only just getting going. Onto the ice came Valieva, her mind all over the place followed closely behind by her body.
Even when it finally ended her ordeal wasn’t over as she walked straight into a blast from her coach Eteri Tutberidze.
According to Russian media, Tutberidze barked at the youngster: “Why did you let it go? Explain to me, why? Why did you stop fighting.”
It was a shocking note on which to end the most disturbing tale of these Games.
