During the Winter Olympics in the Chinese capital, Bach claimed, "it was chilling to see" Valieva received with "tremendous coldness" by her "closest entourage" after her disappointing performance in the free skate which saw her drop out of the medal positions, finishing fourth. 

Tutberidze has claimed she was unfairly maligned by Bach for her treatment of 15-year-old Valieva, despite being seen on worldwide television asking her "why did you let it go?" and "why did you stop fighting?"

But Tutberidze, one of the most successful skating coaches in history, defended what happened at Beijing 2022.

"At that time, Kamila kept a short distance," Tutberidze, who also coaches Beijing 2022 gold medallist Anna Shcherbakova, told French newspaper L’Equipe during an interview at the World Figure Skating Championships, which finished in Saitama in Japan yesterday.

"You can’t hug someone who doesn’t want to, and the problem is not that she failed.

"On the other hand, we have no right to give up.

"I just asked her why she stopped competing after second element.

"She simply refused to fight to the end.

"In addition, the Olympic Games are a holiday, many athletes dream of being in her place.

"I can’t stand the tantrums of athletes.

"After that, we sat together in the locker room for a long time.

"This accusation of Thomas Bach is unfair; I expect an apology from him."

Valieva helped the Russian Olympic Committee to win gold in the team event at Beijing 2022 but was at the centre of a doping scandal exclusively revealed by insidethegames, which led to her only being permitted to compete in the women's singles by a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) panel.

The medal ceremony is still yet to take place for the team event while the case is continuing, with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) planning to take it to CAS after a Russian Anti-Doping Agency Disciplinary Committee ruled Valieva had committed an anti-doping rule violation after testing positive for trimetazidine but was not to blame for it.

Tutberidze launched a passionate defence of Valieva.

"I really don't know what happened," the 49-year-old Tutberidze told L’Equipe.

"With our whole team, we tried to understand, we watched the cameras of the Russian Championship where she was checked.

"And we wonder why it took so long between the control and the announcement of the result.

"My skaters have always been clean athletes.

"These accusations are insulting."

Tutberidze admitted that the consequences for Valieva would be huge if WADA wins its appeal at CAS and a four-year ban is imposed.

"It would be the end of her career," Tutberidze said.