Abuse On Ice

By Dalton Raykowski

Co-Managing Editor

March 2022

Everyone has a gold medal, everyone, but not me. I hate skating. I hate it. I hate this sport.” This is what Alexandra Trusova, a 17-year-old skater under Eteri Tutberidze, said after the conclusion of the girl’s individual figure skating program. Skaters under Tutberidze often suffer throughout their career, whether it be from eating disorders, or broken bones—all for the hopes of winning medals for Russia. Bringing honor to one’s home country should not come at the expense of the athlete’s wellbeing, and currently, that is the case. The ISU (International Skating Union) is to blame for this since their policies do little to protect the athletes competing within their jurisdiction, and this needs to change.

The 2022 Winter Olympics were chillingly full of scandals. Consider the doping scandal surrounding Kamila Valieva, a 15-year-old skater from Russia. According to the NY Times, Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a heart medication that has the potential to be performance-enhancing. Given that she was 15, she was still allowed to compete because the IOC (International Olympic Committee) does not allow athletes under 16 to be held to the same standard as other athletes.

This sparked controversy because in the most recent summer Olympics Sha’Carri Richardson was not allowed to compete since she tested positive for marijuana. The issue is that, because Valieva was younger, she was not held to this same standard. It is my opinion that the athletes should not be allowed to compete if they are not all being held to the same standards, as that, by definition, creates even more inequality in the games.

Now, I do not believe that the fault for this should be placed solely on Valieva. First of all, the ISU should have had policies in place that, at the very least, set the minimum age to compete at 16, not the 15 years that it is set at now. Then, at least, the athletes would still be held to the same standards.

Moreover, the adults should have done better to protect her. At 15 years old there is likely a very small chance that Valieva got to have any say in the doping decision, and the fact that she did test positive is proof that the adults around her have failed. Had the ISU set the competition age to 16 or 17, there could have been less pressure to get her competing, which would have allowed her to develop skills without the need for doping.

Doping is only one part of the scandal because there were also concerns raised about the coaching style used by the Russian coach Tutberidze. Some of the concerns raised were quite jarring, and Polina Shuboderova, a previous skater under Tutberidze, made some serious accusations. In one case, she claimed that Tutberidze would place her in a trash can with the lid closed if she trained badly, because “waste goes into the trash.”

That is not all, though, as according to The Wall Street Journal Anna Shcherbakova, the 17-year-old Olympic Gold Medalist, had to compete in the 2020 Russian National Competition while suffering from pneumonia. Anna was visibly gasping for air, as well as suffering from a 100-degree fever at the time of the short program. According to the Russian media, Shcherbakova competed over the recommendation of her coach, but if Tutberidze really cared, she should not have let Shcherbakova compete regardless of her wishes.

Regardless of the abuses, Tutberidze is praised by the skating community, and this is once again a fault of the ISU. Just in 2020, the ISU awarded her with the Best Coach award, saying on their Instagram post that “she’s given so much strength and dedication to her athletes this season, and now it’s time for this talented coach to take center stage.” It is clear that her history of abuse means nothing to the ISU if they believe that she is deserving of the award.

The sport of figure skating is in disarray, and ISU needs to make a change. Children should not be placed in positions like the one Valieva was placed into, and coaches should not be praised for abusing the athletes under their command.