Figure Skating: He's Here, He's Weir, Get Over It

[kostgard]

God, this is all just grim. That poor girl. She’s only 15 and she’s been chewed up and spit out on the world stage. Katarina Witt was distraught while covering this for German television. And I feel the same way.

Because they didn’t do the responsible thing when she tested positive back in December, there was no way this was going to have a happy ending for anyone. The athletes competing in these games deserved better, including Kamila. She was failed by the adults surrounding her.

I really hope this leads to some changes. Raising the age limit, stop giving Russia what amounts to an imaginary ban for state-sponsored doping and actually punish them - something. Anything. Stop sitting by and watching these girls get put through the grinder and then they are out of the sport by age 19.

[PearlySweetcake]

Weird random fact about Eteri: Her name is on the survivors' wall of the Oklahoma City bombing. She and other Russian skaters were staying at the YMCA, a block from the Murrah building, when the bomb went off. That's all I've got.

[seat6]

I had my annual pelvic exam and mammogram today and I can honestly say that was a more pleasurable experience than watching the last part of this free skate and the medal ceremony.

That was heart-wrenching and traumatic. I can't imagine how painful it was to all of the competitors. Everything about that was wrong--except for the bright spots, the skaters who competed fairly, did their best, and were satisfied or at least reconciled with their performances.

I love the Japanese, Korean, and American women. There was something special about each one of them. I hope to see more of them in the future, and less child abuse on a international stage.

[technicolor]

Yeah, that was incredibly upsetting to watch. I like figure skating and it's always fun to watch, but the sport, particularly ladies, has always had a problem with ushering kids (most often girls) way too young into the sport and then discarding them once they grow up and can't land the impressive jumps anymore. And the media, the audience has mostly kept quiet about this so medal winners can be produced and the pretty spectacle can go on. Been also thinking about my own part in consuming this and not always wanting to think about the more problematic aspects..

In dictatorships like Russia or China where there are traditions of sports academies this form of abuse can take on a state-approved form. And of course Tutberidze has been a pretty egregrious example of using young girls as objects to further her own career. But let's be honest, it's been rampant in the sport throughout. There's always laughter about "skating parents", but how funny is it for the kid having to measure up to those expectations? I already mentioned Lipinski. The stuff that came out about the abusive US pairs coach recently, Tom Zakrajsek pushing his skaters to skate through injuries. And yeah, he's a legend, but Gracie Gold's stories don't paint a pretty picture of Frank Caroll either tbh. It's pretty rampant everywhere, just takes on different forms in countries where it is privately financed. And usually it's just taken as part of the sport and often even excused. Look how long it took to expose the Karolyis...

Just so sad for these girls.

[Mutagen]

Although I would love to see her face actual consequences, I can't help but think Eteri ain't going anywhere. At the end of the day her skaters dominated the podium. The bus will keep going and Valieva and Trusova will just be thrown under it as "not being able to cut it" or whatever. I hate saying this and I'd love to be wrong.

[Ginger]

Feb 18, 2022 1:33:07 GMT -4 PearlySweetcake said:

Weird random fact about Eteri: Her name is on the survivors' wall of the Oklahoma City bombing. She and other Russian skaters were staying at the YMCA, a block from the Murrah building, when the bomb went off. That's all I've got.

Also: Tutberidze's daughter - a half-American, mediocre ice dancer - went deaf as a toddler and could not be cured. Now she claims she cured her deafness without any medical help, just through force of will, and now hears better than the rest of us.

Both of these factoids haunt me, for reasons I can't quite explain.

[kostgard]

Feb 18, 2022 9:05:28 GMT -4 Mutagen said:

Although I would love to see her face actual consequences, I can't help but think Eteri ain't going anywhere. At the end of the day her skaters dominated the podium. The bus will keep going and Valieva and Trusova will just be thrown under it as "not being able to cut it" or whatever. I hate saying this and I'd love to be wrong.

I think you’re right. As long as she keeps churning out medals, no one cares what actually happens to the athletes and she won’t pay a price. Someone else will take the blame and she will keep going.

[royalwave]

I thought this was interesting about Tutberidze's daughter, from Wikipedia:

"As a toddler, Davis was diagnosed with third degree sensorineural hearing loss caused by incorrectly prescribed antibiotics. She underwent medical treatment in Germany, but her hearing could not be fully restored. As a result of the disease, she has underdeveloped coordination and relies partially on lip-reading to communicate. However, the disability does not affect her ability to hear music.

Davis' mother, Eteri Tutberidze, took her to an ice rink for the first time when she was just 2 years old. Although Davis initially wanted to pursue synchronized swimming, she began training as a skater at the age of six as it was her only opportunity to spend time with her mother. She was initially coached by her mother as a single skater in Moscow; however, she switched to ice dance in 2016 due to Tutberidze's concern for her safety performing jump elements given her lack of coordination."

So apparently Eteri is capable of showing some degree of compassion when it comes to her own daughter and doesn't want to see her get hurt, but who cares about all the other girls she coaches, right? Diana is allowed to still have a career at age 19.

[Ginger]

I do think that as with the judging scandal of 2002, this scandal has been too terrible and too public for something not to be done about it, but I don't think anybody has a lot of faith that whatever is done will be effective.

Tutberidze currently oversees hundreds of students, and right now has two 14-year-olds in the juniors doing quads, so that's who we will be seeing at the Olympics in 2026. My guess is that Russia will be brushing off the Soviet PR tactics that they seemed to have stopped caring about in recent years. I think the Russian skaters will all arrive in 2026 speaking English and doing a lot of interviews with western media about what happy, normal girls they are.

Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir have been criticized for not being condemnatory enough of Russia from the beginning, but someone please tell me where Scott Hamilton has disappeared to? I saw him contributing at the beginning of the Olympics and he was raving about how the Russians "just figured out the physics" of quads. He said that over and over and over again: "They just figured out the physics!" Yeah, not just that, Scott.

Oct 24, 2019 13:25:06 GMT -4 royalwave said:

So apparently Eteri is capable of showing some degree of compassion when it comes to her own daughter and doesn't want to see her get hurt, but who cares about all the other girls she coaches, right? Diana is allowed to still have a career at age 19.

Her daughter's a pretty bad ice dancer though, and it is typical of the Russian system that if you don't have what it takes to be a singles skater, they will move you to pairs or dance. But yeah, I do think the daughter has been the recipient of a lot more compassion than Eteri's other students.

[Deleted]

Mar 13, 2005 12:45:42 GMT -4 Ginger said:

Tutberidze currently oversees hundreds of students, and right now has two 14-year-olds in the juniors doing quads, so that's who we will be seeing at the Olympics in 2026.

The terrible thing is, they probably won't be. They'll be 18, which is "old" by Tutberidze standards. 2026 is going to feature whoever she has that is currently 11. I forget who is was, I think is was Sofia Samodelkina?, but one Russian figure skater said that nowadays, if you're not 15 in an Olympic year, you probably won't be going. There are huge differences between even 15 and 16, let alone 17 or 18. Every previous Tutberidze skater's injuries started once they were past 15, because of the horrible Tutberidze technique that strains the back...Medvedeva, Zagitova, Lipnitskaya, Tursenbayeva, and now Kostornaia. It's like clockwork. This is also part of why Trusova was so upset, because she knows at 17 she's not going to get another chance. Nevermind that Elizaveta Tuktamysheva is still very competitive at 25, because she's been taught good technique.

They have to raise the age, or this will keep happening.

Editing to add: Also, improving judging would also prevent this. The Tutberidze technique that strains the back features insane amounts of pre-rotation, that combined with tiny child hips is how they do quads. Once you actually enforce rules about pre-rotation (which they did with Kim Yu Na, she was penalized frequently for pre-rotation on her triple flips), quads will suddenly not be worth nearly as much.