When he was a competitive figure skater, Johnny Weir was always coached by Russians. He ended up learning Russian, and he’s quite fluent to this day. I haven’t seen the video, but apparently Weir was translating what the Russian ice skaters and coaches were saying to each other after the final skates on Thursday, in what was the conclusion of the figure skating drama at the Beijing Olympics. All of the DRAMA was going down on Team ROC too.
Russian skater Kamila Valieva, 15, was widely considered to be a lock on the gold medal for individual figure skating. Then she tested positive for a banned substance and the IOC only found out about it last week. On Monday she was cleared to compete, even with the positive test. As it turns out, she was taking a cocktail of three PEDs, only one of which was banned. The situation was a complete trainwreck, and the IOC should have had the balls to simply suspend her until further notice. Instead, she was allowed to do her short and long programs. And in the end, she didn’t medal.
Kamila Valieva stumbled and fell her way through a nervy performance to end her controversial Beijing Olympics, while Russian Olympic Committee teammate Anna Shcherbakova won the gold medal Thursday in the women’s free skate. Valieva’s mistake-filled skate left her in fourth place, without a medal and in tears. The 15-year-old was heavily favored to win the gold but heads home with nothing from the women’s program and still faces investigation for a positive drug test.
In the end, her ROC teammate Shcherbakova won the gold in stunning fashion, but she also appeared devastated when the final scores came in.
If Valieva had won a medal, there would not have been a ceremony due to the ongoing investigation, and the figure skating community was outraged that she was allowed to compete.
No one seemed happy with the result Thursday. Shcherbakova, who finished with a 255.95 combined score from the two days of competition, stood alone while much of the ROC team consoled Valieva. Valieva didn’t speak to reporters in the mixed zone after her performance, instead quickly making her way through the room without stopping. Shcherbakova, who did speak to reporters, didn’t offer much insight into what had happened with Valieva but insisted she herself had no mixed emotions after earning the top spot on the podium.
“No, I am just happy. I am only happy,” Shcherbakova said. “I still haven’t realized what happened. I can’t believe the Olympics are already over for me.”
Alexandra Trusova, also representing the ROC, won the silver medal after a performance with five successful quad jumps. But a sobbing Trusova said she didn’t want to participate in the medal ceremony, although she ultimately did attend the event.
Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto won the bronze medal.
Valieva sobbed after her long program and when she found out that she didn’t medal. Update: Apparently, Trusova cried to the Team ROC officials that she hated this, she hated skating, something like that. There are theories floating around that someone – the IOC? ROC? – told Valieva to choke her long program just to end the controversy. I don’t know. It seems perfectly reasonable that a 15-year-old under enormous pressure, taking heart medication which was never prescribed to her, would naturally falter in the biggest spotlight. I’m not saying the conspiracy is totally off-the-wall though. God knows. She just never should have been able to compete. Period.
Thank you. 🤍 pic.twitter.com/0G4tr9g6DY
— Johnny Weir (@JohnnyGWeir) February 17, 2022
Johnny Weir translating Russian inter-team bench drama in real time is extraordinary television.
— BofM_Jeremy (@BofM_Jeremy) February 17, 2022
Photos courtesy of Getty, Instagram.
Is there a link to see the video of Johnny translating ?
If you can get the nbc coverage from last night they have Johnny translating what happens after the final score is given for valieva.
Johnny didn’t translate much, so your best bet is other sources posted below. (I read a great Reddit thread last night.)
It was bonkers to watch, so I have no doubt johnny and Tara were trying to let it all unfold. The tantrum from the 2nd place girl was pretty epic too!
Johnny actually translated more than what was shown on the primetime replay. I was able to watch it on the Peacock app and NBC cut some of the drama out to show the girls’ interviews.
I couldn’t find the video, but there is a story on Sports Illustrated’s website regarding the emotional chaos that unfolded after last night’s competition. It includes a translation of the coaches’ conversation with Valieva.
This was Sasha Trusova’s meltdown as translated on Reddit:
“I will never do it again. Never! I hate this , I hate you all, I hate this sport. Never in my life. Let me go! Why them, why they get it.They all got medals, not me. Will never do anything in this sport! I will never step on the ice again. This is impossible, you can’t do this, you can’t do this.I don’t speak English, I don’t want anything, I hate all of this, I hate it. I don’t know what are you saying (staff asking her some question), leave me alone. I hate you. You knew, you knew it all (???). You should know this broke my life (I can’t hear very clear at this moment) forever. Leave me alone.”
All I could see when the final results were in were three absolutely devastated-looking Russian teenagers (even the winner looked unhappy) and one deliriously overjoyed Japanese.
This whole situation was terrible. She shouldn’t have been on the ice but also the adults around her failed her spectacularly and she is the only one who will suffer the consequences.
Yes, I was saying the same thing in the last post! How grotesque are we–seeing a 15 year old girl crying and performing under enormous pressure at the Olympics after obviously being exploited by the adults around her? Everything about this situation angers me. Honestly, if they were pumping her full of drugs, what other bodily or emotional harm has this woman endured? Her coaches and parents need to be held accountable. Disgusting.
Exactly. Alllllllll this.
Apparently her trainer is infamous for bringing teenagers to the top for one year and then they are used up, and never end up in the top again, often with medical problems. But she already has the next batch of teenagers ready. I heard an interview on the Swiss national radio in which a former ice skater said teenagers should never do the jumps Valieva did. because it’s too damaging for growing bodies. She said only adults should be allowed to compete in international tournaments so there would be less pressure for teenagers to perform those kinds of jumps. It sounds really awful and while the trainer is a monster the whole ice skating community is neglecting to protect children and teenagers by allowing them to compete.
@Lena, WOW. I don’t know a ton about skating, but I could totally see that. To me, this girl most likely has had to endure both immediate violent acts and what we could think of as slow violence—eliminating her future potential by draining her of a sound/fit mind and body in the present and slowly abusing her until she can no longer perform.
Honestly, my mind has gone to dark places thinking about the possible things this girl has had to endure. Honestly, sexual abuse at some point would not surprise me. I truly believe that if people rationalize doping a child as “okay,” then they could be doing anything to her.
There are so many children competing in these games. I think the stress and pressure to compete at such elite levels is physically and mentally unhealthy for them.
@Lena, often they are there for more than a year, but then get surpassed by the younger group.
Last Olympics gold and the silver medalist did compete and respectively won Worlds and got bronze in the year after that. But then Trusova and her age group became senior another year later and they didn’t have much of a chance against them when it came to getting spots to Worlds etc.
Often, the older ladies can still compete at senior competitions, but they are not likely to get spots for the biggest competitions as there are 3 spots per country maximum.
An exception is Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who is 25 and won a silver at Worlds last year. She has a different trainer, though.
And as every “old batch” of girls are forgotten and in terrible pain from having had to do figures that destroyed their bodies while starving, Eteri gets bonuses for having coached so many world champions and gold medalists.
Yeah, I’m not going to cast a stone at Valieva. The coaches, and the Olympic committee though? Hell yes!
Agreed! Russia are a bunch of cheaters and abuse their athletes. Why does IOC allow them to
Even compete? BS. Also why are minor s allowed to
Compete at all. Olympics are a joke and this POS coach wrecked those
Girls lives. Gross
Eteri should be investigated. Trusova had a complete breakdown because she placed second. Crying her eyes out and saying she’ll never step foot on the ice again. Being competitive in sports in not necessarily a bad thing, but if you become obsessed with having to win its not healthy either.
And apparently Eteri was berating Valieva after her skate (along the lines of ‘why didn’t you pull it together, why did you stop fighting?’) She really sounds like a horrible person, she should definitely be investigated.
I have to admit, though, that I’m happy that the top three will at least be able to get their medals.
I have to say, I put that theory out on my Twitter feed. I also put out that this girl was only 15, and while she might “know” that there are a lot of banned substances, she is a RUSSIAN skater, and I doubt the ADULT skaters have much personal autonomy/agency to not do exactly what their coaches/trainers tell them to, let alone the underage ones.
I also have to say, the way the cameras lingered and lingered on this girl, they literally crawled up her ass for a prolonged period afterward…it made ME uncomfortable. It was so exploitative of NBC to do that.
I’m just hope this girl can find some peace for a while, and that there is *someone* somewhere, who will just take her and protect her.
The Ringer had a great analysis of the situation especially in light of the recent trend from Russian skaters that these teen phenoms in one Games are used up and tossed aside by the next.
https://www.theringer.com/2022/2/17/22938888/kamila-valieva-olympic-figure-skating-ped-scandal
Amen. I am so angry at the adults involved. ALL of them. Her trainers, her parents, the IOC, the people who decided to give a growing 15 year old heart medications. The list is long and it seems there is not a single decent person in her life. It breaks my heart that she alone will carry this shame – and possible heart damage from taking an unnecessary cocktail of drugs.
I think she crumbled under pressure, something that – based on the questions her coach drilled her with afterward – wasn’t planned.
And that tantrum by the silver medalist was something!
The coach needs to be banned for life.
The one who said that she hated skating was actually Trusova.
Or at the very lease she also said it.
That’s what I thought. The BBC had a story about the ‘cold’ attitude of the coach and commented on both girls and the reactions to their performances. Given what I’ve been reading about her on here it’s past time there was a closer look at her coaching approach. They also commented on all the past Russian medal winners who won one (young) and were never seen again.
According to Johnny, she was saying something like “you knew the whole time” to Eteri. Which I feel like only fueled the conspiracies
We might be on the same page here, but I think “you knew the whole time” meant Eteri told her that if she landed all those quads, even without any artistic elements, she’d win gold. Which wasn’t the case. There is an artistic component to the scores which Trusova just didn’t have.
I found a clip on YouTube and something I don’t understand is it seems that Trusova had her meltdown AFTER Valieva skated and obviously did not do well. But if she knew she was already not getting the gold, bc the other Russian skater beat her. Or was that just an editing/continuity error?
Etari and Trusova have a complicated relationship, Trusova left Etari. Etari had to promise things to Etari for her to come back, but they didn’t coach her artistically, write a program showing artistry and at the crux of it
they may have promised her that 5 quads would win it all. Could Trusova have trained for the artistry through a different coach, yes. Nathan Chen had to have both jumps and grace. Who knows how many lies Etari was juggling with these girls to keep them all going?
Tutberidze is rumored to pit the girls against each other, so I think it is reasonable to speculate Trusova’s meltdown was related to promises about winning over Shcherbakova, especially if Valieva lost.
This event was a tragic display of what happens when adults get obsessed with winning at all cost and ruin a sport.
She’s only 15 and this is Putin’s Russia we’re talking about. I’ve been thinking about this and I don’t think she could say no or quit if she wanted to. Nor could she ask a lot of questions regarding what she is taking. My nephew is going to be 15 this year and although he’s not an Olympic athlete – he doesn’t ask many questions about the world around him either. He just assumes everyone is doing right by him and maybe she did too. This might be her first time realizing the medication wasn’t vitamins.
ITA. These are children who are regimented in this sport by powerful authority figures (their coaches and doctors) from a young age. They do not question, they just do what they are told to please those ordering them. Think of our own country and the sexual abuse of the Olympic gymnastics team members, some of them were so naive and trusting that they did not understand until years later that what their doctor did to to them was rape. Now compare to your doctor or coach gives you pills and tells you they are nutritional supplements or something… you just take them no questions asked.
Sort of. The Russian athletes know that if they do not do as they are told, when they are told, they will be gone. They have been taught not to ask questions from the time skates were first put on their feet. Their families became secondary to their coaches before they turned 10. They do what they are ordered to do, they eat what is put in front of them, they swallow the pills they are given – no questions asked, ever.
A typical American teenage athlete might ask questions out of curiosity – mine certainly did. An elite American teenage athlete will ask more questions, simply because as Weir & Lipinsky said, they have been under scrutiny and been drug tested from the time they were 11 or 12. These kids know that it’s their career that is on the line and you have to hope that they have a good support structure in place to protect them (as it appears that Lipinsky & Wier did).
People in that training group do question the adults at time.
Both Kostornaia (another skater that didn’t make it to the Olympics) and Trusova left at one point for another trainer amidst some arguing back and forth, but then returned.
I don’t know exactly why they returned, but it might be because they didn’t get the same results. The trainer is a famous skater, but didn’t have much coaching experience yet.
@Flowerlake – the coach is not a famous skater – she skated in Russia, but ended up in the US skating for Ice Capades. Then she went back to Russia. And she has had a lot of coaching experience since – almost all the podium winners in the past 10 years have been from her training camp.
@Eurydice, the other trainer is Plushenko, one of the most famous skaters in Russian history. He just didn’t have much coaching experience yet.
That was who I was talking about.
@Flowerlake – got it, thanks.
This entire situation is appalling and sad. But not surprising coming from Russia. I realize doping is done everywhere, but the Russians don’t even bother to pretend to care. I feel bad for their athletes. Weir did a service translating. So sad.
At times, Americans don’t bother to care either. An LA Angels employee was just convicted of giving drugs to several baseball players on different teams and is going to prison for it. They found out about him because he gave drugs to a pitcher who died as a result (Tyler Skaggs).
No one is talking about this, though, even though a man is dead.
@MissMarirose that’s not true. Skaggs died in 2019 and it has been a big story. Skaggs’ death was all over the main stream media in the US even though originally no one knew why he died. Then the drug case was investigated, prosecuted and an executive for the LA was just criminally convicted just yesterday. A quick google search now and you get about the same amount of stories on Skaggs as you do on this story especially with American Media. The MLB is not international- basically only American and Toronto, as opposed to the Olympics. Not to mention drug use in MLB has been a big deal and story forever. A boatload of players from the big juicing era were not voted in the HOF due to it. Finally, a bunch of these names are off the ballot, i.e. Bonds, etc. The MLB and Players Union have been trying to do things to improve this for a while and they have gotten some improvements, but like everything there are people who mess with it. Not to mention, no one is MLB is not a legal adult either, unlike this sport.
Not to play devil’s advocate here I doubt in 3 years this incident will have any publicity and the adult players probably won’t have been punished at all. I hope I am wrong, but I doubt it. It seems to me if you are giving children drugs they don’t need to just win something it should be criminally illegal, but maybe it isn’t in Russia.
It’s not a Russian thing, it’s a competitive sports thing. Have we already forgotten Nasser and all the abuse adults that are supposed to be in charge are willing to overlook because some monster helps bringing medals?
The person who had a complete mental break down was Alexandra Trusova. The girl who placed 2nd. Although Valieva was crying as well. Eteri is ruining these girls and she should be investigated.
it is straight up child abuse. on a global stage. on tv!!!
I’m glad to see the narrative is finally shifting to the coach and other adults, and how literally abusive the whole situation is, instead of blaming a highly controlled 15 year old. hopefully all of this will bring change to the entire sport as a result.
It was Trusova who was saying she hated skating, etc., and she was sobbing because she felt she should have won with higher technical scores. Valieva’s coach was berating her for having given up, so I don’t know about the “ordered to take a dive” story.
I don’t think anyone took a dive. Valieva needed the endurance heart pills, the trifecta of meds she was taking. In previous years she was artistic but fell on jumps. I honestly think Sakimoto of Japan was the gold medalist. The two higher scoring girls came out of a doping program and probably cycled off their meds correctly in order to test clear. I don’t think the Russian quad jumpers got there cleanly.
Having watched the programs I liked the first and third medalist but did think the 3 Rd medalist was amazing just beautiful to watch
I, for one, am glad that the IOC spared this child from the immense pressure of the Olympic games by allowing her to compete. That is the most backwards “logic” I’ve ever heard of. This child has been drugged and abused. Her family, coaches and country have failed her. So f*cking sad.
The whole thing was so sad and horrible to watch. It was three teenagers, exploited and abused since they were young children because of their talent, by adults who only cared about Olympic medals and had no problem endangering the psychological and physical health of these girls. All three girls looked traumatised and under enormous pressure. It’s sad. Teenagers should not be allowed to compete against adults, their coaches need to be banned from coaching children ever again and Russia should not be allowed to compete at international level until they have completely stopped their state sponsored doping programme.
That is what I am thinking after this Olympics. Maybe there should be a threshold age of 18 or something like that and competition be limited to adults.
My question about adding the age threshold is, would that result in more efforts to keep the young women from going through normal maturation and development? The Russian girls are already said to be on a liquid diet to keep from gaining an ounce. Maybe have more than one age division in the Olympics? Or just effectively curtail the bad behavior by the coaches and trainers involved and test more often?
If I read the story correctly I believe there’s already some calling for there to be a certain age (18? Maybe) to compete and not allow ANYONE under that age to. Male or female.
My Mom watches both Summer and Winter Olympics religiously and has always said it gives her the shivers to see way too many youngsters (her words) out there with the “adults” especially figure skating (which she adores)
She had ALL of the feelings regarding this situation.
I think they could raise it, but if it’s raised to 18, there is a big chance that the strongest competitors are not allowed and that would also be a bit weird for the sport. Plenty of non-Russians that were competing with an easier tech arsenal that were above 18 have had injuries or other issues as well, so it wouldn’t stop all the issues.
For example, the best performing American is from the same age group as Valieva, as they both were only allowed to turn senior this year.
Shcherbakova and Trusova are two age groups above that.
The best performing Korean would also not have been allowed to compete if the minimum is 18.
Guess a balance should be found: maybe a mimumum of 16?
The age requisite means absolutely nothing. China, Russia and who knows who else have all been caught passing off their athletes as older than they are.
I agree that age plays a role but the bigger issue is the coach Eteri basically berating them behind her mask and in Russian. She needs to be booted from the sport forever.
Adam Rippon’s tweet said it best – what a shit show. The gold medalist looked like she finished last. This was a stain on figure skating and will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
And it was terrible because the gold medalist had a beautiful skate, her artistry was awesome and she has come back from so many injuries. Talk about having a dream moment ruined.
This whole thing was handled so badly.
It’s sad because Shcherbakova has always been a class act and level-headed.
She’s often sympathic to anyone when they lose and is known for being polite and diplomatic, even if press is impolite.
I hope she will get a lot of celebrating when she gets home, because she deserves it.
I had seen snippets on Twitter of the free skate. I had recorded it, but it didn’t record, so I had to wait until the prime time showing. I watched it this morning, and even though I had seen videos of the girls’ breakdowns, I was still moved to tears for them. Seeing Anna, the gold medalist, sitting all alone with no one to hug after her victory was the gut wrenching. The worst, though, was seeing Eteri berating Kamila after her skate, and then trying to be all nurturing and comforting later. The woman is pure evil as far as I’m concerned. As for Sasha, I know she was upset and angry, but that was a terrible display of unsportsmanlike conduct. All three of these girls have been abused and exploited by the adults around them, especially Eteri.
We tend to view these situations from a western perspective, and wonder why the girls didn’t stand up to the adults, but the plain truth is that they can’t. They live in a brutal dictatorship, they have no agency of their own, they are controlled in every single minute of their lives. I’m certain they are threatened with harm to their families, and themselves, if they refuse to follow orders. I can’t even begin to imagine the punishments they must receive if they disagree with their coaches or doctors. I agree with Adam, it’s been a total shitshow, and I don’t see how these girls will ever come back from this. And the worst thing? The adults around them will get away with all of it, and continue their abuse and exploitation of the next group of child skaters waiting in the wings. I don’t believe the IOC or any of the other organizations will do a thing to them. I mean, their “ban” of Russia is laughable already. Russia should be banned from the next Olympic cycle completely, but it will never happen.
@Babz there have been plenty of (public) disagreements between Eteri and students of hers, while they leave for other trainers, often against her will.
So, there is a lot going on, but she doesn’t control them totally.
I didn’t watch any of the competition so I don’t know, I can understand the conspiracy theorists that think she tanked it (especially since two ROC athletes took gold and silver anyway) but I also don’t know if an athlete at this caliber would deliberately tank a performance at the highest level of her career, especially knowing she’s most likely not going to be back in 4 years.
At any event it seems she was failed by all around her, and honestly Russia is going to keep failing its athletes like this (from the pressure to the doping to destroying their bodies) as long as they keep getting rewarded for it in the form of medals.
If you can find a video of the aftermath it is worth watching. It is the most bizarre thing I have ever seen in my decades of watching figure skating and I watched the Sale Pelletier situation and the 94 ladies program with Kerrigan and Harding.
You can see just how awful the coach Eteri is and how she abandons her skaters after the scores are announced.
I saw a headline today that the head of….the Olympics? the IOC? Something like that was “concerned” after seeing how Eteri responded/reacted to her athletes and I was like, OMG, everyone I know who follows skating even a little bit has been saying that!
I do need to find the video, the skating is usually my favorite part of the winter olympics but for some reason this time around I haven’t really watched any of it. Maybe the time difference? IDK.
That 14-minute aftermath video is something else. I’ve never seen anything like it. The gold winner was despondent, the silver seriously p*ssed off, and the bronze–well, she seemed joyous, but the fourth–the broken Russian, was devastated. None of those three Russian girls had a good Olympics.
@Becks1, that was Thomas Bach commenting on Eteri Tutberidze’s reaction after Valieva came off the ice. I forget if he’s still with the IOC or not.
I don’t think she tanked it. If you tank something, you pull back on skills (turn triples into doubles, that sort of thing). You don’t go for big elements half-heartedly. That could lead to serious, serious injury. Plus, there’s muscle memory that kicks in–the skaters must know exactly what to do at every moment, with every muscle in their body, to complete triples and quad jumps. If you tank, you skate slowly and conservatively. I believe she simply faltered under the crushing weight of both expectations from her coaches and country, and the global condemnation from the doping scandal. I remember reading about Debi Thomas in the 1988 Olympics (the Battle of the Carmens with Katerina Witt). Before she skated her long program, her coach said “Do it for America!” Thomas (the first black skater to medal at the Olympics–maybe the only to this day??) thought, “America?” The pressure crushed her, and she was a college student, not a 15 year old girl. Valieva, by falling apart the way she did, reminded all of us that at the end of the day, she’s still a teenaged girl.
ITA about Russia continuing to fail its athletes if they aren’t stopped. Russia needs to be banned for real. No more ROC or OAR or slaps on the wrist. Make them sit out the next 3 Olympics.
I agree. I will always remember Debi Thomas skating in the exhibition to George Michael’s “One More Try” and seeing how the weight was lifted from her.
I thought she might be tanking as she was skating, but after watching it all go down when she was done, there’s no way. No one is that good of an actor.
Die-hard fans on a figure skating forum have said that they’re certain she did NOT throw the competition. They commented that she looked off from the start and that her non-jump elements were shaky/bad while the jumps themselves looked downright dangerous — some people said they thought there was a chance of serious injury on the failed jumps.
IMO, the best thing for Valieva to do would have been to skate lights out and win because it would have spared her the psychological consequences that she’s experiencing now. Note that I don’t think a win by her would be good for the sport (even if it were, likely, later invalidated), but it would have spared her the psychological trauma of her after-skate breakdown. Which was broadcast around the world along with her coach’s poor treatment of her.
It is very strange how CAS, in ruling that not allowing her to compete would cause her irreparable damage, seems to have operated on the assumption that she would win and did not foresee the possibility of what actually happened.
Thanks @Fredegunda and @lanne for the added info. Like I said, I didnt watch and I also know zero about skating besides “ooh pretty! ooh that looked hard!” lol (you should see me on an ice rink, oh wait you won’t, bc I haven’t been on one in 25 years lol.) But that makes sense both about the muscle memory and skating more conservatively (if she “wanted” to lose) and about her looking off and shaky from the start.
It’s a heartbreaking situation. Honestly it makes me respect the team around Simone Biles in tokyo so much more (I already did but even more now) where, when she said “I am not able to do this right now” they supported her. Kalima knew she never had the choice.
Valieva was wronged by everyone, especially by the court that allowed her to skate. They set her up for failure. Going home unable to compete would have been heartbreaking, but she could have used it as a launching pad to come back stronger. Now she has been crushed in front of the world – I doubt we will ever see her again. Those worried about her “mental health” (the excuse the panel used to allow her to skate) assured that their actions destroyed it. As for the silver medalist, I believe she was told to change her story about her reaction. She already knew she was in second place and, before Valieva’s skate, likely headed for third, so why would she b burst into anger after Valieva’s skate, saying “I cannot watch this, I will not watch this” as Valieva is sobbing and the coach is yelling at her. Her extreme anger wasn’t because she didn’t win – as she was forced to tell the press – it was because of what the coaches did to her teammate (and like to her as well- they just didn’t get caught).
Oh, I thought because she was upset about not winning gold. She was caught on a hot mic (translated of course), saying to another ROC staffer “you knew about this.” And that’s when he said not in front of the cameras. She was pretty adamant about not going onto the podium. This just fuels more conspiracy theories.
Trusova was mad about not winning gold. Her words right after didn’t have much to do with valieva in the video. But she changed her story later because having a fit about winning silver doesn’t look great.
I wonder if the “you knew about this” was about the drugs K — and potentially all of them — had been given. Trusova’s statement doesn’t really make sense in the context of second place.
Problem is, there is no launching pad for her to come back stronger. Eteri athletes are “one and done” and there’s a new crop waiting in the wings. Even if Valieva had won the gold, we wouldn’t have seen her ever again.
Eurydice is correct. The Russian coaching system has created female skaters who can jump quads, so now women have to be able to land quads to win medals and championships.
The problem is that only one woman over 17 or 18 has ever landed a quad, and I believe she was 19 at the time. It’s basically impossible (or so it seems) for an adult woman to do quads because getting that many rotations for a woman requires you to be very small and light.
There’s also the fact that the technique that Eteri teaches often causes her skaters to rack up injuries, so many have to retire by 17 or 18 yrs old.
Tuktamysheva has also landed quads, but not in competition when she was in her twenties.
Doing them in competition is probably not a good idea if you only land them cleanly a too small part of the time, though.
@Mf – Yes, puberty changes the center of gravity, which is why Eteri has been rumored to give her athletes Lupron, a hormone suppression drug that can bring on effects of menopause. But suppressing menopause isn’t new – it was done to gymnasts, as well.
I think the age of senior level competition should be changed to 18 and the focus should be on perfecting technique, the way they do in college gymnastics. Sakamoto was able to win bronze without quads or a triple axel, just from artistry and perfection of technique – and it was still a very enjoyable performance.
So bizarre because it Ike have been bronze if Kamilla hadn’t fallen apart. So no way Trusova would have gotten the gold.
Nope–Trusova’s reaction was entirely bc she did not win gold.
You have to think about it from this perspective–Valieva is light years ahead of both of her teammates. I think both Trusova and Shcherbakova understood that, when ranked alongside Valieva, they were always going to be left competing for silver and bronze between themselves. I think they had long resigned themselves to that fact.
Trusova was ok with losing to Valieva, but I think once she realized that what was going to happen wasn’t that, and that she was actually going to be ranking second-best after a skater who she probably thought of as technically less talented than her, she couldn’t deal with that. There are some people who you are okay with losing to, bc you’ve long since accepted that your talent doesn’t come anywhere close to theirs. But there are others who you really can’t accept being ranked behind. It’s not so much that Trusova was angry about not winning gold. I think it was much more that Trusova was angry about Shcherbakova winning gold, and not her.
Trusova was not in the teams event so she did not get gold there. She may have been referring to Etari knowing that Valieva was positive for doping and could have placed Trusova in the team event getting her a gold. Saying “You KNEW!” Teammate Anna is leaving with double gold, Valieva with gold from the teams event. Only Trusova is going home with no golds and it sounds like Etari promised her things we aren’t privy to. No guarantee the Russians will keep the team gold medal with the doping results. I absolutely loved the routine for Japan’s Sakimoto, she has the gold at my house. Super class act.
Oh well.
There is more to this and I ain’t giving this cheater a ounce of benefit or apathy. There is always more to these stories.
What doesn’t come out in the wash, comes out in the rinse.
do you really think a 15 year old in the russian system had any say in this? she is a victim of abuse.
My heart goes out to this child who has no control over her own life.
Valieva: after she got off the ice, coach immediately criticized her performance, asking why she gave up. Eteri begrudgingly comforted her — and that was only because the cameras were on them. Yeah, real compassion there.
Trusova: Upset she didn’t win the gold, yelled at one of the ROC handlers/coaches (not sure what to call him), that he told her she would win gold if she did quads. She landed 5 quads. The handler/coach told her to keep it down, not in front of the cameras.
I feel for both girls, along with Shcherbakova, who sat alone, clutching a teddy bear for support, waiting for someone to hug her, congratulate her after it was revealed she won.
And while all this drama was playing out for the cameras, no one thought about poor Sakamoto. She was crying, happy to win bronze. No media attention on this young woman, who performed a gorgeous routine with near perfection execution of all technical and artistic components of her program — better than any other skater. She was so cute and gracious and waving to a crowd that was sparse. She was also very courteous to the very sullen Russian teens when they got on the podium. She should have been praised and congratulated for her performance and sportsmanship. I hope she gets a parade when returns to Japan to make up for the lack of attention given to her after her win.
It’s time to raise the age for competing in the women’s event. And time to investigate the ROC, and if found guilty of yet another doping incident, ban Russia from competing — no exceptions, no competing under the Olympic flag as the ROC. Stop make concessions to Russia.
All of this. You can see Valieva doesn’t lean into her coach or take any comfort from her arm around her at all. She doesn’t look to her for comfort at all because she knew she wasn’t going to get it. It was really sad. She honestly just looked alone even with two people sitting on either side of her.
Sakamoto was amazing and I agree with all of this, she was robbed of the praise and attention she deserved with this Russian drama playing out.
It was honestly chilling watching Eteri yank Valieva to her and away from the coach/handler from whom Valieva was seeking comfort. Eteri and her coaching have been exposed/are know to be abusive… with very damaging physical (and psychological effects) for the young female skaters. Sakamoto was incredible and I so felt for her as her victory was taking place among this utter melodrama. And poor Anna Shcherbakova!!
When they were at the kiss and cry area Eteri was saying some nasty stuff we couldn’t hear or see with the mask on because Valieva broke down even more and tried to pull away a until Eteri put her hand around her shoulder and brought her back in. At one point Valieva was covering her ears.
That woman is horrid and should be banned from coaching.
I wish Johnny Weir had been around for all those meetings between Putin and trump that were “off the books.” He could have interpreted the shenanigans. Johnny is and always has been amazing. Love him and love Tara, too. Dream team pair.
This may not reach the general media the same as the Harding / Kerrigan situation but it will be a longer lasting scar. Eteri abuses her skaters and it is obvious they are all psychologically damaged on top of the physical effects we are seeing with their extreme thinness. The only medal winner who reacted with normality was Sakamoto the Japanese skater and it was jarring how you saw her surrounded by her coaches and Japanese officials after her win while the Russians were abandoned by Eteri who left after berating almost all of them.
And the gold medalist just sitting there alone holding a stuffed bear is going to be one of the more lasting images of just how much figure skating has been degraded by letting Eteri destroy the sport.
They have learned nothing from 2002. Russia won’t stop cheating at this point and needs to be banned. A regime change will need to happen before they can be trusted again. But that said the ISU is so beholden to them that I don’t think real change can happen.
She had to lose. Whether or not someone told her to or not, if she did well, you could not root for her. Her doing well enough to win would literally ruin everyone else’s Olympics and make everything even worse.
I agree that her losing was the best possible outcome for her. Had she won, and denied the other skaters their ceremony, I think a whole lot of hate would have rained down on her. I think people would have openly called her a cheater and a grifter, and there would always be an asterick by her name. No athlete wants that. The only way she could “win” would have been to not skate at all. She would have rightly been seen as a victim of the Russian doping regime, instead of as a beneficiary of Russian doping, which she was. Had she won, she would have become the global face of Russian doping. People would have talked about “pulling a Valieva” and such.
Losing like this, as awful as it was to see, reminded the world that she’s a human being, a girl, not a Russian autobot. We can see her as the victim she truly is. I doubt she had any choice in the doping, or in telling that ridiculous “Gramps meds accidently leapt into my mouth” excuse. That the CAS bought that dumb excuse tells me that the CAS is just as corrupt as any other Olympic-adjacent organization. They set her up for this because they refused to do the right thing and ban her. Who gained from this kid skating? She didn’t, her competitors didn’t, the Olympics didn’t. This competition was a shitshow.
100% agree. I don’t understand how any thinking person, much less the CAS, could decide it’s “better for her mental health” to compete and be universally despised if she wins.
Or to know that if she competes and places she deprives two other competitors of their medal ceremony. That alone is too much psychological pressure, never mind whatever horrific abuse she’s already suffered to get to this point.
That’s why I’m still leaning on that she took a dive. I put nothing past the Russians. The Russians are a mafia state on the brink of war with Ukraine. They need as much nationalist propaganda as they can get and if Valieva finishes on the podium there is no medals ceremony. No pictures of Russian dominance on the Olympics biggest stage for the common person to see. It would not surprise me if word reached her through family channels that it would be in everybody’s best interest if Valieva did not medal.
Of course this is what happened. This is why they dope their athletes. It’s all about the propaganda, playing their Russian news music when they can’t play their anthem. It’s absolutely abusive and scary.
Russia would demand the award ceremony, and she couldn’t win and get that.
I’m also guessing she was so traumatized by the time she went on the ice that her fear and exhaustion from all of this made it genuinely easy to not medal. I’m just so glad she didn’t hurt herself physically.
What if it wasn’t a dive? What if it was a crash? If they’d been doping her all along, who’s to say the powers that be with their team either withheld something or have her something that left her unable to perform her best? Is that way too tinfoil hatty?
They knew they’d still get two on the podium anyway, which seems to be all they care about.
I doubt this child has had a moment of agency in Putin’s Russia. The entire saga is appalling.
@MERRICAT
You summed it up exactly and truthfully
Kaiser, you have an error in the story. It was Trusova who was screaming she hates skating, she hated everyone, “Everyone gets a gold medal but me” and almost refused to go out for the medal ceremony. If you watch the tape, you can see Trusova screaming behind Valieva, who is sobbing as she hears her scores.
Trusova, the silver medalist, completed 5 quads (3 clean) in a program empty of everything but basic jumps and spins–no choreography, no performance. She thought that her jumping should have been rewarded with gold–perhaps she had been led to believe that it would. But she was having a meltdown at the same time that Kamila was sobbing.
The CAS really bombed this one by claiming it would do Valieva “irreparable harm” not to skate. I can’t imagine being harmed more irreparably than she was, left to skate with the world’s opprobium bearing down on her, knowing the other skaters likely resented her, and then for her coach to start crtiticizing her after she came off the ice. Terrible Eteri was berating her for her performance instead of comforting her. At one point, Valieva even said “At least they can have a medal ceremony.”
Valieva was thrown to the wolves. No one benefited for trying to break the rules for her, least of all, her. Her reputation has been destroyed, and her coaches seemingly already tossed her aside. I hope she’s on her way home right now, and I hope her parents can give her the comfort that her coaches and the ROC couldn’t.
The whole situation has been painful to watch. We have watched state sanctioned child abuse and child endangerment. The world saw how damaged these girls are. I hope this leads to some meaningful change. Shame on the CAS, shame on the IOC for not banning Russia for doping, shame on Sambo 70, shame on RUSADA.
Is there a Russian meaning to the word Sambo that is different from the racial stereotype from which it is known in North America? When I first read the name of that program it was jarring to me.
There is a clip of Katarina Witt breaking down in tears on German tv after this went down. She was upset that this girl was thrown to the wolves like this. And Witt is 100% right.
It’s jarring to me as well. Sambo has a totally different meaning in Russia–it could very well be an acronym, but it has nothing to do with the US meaning. The word Bimbo in Russian also doesn’t mean the same as it does in English, btw
I’m not fluent in Russian, but I think it’s likely either an acronym, or a shortened form of the full name. I lived in Russia for about 5 months, and noticed that often the -o ending in Russian is somewhat similar to a -y or -ie ending in English when it comes to descriptive nicknames.
I looked it up and SAMBO is an acronym for a type of military martial arts/self-defense in Russia.
Sambo is a Russian type of wrestling. The word is an acronym for self-defence without weapons.
Sambo is acronym and means self defence without weapons, some sort of martial art what was put together in soviet union because karate was prohibited
Sambo is a martial art, a type of wrestling, I believe. The school was founded as a Sambo school/dojo in 1970, but must have since grown to offer classes in other sports as well.
Actually, the word from Russia is that she will be feted and looked after and “protected” from the “evil Western” sporting organizations and media that have it in for her, bc they hate Russia. They are using her to spin their own narrative. They absolutely do not see it as a 15 year old thrown into the wilderness by her coaches and adults in her life. They see it as grown adults in the west who are jealous of Russia’s success in women’s figure skating, that they’d take it out on a teenager.
Never mind the fact that there has been an incredible outpouring of support for Valieva from everyone. Support that is much healthier than the one-dimensional narrative that Russia is creating for her victimhood. It’s bc people care about an incredibly talented 15 year old and her future in the sport that they don’t want to see her taking performance enhancing drugs, and being forced into a brutal and unforgiving training regimen, with unsympathetic and critical coaches. It’s bc they want to see her compete in a long and storied career, with more successes than a one and done Olympic season, that they think there should be penalties for what happened.
All of this is being done so that when Russians win, they actually win, which plenty of them are more than capable of doing, in a way that is good for them, and won’t leave them as hollowed out shells of human beings, whose best years were sacrificed in service of someone else’s ego.
Valieva’s talent can’t ever be taken away. I forget who tweeted this, but someone said that the best things about her–her artistry and her abilities, can’t ever be given to her by PEDs. Those are hers. I think about the kind of career she, or any of the rest of Tutberidze’s students, might have had if they were training under coaches who didn’t treat them like an assembly line. Valieva could have been truly one of the greats. She still has a chance to be one. I hope for her sake that it’s still a possibility.
Valieva’s team was not consoling her. Her coach was berating her before she even stepped off the ice. She was so distraught she could barely walk so they were clustered around her trying to move her. Shcherbakova and Japan’s Sakamoto were both on their knees, crying into the couches at one point. Trusova had a complete meltdown. The IOC did not want Valieva to skate, they were complying with the order of the Appeals Court. The age to compete has to be raised and those testing positive cannot be allowed to compete. And Eteri Tutberidze needs to be banned. She is abusive.
ETA There is also video of Katarina Witt’s reaction to this. Katarina was emotional and distraught and is demanding that major changes be made so that girls are not exploited like this.
I think the biggest takeaways from this are that 1.) Russia must be banned, for real this time (who the hell honestly believed that anything would change just because they couldn’t use their flag or anthem? Jesus, the IOC are such cowards), and 2.) the age for competition must be raised to 18 (or at least they should be turning 18 during the year of the Olympics). There should never be circumstances where an athlete can’t be held accountable because of their youth.
The only upside to Russia’s treatment of their young figure skaters is that being disposable will allow Kamila to go home and and try to recover emotionally. Hopefully she has family and friends whose affection for her isn’t so closely tied to athletic success, as her coach’s was.
I was watching it live and I was astonished to see Valieva was tripping and falling baldly. It all seemed so obvious. C’mon people it’s Russia. They will totally give orders to this child so she doesn’t win the Medal. I think this whole situation from doping a child and making her go through the hell of letting go a medal on purpose, it’s child abused being witnessed by millions of people.
I just wanted them to get the camera out of her face afterward. She’s a kid having a breakdown.
Yes! All these Russian skaters are children caught up in this mess! They performed, they sat in the Kiss & Cry, they were filmed coming on and off the rink. Stop following them behind the curtains, into the tents, and while they’re trying to cry in corners.
I hated it when cameras fixed on Mikaela Shiffrin sitting on the side of the course after her earlier fall, but at least she was out in the open, an adult, and it was with a zoom lens. Last night was gross on every single level, and add the camera people and producers to the very long list of sh*tty adults to blame.
I disagree. While it was painful to witness these teenagers and the CHILD Valieva have a breakdown, it needed to be witnessed. None of this is going to change if people look away and don’t expose it. And talking about it and writing about are never going to do the same work that video footage of it will.
It wasn’t the IOC that allowed her to compete – in fact, they did not want her there after learning of the positive result. They were so opposed to her being on the ice that they said there would be NO MEDAL CEREMONY if she medaled. Short of canceling the women’s figure skating events for everyone, that’s all they could do.
It was the Court of Arbitration in Sports that overruled the IOC based on a technicality involving Valieva’s age (and probably with some wheels greased by the ROC).
She should never have been allowed to compete, and the moment these kinds of substances are found in the bodies of minors, they should be immediately investigated, along with the coaching staff around them. One of the reasons I soured on the Olympics about a decade back was thinking about all of these young boys and girls, these teenagers, being forced to compete in front of the whole world and the immense psychological stress that comes with it. There’s too much money and fame at stake. It’s too easy to set up a situation for exploitation.
I absolutely think she choked on purpose, either by her own choice to remove herself from the podium or at ROC’s request. Her missed jumps looked like stunt choreography — she was deliberately throwing herself backwards. When I read that she came in fourth, I figured she just mentally had enough, but watching it I thought it was obvious she threw it.
And based on what Trusova was saying immediately after Kamila lost, I think she knew she choked deliberately and was mad about that. I don’t think she was being a sore loser, she was ANGRY at the coach. The whole scene afterward was horrifying and so bizarre to watch.
She was not. She has bad technique and it fell apart under pressure. Her coach would *not* throw a competition. Ever.
It’s not her coach who anyone things suggested she tank on purpose.
And I think it’s completely disgusting to refer to a child who’s been living on ice since she was 3, as a “doper”. You didn’t refer to Olivia Jade in the title as “Olivia Jade, the cheater, is quite successful” and Olivia hasn’t put in 1/1000 of the work into her “success” that Kamila has.
She is a teenager that’s almost an adult it’s not like someone is calling a three-year-old a drug addict for example….. But we cannot sleep under the rug she is doping, and that’s the hard facts here even if it was a few months ago and they held her results until afterwards……even if under pressure from adults and coaches, she is culpable period. She shouldn’t even be on the ice, when others who did not take performance enhancement drugs were banned from competing in the Olympics….. But this princess from Russia is so special that they allow her when others didn’t get a chance to compete it’s a double standard she should have been kicked out like the rest of the doping ones from Russia the previous year and shouldn’t have competed at all. The fact that they allowed her behind on the ice and denied other athletes who did not performance enhancements substances it shows a double standard system here .
Them allowing her to participate has tainted that division of sports for a while and it’s going to look like they no longer have standards, and they don’t believe in the set of rules and standards that they claim to have applied to everybody. By her being allowed to skate and perform while doping shows that certain people get exceptions and that’s a bad message to send to sports in general especially women’s sports. She should be sanctioned she should be punished and she should be banned for taking enhancement drugs, however those around her who contributed to the situation because I’m sure she didn’t take the drugs herself, they should also be held accountable. But she shouldn’t be skating on the ice again for a few years if any just like other athletes in the past who were caught taking enhancement drugs or other non enhancement drugs.
she is not “a doper” – rather she was doped. most likely without even knowing it. you think they’re gonna tell her, “oh by the way, these are illegal but you should take them anyway” when they could just give her handfuls of pills and tell her they’re supplements? she’s 15 ffs, and clearly treated very strictly by Eteri the Terrible.
she’s an abused child.
YES. She’s likely been doped for most of her childhood, had no clue what specifically was going into her system, and had become a pariah of Western aggression in Russia.
The coverage here has been particularly unempathetic, misinformed about skating/the Russian history of systemic doping, and quite callous toward a teenager.
She is fifteen, why do people insist on calling her a child rather than a teenager?
I agree she is in a horrible abusive situation as a vulnerable minor, for sure.
She’s 15 but there’s no doubt she’s been infantalized by the system, both physically (delayed puberty) and emotionally. I find the stuffed animals chilling. Sure, you can have a personal stuffie that’s your comfort when you’re sad or a good-luck charm when you compete, but the Russians giving their young female ice skaters transitional objects speaks volumes to the emotional stunting they’ve enabled.
Fifteen is still a CHILD.
At the end of the day if it is the women’s event then there shouldn’t be any children competing in it. 18 and up. The training needs to be adjusted to prepare women for the sport not girls with delayed puberty. And women will be able to do the triples and quad if properly trained. Maybe they can bring in women who are taller and have more strength instead of weeding them out at an early age if they don’t have the waif look. Look at Katarina Witt. She was an adult woman when she was competing and she didn’t look like a stick. We need to go back to that.
This whole situation is terrible. I don’t get why the IOC let her compete – it wasn’t fair to anyone, including the kid.
I feel bad for Trusova being accused of throwing a tantrum.
When you watch the footage it looks like something in her has completely snapped- she’s completely unhinged.
I guess at her age and considering the practices of her coach, she knew she had one shot and it’s now over for her.
As for Valieva apparently her first reaction was to say that at least they would give out the medals after all.
Her coach was unimpressed….
I found the uncut footage of the aftermath from someone’s post on Reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/FigureSkating/comments/susmpx/all_the_aftermath_of_the_womens_free_skate_uncut/
I remember watching Evgenia Medvedeva lose it in 2018 after her teammate Alina won the gold over her.
Wasn’t she skating injured at the time?
Both of them were crying for Valieva yesterday.
She cried, but it wasn’t like this.
People, both male and female, cry at the Kiss & Cry all the time.
Note the name 😉
I think saying she ‘ lost it’ is a bit much for that, to be honest.
I agree with you and I also still stand by my statement above as well. But just to clarify for anyone in general, I don’t place any blame solely at her feet because she’s been practicing for years so it’s her support group her parents coaches sponsors etc, while she started out as a child and God forgive me for the horror as a mother myself of thinking people have been purposely giving her stuff that long to make her a better athlete over others illegally, knowingly or not it is drug use. And even if she was told they were vitamins or something or mixing papa meds, and didn’t think any better of it she has tainted all her years of hard work with other people under I’m sure pressure from her country, who has a notorious background in their open shady ass doping antics with athletes. The bad part about it is the response to her has been harsh because unfortunately she comes from a country who seems to thumb their nose at the standards and regulation and rules set up globally and continually trying to break them just to win competition, and unfortunately she’s been caught up in that. And unfortunately it’s going to be tied to her legacy.
What the ioc and other governing bodies of the Olympics need to do is grow a pair of balls and permanently ban Russia for a bunch of years until they prove that they can use common sense like other countries and compete and train their athletes fairly not pick and choose on who they’re going to allow to compete whether it was enhancement drug or weed or whatever. There is no consistency and that’s why there’s frustration and anger that other athletes even if the situation isn’t similar like Sh’Charri couldn’t compete but this girl either willingly or unwillingly was using enhancement drugs for months and still got to skate and that’s a double standard that is unacceptable and it also taints what the Olympics and what it is supposed to stand
for. As long as the governing bodies of this competition continue kissing Russia’s ass and letting them pull these antics there’s going to be more and more uproar and backlash against athletes who are either willingly or unwillingly a part of this BS that comes out of Russia when the Olympics rolls around, and that’s a fact.
Flowerlake – no it wasn’t just crying. I remember her yelling out furiously. She was incredibly upset.
@Sue, I rewatched the video.
Medvedeva was crying as she came off the ice, not knowing if she had won or not.
Her face fell when she learned she had come second. She tried to smile a few times, but it was clear she was very disappointed.
To Eteri, according to the translation, she said she had done everything she possibly could have done. But it was said quite softly, no screaming.
Then there were some repeats from her program and then we see her hugging the gold medalist.
Didn’t see her yelling out furiously and cannot remember that either.
That was brutal footage. These girls lives ruined after this, their bodies destroyed.
Remember that one Russian gymnast pushed to do things that were dangerous and when she snapped her spine her first thoughts were thank god she could quit.
Putin is a f ing monster.
Elena Muhkina. They made her practice while she was still recovering from a broken leg that wasn’t healing properly.
video has been taken down, but the comments are very illuminating, including translations of what people were saying.
Video removed for copyright. Sorry.
Well we know what we saw. I saw it on Peacock last night but it might go missing just like that clip. Peacock was keeping tapes on demand but now it’s an international incident.
Watching Valieva skate, and how her coaches reacted to her when she came off the ice and while waiting for the results, and the anguish and despair on Valieva’s face…I felt like I was witnessing child abuse and not an Olympic event. It was chilling and heartbreaking. The Olympics should ban anyone who trains with Eteri from competing in the Olympics. That’s the only way to put Eteri and her practices out of business.
I agree!! It’s utterly chilling to think the coach’s tactics were rewarded with gold and silver, and she probably will face no repercussions at home or internationally. Just a few polite murmurs from international officials.
I totally agree. For all three of the Russian skaters it just looked like tortured and traumatized children .
I found it utterly heart breaking
This is a child, for God’s sake! If she was sexually harassed, or abused at school somehow – you would be ON the grown ups caring for her and on her abusers. . Yet you call her “a doper” – this is cruel and unnecessary. Why do you do that? Why not go after people that are the culprits- her trainers?
I thought it seemed very obvious she threw the program. I doubt she decided to do it. She was told. The fact that they keep ignoring the doping and letting Russia compete at all is a joke. They need to be banned from at least two Olympics (summer and winter). But even that probably wouldn’t stop it.
Her coach was angry at her for throwing it and kept asking her why.
Valieva was heard replying that at least there would be a medal ceremony, and then literally covered her ears.
I think the coaches still wanted the 1 2 3- they don’t give a s*it about doping and it is likely the other 2 are probably on the same medication but managed not to get caught.
In the footage before the medal ceremony you can hear the male coaches asking where Eteri had gone to. She was probably on the phone apologising to Putin…
💯. I think the other two Russians did not train cleanly, they just cycled off better to test cleanly. Same coach. They would not place all their eggs in one basket.
Good. Maybe there is something in her gradfather’s medicine cabinet to help her get through this hard time. Pft. Cheaters don’t deserve to compete.
Not a lot of 15yo out there that can self-prescribe heart medication to improve their fitness performance. She’s a child.
I just want to say how lovely Kaori was – she was originally the only one there for Anna when she won gold – gave her a hug to congratulate her.
Karmic. While I am aware she’s a kid and at the mercy of her handlers and government, I appreciate that she didn’t medal since they weren’t treating this fairly.
It may not be her fault but it’s unfair to the others to allow her to continue.
Massive skating fan here — she didn’t throw it. She was off basically from the first crossover, which were much choppier than usual, she wobbled on a couple of choreographic elements and hit positions later than she normally does. Her jump technique (like all Russian girls) is bad — hers is usually one of the more dangerous (she has a bad axis which is why she puts her hands over her head so much — it’s harder, yes, and more dangerous, but it also counterbalances her bad posture in air), and so I’m not surprised she fell so much. It was always precarious technique.
Eteri’s first words were also “why did you give up your fight?” Eteri wanted a sweep and thought she could beat this rep and keep Kamila’s medal.
Sasha was pissed that she got silver — she had five quads, Nathan won with 5 quads, and Anna only had 2. Anna typically outplaces Sasha but Sasha also usually falls. (Sasha’s skating skills are absolute crap). My guess is that the coaches told her if she landed them she would be unbeatable.
Neither of them had technically good quads — Sasha pre-rotates her 4L, they both have inappropriate edges on the 4F. Sasha’s 4S was really the only one most people considered clean. Apparently she refused to go home, refused food and drink, and roamed the arena until 3 AM, according to volunteers — at which point Eteri returned and physically manhandled her onto the bus.
These poor girls.
I worry what will happen to these girls, and they are girls, when they get home.
By other reports from ex athletes… not much happens. The perks and special attention going away is punishment enough for some. The shame they feel as well. They were treated a certain way and all of that suddenly stopping sounds devastating alone.
Outside of that they aren’t executed like North Korea does or thrown into the gulag.
No one heard from the North Korean soccer team again.
Lightpurple – I especially worry for Sasha who was not afraid to speak her mind in her breakdown. She did damage control at the press conference after, but her breakdown was on tape for the whole world to see.
Why do skating experts all marvel over Kamila form then? Her posture looked exceptional to me in previous skates. She had the posture of a ballerina which keeps her centered and able to balance.
As for not throwing it, Putin’s Russia doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt here.
I’m a casual skating fan who went through a crash course in the last two days by browsing the figure skating subreddit, and honestly, even I could see that Trusova’s skating skills were not great. Outside of her technical feats, she really did not have much else going for her, which is a shame, bc she is very talented. Given this, and the later breakdown, it’s clear that this is a case where a young girl focused all of her attentions on one single thing, thinking it would be the way to getting a victory, and was left ill-equipped for the reality.
It strikes me that, at the end of the day, there were and will never be any real winners here. Not Valieva, certainly not Shcherbakova, who is getting completely overshadowed by her other two teammates (she shares a room with Trusova, which could be the reason why Sasha refused to go back and stayed at the rink until 3 am). Not Trusova. And certainly not any of the other competitors, who put their heart and soul into their sport, and get very little to show for all of it, either bc of doping, or bc of unfair judging, or bc their coaches and their skating federations can’t and don’t go to bat for them, or bc of politics–whatever.
The whole women’s figure skating event in the 2022 Olympics has been a total mockery of what sports should be. I can’t think of a single kid who’d watch these events, and walk away thinking that they would want to be a figure skater, or a parent who’d let them do it. Just sad.
What a shamboliv excuse for a competition, if I were Russian I’d be so embarrassed by my country. These trainers and coaches need to be investigated or simply just banned.
Sakamoto was absolutely stunning though, her speed and gracefulness on the ice were captivating! I’m so happy she got a spot on the podium. It was a bright spot in the competition
I don’t think the women should be doing quads in competition. They don’t need them! But now that the Russian “Quad Squad” does them regularly it’s going to a be a thing that every skater will “need” to win and I don’t think that’s right.
As for Kamila, she should never have skated to Bolero!! That’s SACRED!
Eh, I do think if women want to push the envelope for the sport, more power to them. The same things that people say about quads now was said about the triple axel, right up until Midori Ito started landing them in competition. And now plenty of women land them in competition.
However, I disapprove of how this particular crop of women are going about landing quads. It’s not sustainable, from what I’ve heard. I’ve seen a few videos here and there of women landing quads in training, but not in competition, and you certainly don’t need to be young, pre-pubescent, and half-starved to do them. Women can and do land quads, even when they are taller, weigh more, and aren’t teenagers. They can do them with good technique too. But it takes years to build, bc practicing for quads is apparently not easy on the body either. But it’s not impossible. There might actually be a case for why only older women, with much more experience and training, should attempt them.
I didn’t watch this competition because of the doping. However, the general consensus seemed to be “ what a sh*t show”. I feel for the clean skaters, the other countries who don’t get the special treatment Russia does, and I feel bad for the Russian skater who probably doesn’t get much say in what she’s putting in her body and the way she was berated by her coach. She isn’t completely innocent in this but she is still a child. What a mess that has tainted the sport.
My first thought upon seeing that Valieva missed out on a medal was that she was told to throw the competition to allow the other Russian skaters to have a ceremony… however, she seemed genuinely shaken during and after her performance.
Maybe she and her awful coach, who reportedly was berating her as she sobbed, are both amazing actors, but I doubt it. And I sincerely hope that the pressure remains on to investigate the training staff and the Russian committee generally – she was part of their team medal, after all, even if she didn’t win the individual event. I suspect there will be a push (from Russia) to “let it go, she didn’t win, hasn’t she suffered enough?”, but we can’t let that happen.
Yeah, I don’t think Valieva threw it. I doubt the coach wanted anything but a sure win from her or else she wouldn’t have forced her out there. And then the coach criticised her after instead of giving comfort and reassurance. Valieva was devastated for many reasons, I’m sure. That was real.
I literally ONLY started following figure skating two days ago, and that too only bc I was motivated to find out more about Valieva’s coach and her institution, after hearing about how they all land quads (which I had no idea women could do, bc I’d always been told women can’t), and….wow. WOW. The whole thing in the finals was such a bizarre and disastrous train wreck, and I hate and love it at the same time.
For starters–listen, about Trusova. I feel bad for her, but as much as I hate myself for this, I low key was in awe of her outburst. It’s just proof for me that teenagers are teenagers everywhere, even at the Olympics. I also related to everything she said, even though I experienced my disappointment in a totally different context. It made me think about how 17 is just that age when you can either ease into the disappointments of the adult world, or you can get your whole worldview that you were raised with shattered from the results of one event. It was that way for me. It was that way for Trusova. But god, did I ever relate to it. That being said, her routine, outside of the quads, was not really that good in terms of artistic merit. She got way overscored on a lot of it.
Second, I feel bad for Valieva, and I also don’t. Whoever fed her that excuse that she accidentally took her grandpa’s heart medication needs to be whacked upside the head. You cannot tell me that the country that has gotten doping down to a freaking SCIENCE is THIS BAD AT LYING. Come ON ya’ll!!!!!! Come on!!!!!!! Even just saying, I have no idea how that stuff got into my system, is a better lie than whatever it was they said!!!! Come on!!!!!
But I also think that it’s distasteful how she is being held up as a martyr in Russia. Apparently, Russian skaters are hugely overscored in figure skating by the judges. They get very favourable judgement and reviews from all sorts of figure skating organizations. Often this comes at the direct expense of other competitors, who by far deserve better scores than what they get from the judges. Russia has also been dealt an incredibly light hand in all of the doping fiascos that have gone on for years. They are still able to compete. Valieva was still allowed to compete. She has actually generated a lot of sympathy among non-Russian viewers, who feel bad for her, or at least feel like she is the victim of the adults in her life, who she trusted with her well-being. If it were any other figure skater, who wasn’t Russian, who wasn’t as talented as Valieva, they’d be thrown out on their ass without a second look.
It is sad to me to see a bewildered 15 year old girl, who experienced the biggest shock of her life so far, still be used as a pawn more or less by the adults in her life. While I realize that creating an us-vs-them mentality is very beneficial for Putin, I do wish that more Russians knew and understood that no, not everyone in the rest of the world are against them. A lot of us are in fact concerned for Valieva, concerned for the future of Russian figure skating, and the future of Russian athletes.
Sports…should not be like this. Coaching environments can be brutal, but no silver medalist should be sobbing her heart out, at the biggest competitive stage in the world, after a routine where they revolutionized women’s figure skating for the rest of time, crying that she hates this sport and never wants to set foot on the ice again. I’ve seen a lot of people defend the methods that Eteri uses, insisting that it creates winners. Okay, fine. You get winners. But why aren’t the winners happy with being winners? Why aren’t they happy with getting what they want? Why are they still left dissatisfied?
As for the medalists, I really hope they realize, their lives are so long. There is going to be so much more coming up for them than they can ever know. You think at 15 and 17 that your life will end with this, but it won’t. There is so much more to it.
Does this girl not have parents?
As someone who comes from this culture, this girl never had a chance. This is a country where beating your spouse or kids is NOT illegal. I wouldn’t be surprised how much of her life is under the control of coaches, parents, etc. They will, of course, blame her for everything. She deserves better. I wish she would defect to the US. Maybe then she’ll have a second shot. My heart goes out to her. Boze pomozi.