The Culture of Child Abuse That’s Poisoning Figure Skating

The decision to allow 15-year-old gold medal favorite Kamila Valieva to skate despite a positive drug test has become the biggest story of the Winter Games. The skating success of Russia began much earlier.

Pre-pubescent Russian girls have dominated women's figure skating for the past eight years. They all train with the same coach, Eteri Tutberidze, at a storied rink in Moscow. The rise of the little girl in red at the Olympics, and the rivalry between the two figure skaters at the Games, led to the introduction of the quad. Theteri girls could land many quadruple jumps and win all the medals. Other athletes who couldn't land quads seemed to be trying too hard.

Tutberidze is the world's leading expert in figure skating. Her methods are well known. The Eteri girls talk about not being able to drink water. They try to delay puberty by eating only powdered vitamins and taking Lupron, a puberty blocker. They are subjected to a lot of physical and verbal abuse. They compete while injured, collapsing in pain after programs, and wearing knee braces.

Every year, a new, younger Eteri girl emerges on the scene while others retire. Lipnitskaya was 15 years old when she won the gold medal in the Olympics, as was Zagitova in the Olympics.

This is not normal. She won five World Championship medals. Witt retired at 29 years old. Carolina Kostner competed in the Olympics at the age of 31. It is not possible in the age of the quad revolution. After winning an Olympic gold medal less than two years ago, Zagitova said that she would need to prepare for them physically and mentally. She said before retiring that she would need to lose 3 kilograms to decrease the risk of injuries.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that a child with no heart conditions tested positive for three heart medications. There is little research on how these substances affect children. The Valieva case made international headlines, but there was a reason to believe that Tutberidze was in charge of a drug program. She said that meldonium does not help with the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned substance list and only helps to recuperate. You can drink a lot and perform well. That's all. She was considered persona non grata in Russian figure skating and switched countries to represent Ukraine.

Those in power in the figure skating world heard and saw all of this, and celebrated Eteri Tutberidze's accomplishments. She received the International Skating Union's inaugural Best Coach award in 2020. Ted Barton, the executive director of Skate Canada, called Tutberidze's girls a stable of thoroughbred horses. Johnny Weir, NBC's prime-time figure skating commentator, posted a photo of himself smiling on his social media accounts, saying he was from Sambo 70.

Tutberidze's methods have been decried by some fans using social media. Others try to support her without supporting her. I've seen fans holding banners with Tutberidze's face on them. Eteri girls always win, and sports fans want to cheer for them.

I am a fan of Eteri Tutberidze's abuse. I fell in love with figure skating when I was 5 years old and watched the Olympics while in awe of the spins and jumps. I begged my parents to enroll me in skating classes, but they couldn't afford it. The only way to love the sport was to cheer on my favorites. I celebrated when Tutberidze's system won medals, and tried to convince myself that it was normal. I've seen a culture of child abuse in figure skating, and I've seen documentaries about gymnastics coaches who were notorious for it.

Pre-pubescent girls with smaller, lighter bodies are more able to complete the difficult gymnastics skills required of elite-level gymnasts. The girls were not allowed to complain about pain because they were being pushed into a brutal training regime. Either they competed while injured or they were replaced. This environment allowed a predator like Larry Nassar to flourish. Children were moldered into champions by the Karolyis, who were treated as celebrities and heroes.

The abuse of Eteri Tutberidze was an open secret. Instead of questioning her methods publicly or policing them privately, the most prominent and powerful people and institutions in and around figure skating promoted a sanitized, fairy-tale version of the sport to casual fans. Their silence has allowed an abusive person to thrive.

The first American gymnast to publicly accuse Larry Nassar of abuse asked the right question during his legal case: How much is a little girl worth? A 15-year-old girl who tests positive for a banned substance could not possibly have taken that substance without the approval of her parents. She was allowed to skate at the Olympics, which INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals INRDeals We will all watch as her body is traumatised by adult desires to win, at whatever cost.