I Hope to Never See a Figure Skating Event Like That Again

As a figure skater, you dream of the Olympics. The scores are read and you are in first place. Is this real? The crowd goes wild as you hug your coach. One of the pleasures of watching the Olympics is seeing moments like this. I have vivid memories of those celebrations. In 1998, Tara Lipinski leaped into the air and released a series of ear-splitting shrieks when she found out she won. In 2002, Sarah Hughes fell to the ground in shock, laughing and smiling in disbelief, her coach grabbed her face and exclaimed, "You won the gold medal at the Olympics!"

There was no moment of joy at the Beijing Olympics. The scene that I witnessed made me feel like I was part of the mental anguish of these young women. The camera didn't cut to her for several minutes when it was announced that she was the gold medal winner. Instead, we watched 15-year-old Kamila Valieva, the girl at the center of the Olympic drug scandal, who was supposed to win the gold medal after a disastrous free skate, break down in tears as she learned she had ended up in fourth place. Eteri Tutberidze, Valieva's coach, berated her after she stepped off the ice. Why did you stop fighting? Explain it to me. You let it go after that. Why?

As Valieva exited the kiss-and-cry, she passed Trusova, who was also crying, throwing what can only be described as a temper tantrum. When someone offered Trusova an arm of support, she jumped away and shouted in Russian: "I can't see this!" One might have thought these remarks were in sympathy for her training mate Valieva, but later comments made it clear it was bitterness over receiving silver. Trusova hates figure skating and doesn't want to do it in her life. Trusova had to come back onto the ice to accept her second place finish.

As Valieva retreated into the bowels of the stadium, the broadcast cut back to Shcherbakova, the Olympic gold medalist. She was alone and holding a teddy bear. She was unsure where to look and shifted her eyes to the floor. She sat on the couch and there was no one on her team. It was the most boring image I have ever seen.

Shcherbakova was alone. All three of these Russian teenagers are coached by Eteri Tutberidze. The members of her team were going to attend to the meltdowns of Valieva and Trusova. The conclusion of the Olympics in which Tutberidze's students finished first and second was called to mind. The result was seen as a big upset, as Medvedeva had been favored for gold. When the scores were announced, Medvedeva cried in disappointment as she sat backstage, nervously smiling through tears and staring down at a stuffed doll in her hands. A lot of teenagers who burned bright and then retired from the sport with injuries and eating disorders have left Tutberidze's trail. Tutberidze was named the International Skating Union's coach of the year in 2020. I hope Tutberidze is investigated and suspended from coaching because of her past treatment of her students and her possible involvement in Valieva taking banned heart medication. We can't continue like this.

How did we end up with this group of Russians? The top performances of the night were broken down.

Wakaba Higuchi had an outside shot at a medal if she was cleanly skating and the skaters above her made errors. The Lion King song that Higuchi performed was emotional and powerful in the arena. She nailed her opening element, the triple axel, with three-and-a-half rotations so clearly that it didn't even merit a review from the technical caller. She fell on the second jump while attempting a triple-lutz triple-toe combination. Higuchi hit her next five jumping passes cleanly. You feel like you are watching an athlete and an actress when you watch Higuchi. She seemed to grow in power as the program went on. Her joyous step sequence stood out in this performance. By the time Circle of Life blared through the arena, I was so emotional that I was angry at myself. I wanted to stand by the edge of the ice with Higuchi and proclaim that one day all this will be yours. She finished fifth. I hope Higuchi sticks around for another Olympic cycle, the sport could use her performative luster in this dark moment.

The most difficult women's long program has ever been performed at the Olympics. It was a feat of athletic ability. I hated watching it. I liked it, but I hated it. This Disney moment did not work for me the way Higuchi did. She opened with a clean quadruple flip and a quadruple salchow, both of which she performed with her arms over her head. She had a turnout on her next combination, a measly double-axel-triple-toe, after stepping out of the landing on her next quadruple. Trusova landed two quadruple lutzes in a row. This program was a top tier in the men's event. The artistic quality of the program was lacking. It felt like she was watching a movie, like watching a T-1000 skating. Trusova makes zero effort at the artistry, according to Johnny Weir. She may retire soon, unable to bear the weight of such brutal training. Trusova did things no other female skater has ever done. If that program was the future of women's figure skating, I don't want to be a part of it. Trusova won the silver medal after that program. How could she pull off five quads and still lose? I wonder if a greater focus on her artistry could have made a difference in the gold medal.

The next skater, 21-year-old Kaori Sakamoto, could not have been more different from Trusova. Trusova tried five quadruple jumps, while Sakamoto tried zero. She did not attempt a triple axel. In the years to come, I will be watching more than any other performance from this event. She showed feminine power and feminine tenderness while skating to "No More Fight Left in Me". I love being a woman. This could have come across as pretentious, camp even if the skater had been more confident. It was connected to my heart with the control of Sakamoto. Although she did not attempt the very hardest jumps in the sport, Sakamoto completed her jumping passes cleanly and with great speed and racked up points for high grade of execution. I felt like I was with her when she performed her steps. A woman skates in a field filled with children. I applaud when she hit her final pose. This is what the sport could be like if it weren't obsessed with the acrobatics of teenagers. Her skate was enough to get her a bronze medal. She would be the gold medal winner if the age minimum for the Olympics were raised to 18.

It's odd to feel bad for someone who just won an Olympic gold, but I feel bad for Anna Shcherbakova. Her performance will be overshadowed by the scandal involving her coach and another skater. Shcherbakova showed how quadruple jumps can be incorporated into women's skating without being detrimental to artistic expression. The 17-year-old had a lot of confidence. She opened with a triple-toe combination and then did another triple flip. I didn't feel worried that she would miss something. Shcherbakova completed her next five jumping passes of double axels and triple jumps cleanly. I was completely absorbed in her performance. She made each moment seem urgent and she always seemed present. Her free skate started out innocent and tender, then transitioned to playful and playful by the time Mozart came through the stadium. I hope Shcherbakova is able to celebrate this win. She appeared overwhelmed and lost on the night of.

The final skater of the night was 15-year-old Kamila Valieva, the one who tested positive for a banned substance but was allowed to compete anyway. You don't want to watch that performance. It will leave you with feelings of anger, pity, and distress. Valieva began her program with a quadruple salchow. She landed the jump, but there was a lot of effort for her to hang on to that landing. It seemed like something wasn't right. Valieva went for a triple axel with her arms over her head. She stepped out of the landing and put her hand on the ice, a shocking error that elicited a gasp from the crowd. It was downhill from there. She fell on a badly under-rotated triple salchow after stepping out of her next quadruple toe loop. She fell on a quad toe loop and had a two-foot landing on her final triple-triple combination in the rest of her program. She was frightened and lost on the ice. It looked like no one was home in Valieva's head, like she was being piloted from afar with a remote control. I felt like I was watching a death march as she worked through the program. One of the cruelest things about skating is that you have to keep skating no matter how many mistakes you make, the only way out is through the end of the program. Valieva buried her head in her hands and cried. At the most important moment of her life, she had the most error-filled program I have ever seen from her. The heavy favorite for the gold medal in Beijing, Kamila Valieva, finished in fourth place, 9 points behind Kaori Sakamoto.

There will be a medal ceremony for the women after all, if there is any silver lining in this event. If Valieva placed in the top three, there wouldn't be a medal ceremony. Valieva was allowed to compete in the event by the CAS because of the harm that would be done by not allowing her to compete. I witnessed the women's free skate and saw that it was harmful to Valieva and the sport of figure skating.

Where do we go from here? How can our sport continue when children are broken by a brutal coach who may even encourage them to take banned substances? Can I be sure that Shcherbakova and Trusova are clean? Since they have the same coaching team as Valieva, one must at least consider whether they have been pressured to use drugs.

I am afraid that figure skating will brush this incident under the rug because of Valieva's fourth place finish. There is nothing to see here. The doper didn't win a medal. The skating community needs to demand consequences for what has happened. Some of the most beautiful and ecstatic moments of my life have come from figure skating. But at what cost? The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, and it is about a utopian city with one small child. The citizens of Omelas learn about a child when they reach a certain age. Most of them stay because they think the happiness outweighs the pain of the child. Others leave, alone, into an uncertain future. I witnessed an event on Thursday that I hope never happens again. The beauty on display from some skaters was not worth seeing a child cry on live television. I am prepared to walk away from figure skating if it can't find a way to protect the innocent youth.