Winter Olympics: Who is Kamila Valieva's coach Eteri Tutberidze?

When a coach confronts rather than comforting a 15-year-old at the Olympics, what kind of training method is it?

The International Olympic Committee said it was chilling.

Millions watched the Eteriber Tutidze this week.

The coach who has produced a string of young champions in recent years has been thrust into the spotlight because of the events surrounding her young skater, Kamila Valieva.

What do we know about the Russian? Will anything change now?

A former ice dancer & award-winning coach

In the 1990s, Tutberidze lived in the United States and worked in ice shows.

The Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people. She and her troupe received compensation as a result of the attack on the federal building, which happened over the road.

While in the US, she had a daughter, Diana Davis, who competed in the ice dance at Beijing 2022, finishing 14th. Davis is not trained by her mother.

After moving back to Russia, Tutberidze joined the Sambo-70 club in Moscow. It was only eight years ago that she became a household name when she was the coach of the gold medal winning Russian team.

She won the ISU coach of the year award in 2020 and a state award in the same year, which was presented to her by Russian President Putin.

She was described by the ISU as a "talented coach" who has given so much strength and dedication to her athletes.

Early success, early retirement

Tutberidze's skaters are different from others on the world stage because of their age and athletic ability.

Lipnitskaya won the gold medal in the Olympics in 2014, followed by the gold medal win of 15-year-old Alina Zagitova.

The Russians were going to sweep the podium places. At the European Championships in January, Valieva finished ahead of Shcherbakova and Trusova.

Instead it was 17-year-olds Shcherbakova and Trusova who took the gold and silver here, with Valieva finishing fourth after an error-strewn performance in the free skate following an incredibly difficult 10 days in which she had been allowed by a court.

The trio are known as the "quad squad" because they all perform quadruple jumps, which are very rare in women's figure skating. The 25 skaters competing in the individual event were the only ones who attempted any.

Their young age is notable under Tutberidze. When they retire, they are often still teenagers.

Her athletes have a reputation in skating circles of beingposable, which is the word Austrian 1972 figure skating champion Beatrix Shuba once used.

When you have a small body with narrow hips and shoulders, it's much easier to do the high- scoring quads.

It is the little girl bodies that allow that type of rotation in gymnastics, according to 1980 figure skating champion and BBC commentator Robin Cousins.

With the men, 30 year olds are able to do them and allow for the longevity that the female body doesn't.

If Valieva fails a drugs test, she may well be hanging up her skates early, while Trusova said she was considering her future after an angry rant over missing out on gold.

Tutberidze's 'tough' methods

In an interview Tutberidze gave to Russia's Channel One in 2018, she said she makes champions through love and not strictness.

She said that she doesn't demand things, but wants to make athletes feel dissatisfied with their failure to complete a task, so that they feel disgust inside them.

As you get older, Tutberidze's methods are harder to put up with, and she was also half-starving at times.

When Lipnitskaya retired at 17, she began treatment for an eating disorder, while Medvedeva had damaged her back due to Tutberidze's coaching style.

How is Tutberidze viewed following the Valieva case?

It doesn't give me much confidence in Valieva's team after seeing how she was offered no comfort when she stepped off the ice on Thursday.

It was chilling to see how cold she was received by her closest associates, rather than trying to help her.

The deputy prime minister of Russia said that they were deeply disappointed to see an IOC president weave his own fictional narrative on the feelings of our athletes and then present these publicly as the voice of the IOC.

This is wrong and inappropriate. We know our athletes are world-beating if we win or lose.

The anti-doping investigation is looking into Valiera's entourage. The World Anti-Doping Agency will be looking into her coaches, doctors and any other adults.

The team doctor Filipp Shvetsky, as well as the coaches Sergei Dudakov and Daniil Gleikhengauz, have been in Beijing.

Is it time to raise the minimum age to compete?

The Valieva case has left many questioning whether it is time to raise the minimum age of seniors in the sport from 15 to 20 - both in terms of protecting the children but also in terms of making it a level playing field regarding the jumps they can do.

Teenagers have won the gold medal in the women's singles in seven of the past eight Olympics.

The American skater said this week that there should be an age limit. That is a whole different thing.

If there are two people who are competing against each other, like a woman who gets a period and has breasts and a young girl who is 80 pounds, is it fair playing field?

The International Skating Union has the power to set age limits, since they are determined by individual federations.

What will the coaching methods be if older skaters are trying to achieve a young skater's jump?