Beijing (AP) – Eteri Tutberidze’s figure skating medal smithy in Moscow is famous and notorious. The doping scandal surrounding her Russian child prodigy Kamila Valiyeva has increased criticism of the coach, her merciless drill and ruthless use of talent.
Is the 15-year-old, who tested positive for the banned heart drug trimetazidine, a victim of possibly immoral ambition? There are many indications that in the Tutberidze club “Sambo-70” success justifies many means.
Former German figure skating champion Daniel Weiss sees Kamila Valiewa “100 percent” as a victim. “I can never imagine that Kamila took prohibited substances on her own initiative,” Weiss said in an interview with the “Donaukurier”. The training at Tutberidze goes “over the limit of what is permissible”. “The human factor and pain count for little,” said Weiss.
Eteri Tutberidze tough success trainer
For years, Tutberidze has been shaping figure skating children into Olympic champions, world and European champions with great toughness. Also Valiewa, who will be the leader and gold favorite in the Olympic freestyle on Thursday. Regardless of the criticism, the 47-year-old Tutberidze has been awarded the “Order of Merit for the Fatherland” and in 2020 as “Coach of the Year” by the world association ISU.
World champion Anna Shcherbakova doesn’t think her controversial trainer is too hard and merciless. “I’ve been in their group since I was nine and I’ve never changed coaches,” said the Russian runner-up in the Olympic short program in Beijing on Tuesday. “That says more than many words.”
However, many of their athletes disappear from the big stage before they are 18 years old. For example Julia Lipnizkaja: The then 15-year-old won team gold at the Winter Games in Sochi in 2014 as the youngest figure skater. Three years later she ended her career because of anorexia. The now 19-year-old Alina Zagitova, who won individual gold in Pyeongchang in 2018 at the age of 15, has not competed in competitions for a long time.
However, in an interview with the Russian “Sport Express” she reported on her suffering with Tutberidze and the strict diet ordered. “You just had to shut up and not eat anything! Or at least a little,” Zagitova said.
Strict physical demands
The Tutberidze girls need slender, light bodies to conjure up the quadruple jumps on the ice with a weightlessness, elegance and variety like no other in the world. For this, Valiewa and Co. are dubbed with reverence as the “Quad Squad” – “quadruple jump troop”. “The Tutberidse team has revolutionized the girls’ ice skating world. Spin, spin about everything!” Said Reinhard Ketterer, Vice President of the German Skating Union.
Quadruple jumps in the freestyle for women have long been allowed. In the summer, Russia is likely to apply to allow them in the short program. This would widen the gap between Tutberidze’s forces and the rest of the world. Applications and initiatives to raise the minimum age in figure skating, however, have fizzled out for many years. Fueled by the Valiyeva doping affair, the debate about it has been reignited.
Debate about underage participants
For the International Olympic Committee and the ISU there should be a consequence for the future, said Katarina Witt. “15-year-olds belong in the Youth Olympic Games!” wrote the 1984 and 1988 Olympic champion on Facebook. “No wonder the young runners are under so much pressure to become Olympic champions because they can feel the competitive breath of the next 14-year-olds on their necks.” She therefore advocates a minimum age of 18 for international competitions: “Wouldn’t it be right to let a child mature?”
German champion Nicole Schott agreed with the proposal. “At the age of 18 you are of age – and responsible for everything,” said the 25-year-old from Essen, who wants to continue her career. She is alluding to the fact that the suspicion in the Valiyeva case also weighs very heavily in the direction of the escorts. According to her lawyers, she accidentally took a small amount of the drug through a glass shared with her grandfather, who had heart disease. Experts consider this an excuse, the transmission path through saliva is almost impossible.
Valiyeva’s sports doctor Filipp Schwetski has now also moved into the media focus – anything but a blank slate when it comes to doping offences. He confessed to giving intravenous drugs to Russian rowers in 2007 and was temporarily banned. When he suddenly appeared alongside Valiyeva at the Finlandia Trophy at the end of last year, even the Russian media were amazed. “What kind of a man with a scarf is that next to Valiyeva,” headlined the portal “sports.ru” at the time.
There is still a great need for clarification. The Russian anti-doping agency Rusada will deal with this after the Beijing Games. On February 8, she temporarily suspended Valiyeva and launched an investigation into those close to the underage athlete. A day later, the Rusada Disciplinary Committee lifted the ban. The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) can appeal any decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“Child doping is bad and unforgivable,” Wada President Witold Banka tweeted. Doctors, trainers and other caregivers who would administer performance-enhancing drugs to minors should be banned for life. “Personally, I also think that they belong in prison,” emphasized the Pole.