The International Skating Federation should raise the legal age for competition from 15 to 17. This decision comes after the scandal in Beijing, during which the young Russian Kamila Valieva was accused of doping.
When she was accused of doping last winter in Beijing, Kamila Valieva received almost unanimous support from the sports world. For many, the 15-year-old Russian prodigy was just the victim of a system that made younger and younger teenage girls compete under intense pressure, without them being protected. In an attempt to stem this phenomenon and better supervise athletes, the International Skating Federation has announced that it intends to raise the minimum age in competition. He should go from 15 to 17 years old. This measure has not yet been enacted and must be studied at a congress to be held from June 6 to 10 in Thailand. If accepted, this decision will be imposed from the 2023-2024 season. The minimum age would then be 16, then rise to 17 for the 2024-25 season, BBC News says.
Jan Dijkema, President of the Federation spoke of a “historic decision”, supported by 100 countries. Only 16 countries are against it. “An athlete’s life is short and intense, their experience in this short phase establishes what will happen for the rest of their life – physically, spiritually, emotionally,” said the Canadian skater and member of the Athletes’ Commission of ISU Eric Radford. “While I hear concerns from some nations about the immediate difficulty they may encounter with the adoption of this proposal…is a medal really worth the life of a young athlete?”
Kamila Valieva’s tears
In Beijing, during the scandal surrounding Kamila Valieva, many pointed to the methods of her coach, the very prolific Eteri Tutberidze. It counts among its students the most successful skaters in Russia: Yulia Lipnitskaïa, Olympic team champion in 2014, Alina Zagitova, Olympic champion in 2018, Evgenia Medvedeva, Olympic vice-champion in 2018… All of them started very young. , under the orders of this woman with controversial methods. While she is often hailed for her incredible results, she is also regularly singled out for the abuse she allegedly inflicts on her skaters, which she takes from an early age to better control them, believing that a times older and past puberty, they are less likely to win. The pressure it would put on them, forcing them to follow a drastic diet, is particularly denounced by former skaters who today suffer from eating disorders. This is the case of Yulia Lipnitskaïa, who in 2017 retired at just 19 years old, announcing that she suffered from anorexia. She explained that she felt like she was getting bigger “just by breathing air”.
The age of the skaters, barely teenagers and particularly thin, had been questioned in Beijing by other nations. American Mariah Belle, 25, who competed in the Beijing Olympics, explained at the time that athletes must be able to “have a career that lasts a long time, not just a year”. “If we had a minimum age limit, it would promote the idea of longevity and someone 25 would no longer be an exception at the Olympics.” Many observers called then in particular for a reform in order to better protect these young people from abuse and very serious injuries resulting from an ever stronger race for spectacular jumps. Others believe, however, that having an age limit would reduce the chances of skaters and skaters winning titles.
After winning gold in the team event, Kamila Valieva, who was the favorite in the individual, collapsed during her passage, no longer able to bear the pressure placed on her. She had left the ice in tears, without a word from her coach. After this result, the CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart, quoted by “USA Today” said he was “heartbroken for her because of the despicable acts of the adults in her life and the catastrophic failures of the Russian systems and the CIOs who permanently cast a dark cloud over its performance”. “It is certain that these events weighed heavily on her and I hope that she will get the support she needs to move forward”. IOC President Thomas Bach said he was “very disturbed” by Kamila Valieva’s performance and by the reactions around her, when she was inconsolable. “My career as a fencer means that I know what pressure is. But this one was above what I can imagine”. “Seeing her break down on the ice, cry and try to finish her program was difficult. In every movement, his body language, you could see the immense stress. She would surely have preferred to leave the ice and leave it all behind her, “he explained, then regretting the” icy attitude “of his coach in whom” he does not have much confidence “. He added: “How can you be so cold with your athlete? How can you treat a 15-year-old underage athlete like this?