Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London.
Figure Skating: What happened in womens| Russian coaches
What happened in womens:
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva placed fourth in the women’s figure skating final at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Thursday, capping off more than a week of controversy after the teen was cleared to skate despite testing positive for a banned substance.
The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) still dominated the program, with compatriots Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova clinching first and second respectively. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto finished in third.
Valieva was tipped for gold in the event but fell numerous times during her free skate routine. Standing by the 15-year-old was her coach Eteri Tutberidze on whom the spotlight now falls.
Russian Coaches:
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. But the bigger story of Russia’s skating success and how it came about began much earlier. Every year, a new, younger Eteri girl emerges on the scene while others retire, at age 17, 16, or even 14. Skating fans call this the “Eteri Expiration Date.” In Sochi, Lipnitskaya was 15 years old, as was Zagitova in Pyeongchang, as is Kamila Valieva right now, in Beijing.
Women’s figure skating, for the past eight years, has been dominated by pre-pubescent Russian girls. They all train with the same coach, Eteri Tutberidze, at a storied rink in Moscow called Sambo-70.
After the meteoric rise of Yulia Lipnitskaya—the little girl in red at the 2014 Olympics—and Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva’s rivalry at the 2018 Games, there came figure skating’s quad revolution. These “Eteri girls” could land countless quadruple jumps and win all the medals awarded, at every single competition. Other athletes, those who couldn’t land quads, seemed like they just weren’t trying hard enough.
