From Fame to Infamy: Eteri Tutberidze
By Kate Lamont
Decades of tension between the Olympic Committee and Russia are coming to fruition after the Beijing Olympics exposed the brutal methods of one coach, all at the expense of her fifteen-year-old skater.
Winning the Olympics is the ultimate goal for every athlete, a one-in-a-million dream to many and a reality for a select few. Today, the Olympic games serve not only as a venue for the best of the best to compete, but also for a quieter, more unspoken chance for countries to weigh their athletes against each other as the results of the games blend with the politics behind them. Most infamous of all, among the various political issues surrounding the games, are the ever-present efforts of Russia to attain total victory in every game possible. Past instances of drug abuse and similar scandals led to Russia being entirely banned from the Olympic games, which thereafter led to the creation of the Russian Olympic Committee which currently operates in the country’s place. The 2022 Beijing Olympics were set to be the final games that Russian athletes would have to compete under the ROC, after which Russia’s Olympic ban was set to be lifted, but a new and long-due scandal now threatens to set the country back.
Eteri Tutberidze is in equal parts famed and resented across the figure skating community and Olympic athletes as a whole due to her infamous reputation as a coach that churns out medal-winners— and destroys them, just as well. In 2014, Tutberidze first entered the spotlight after her student Yulia Lipnitskaya brought home a team gold with Russia at the age of fifteen. In the following Winter Olympics, the podium was once again dominated by Russian athletes as Alina Zagitova, another fifteen-year-old student of Tutberidze’s, won gold for Russia once again. With such a stellar track record, Tutberidze’s newest fifteen-year-old protege, Kamila Valieva, was set to win gold by a landslide in 2022. Following a record-breaking short program— the first half of the figure skating competition— Valieva was set to leave her competition in the dust. Just a day after setting a new world record, however, Valieva tested positive for three different drugs known to have effects on the heart. The skating world’s newest gem had been doping.
The most horrifying aspect of Russia’s newest controversy isn’t that an adolescent athlete tested positive for a multitude of serious performance-enhancing drugs under a famed coach, but that this news isn’t surprising in the least. In fact, Tutberidze is known for abuse of her athletes under the excuse of training; after her career-starting win, Lipnitskaya had to quit and enter treatment for anorexia, while Tutberidze’s athlete who placed silver below Zagitova in 2018 faced an early retirement after consistently harsh training caused permanent damage to her back. Both athletes stated that their paths to the podium were paved by rigorous training that was realistically too tough for a young body, but nonetheless encouraged by Tutberidze.
The aftermath of Valieva’s own scandal pointed to a sudden fall from fame, but as stated by the International Olympic Committee’s handbook, an athlete under 16 can’t be held responsible for any drug use. Instead, Tutberidze is now slated to stand trial before the Olympic Committee as Russia’s Olympic future once again enters troubled waters. After deliberation by the IOC, Valieva was allowed to compete in the free skate— the second half of the competition—on the condition that if she placed, she would not be given a place on the podium, nor would a ceremony be held. Under such tremendous pressure from Tutberidze, the media, and the world alike, Valieva’s second performance was riddled with mistakes, heartbreaking for her career and infuriating for Tutberidze. Upon exiting the ice in tears, Valieva was met with hostility from Tutberidze, who questioned “Why did you give up?” Valieva deviated tragically from early predictions and ended the Olympics in fourth, her teammates Anna Shcherbakova and Aleksandra Trusova taking gold and silver, respectively.
With the Olympics just barely concluded, both Tutberidze and Russia’s future in the Olympic world looks uncertain. With her abuse of athletes finally exposed on a legal level, Tutberidze has faced calls worldwide for her to be banned from the competitive scene entirely, backed even by many other athletes. In a recent interview, IOC President Thomas Bach stated his own disdain with Tutberidze, calling the sight of Valieva leaving the ice to be met with her coach’s hostility “chilling”, meaning that Tutberidze is likely to face more repercussions of her actions following the Olympics. As the off-season approaches, the future of Olympic skating remains in debate as the IOC and ROC contend with each other. One can only hope that as the situation progresses, the highest importance will be assigned to the protection of young athletes so that no more adolescents ever face the abuse that Tutberidze’s former students report.