Olympia 2022 – case of Kamila Valieva: Aljona Savchenko targets trainers

15 years. Overly talented. A heap of misery.

It was supposed to be the games of Kamila Valieva – the new figure skating star from Russia, who with the gold medal in the team competition laid the perfect start to a hopefully unforgettable golden week in the Far East.

Valieva’s stay in Beijing was unforgettable – albeit for unpleasant reasons.

Valieva breaks under the pressure of the world public

At first, Valieva worried about participating in the singles. However, the CAS let them compete on the premise that if they placed in the top three, there would be no award ceremony.

Much worse than missing the targeted medal was the reaction of coach Eteri Georgievna Tutberidze after the failed freestyle. When Valieva stepped off the ice, visibly dejected, there was no hug, no words of encouragement – just reproaches.

“Why did you let everything out of your hands? Why did you stop fighting? Explain that to me! After the Axel you gave it out of your hands,” the TV cameras caught Tutberidze’s words clearly. The world public reacted with incomprehension to the coldness and lack of empathy that seems to prevail between coaches and athletes in Russian figure skating.

Olympic champion Savchenko calls for rethinking

“Some trainers have to jump over their shadow, some can’t. But they have to learn that punishments like 100 years ago are no longer possible today,” the 38-year-old demands.

“We have a new generation, the love and support that’s missing. Maybe that was a sign of change and that that’s no longer possible today. I think the children are suffering there.”

Valieva “gave everything, was the only one to show five quadruple jumps and delivered a great performance”. The blame for the performance in the individual is not to be found with Valieva, but with the coaches, “because that’s how they treated her,” said Savchenko.

Savchenko: It’s not Valieva’s fault

There must be “well-trained coaches – professionally, especially in the mental area,” emphasized Savchenko. There is also a lack of teamwork, only as a team can you “achieve big goals”.

The Olympic Games in Beijing bluntly revealed that there is hardly any sense of unity in Russian figure skating – not in the athletes’ camp, which is split into two camps, and apparently not between those responsible and the athletes either.

However, the high level, the enormous competition and the great pressure to succeed should not be an excuse for the methods and manners described by Savchenko and as was observed in the Valieva case.

“I know Kamila’s mom and I spoke to her too,” Savchenko continues. She is a “down-to-earth woman who wishes her child the best and gives everything for it. But I don’t know how much influence she has in the team. I can’t judge what the coach is like, I just observed her. That has enough for me.”

Thomas Bach criticized – Valieva trainer reacted

“Instead of comforting her, instead of helping her after what happened, you could feel how freezing the atmosphere was. To experience such a distance just by looking at that person’s body language has only made it better in the performance aggravated,” Bach explained at a press conference on Friday.

Tutberidze has since responded to criticism of her person via Instagram. Under a contribution from former Russian ice dancer Alexander Zhulin, she wrote: “I am very grateful for the words of encouragement. I am still amazed by Mr. Bach’s assessment of our work.”

Zhulin, who now also works as a trainer, addressed clear words to the IOC President in his open letter. “They say that you were worried about Kamila all the time and the coach’s reaction was very harsh. Coach Tutberidze has coached six Olympic medalists and four Olympic champions since 2014 and she probably knows how and what to tell her students after performances have to say.”

Words that prove that the sport of figure skating still has a lot of work to do.