Post by Admin on Apr 16, 2020 18:39:15 GMT
And then there’s Zagitova, the reigning Olympic and world champion. Still just 17, she announced in December that she was taking a break from skating for an indefinite period. The previous month, she had admitted finding it difficult to keep up with younger competitors, who she still trained alongside in Moscow. Most worryingly of all, she described how even attempting a quad jump was unrealistic for her until she got slimmer.
“Quads are too dangerous for me for the time being,” she said. “I will need to prepare for them physically and mentally. I will also need to lose some weight, something like 3kg, to decrease the risk of injuries.”
And this is a cornerstone of the debate surrounding the jumping phenomenon in women’s skating and the rise of the so-called Russian Dolls: the female body.
Puberty can vastly change how a skater performs. They grow taller, and heavier. It’s expected. Most critically of all, it’s natural. But in some skating quarters it’s seen as an unwanted development and detrimental to skills such as the quad jump. Physical changes mean tweaking of techniques. And sometimes, coaches don’t have the interest or patience. They’ll merely find a younger skater to shape instead. Somebody who is prepubescent and weighs less. So, it’s a genuine possibility that skaters on the edge of adolescence are buying into a fear and suspicion of puberty. And in a society where body image and the messaging surrounding it is such a hot topic, it seems skating has aligned itself with a deeply unsettling pattern.
“It’s dangerous,” Korpi says. “I was never educated on the effects of not getting your period. The expectation was that it was a good thing. Nobody was talking about the symptoms it can create, the psychological problems, the stress fractures that can happen due to the fact you don’t get enough energy and your hormonal function not working. So we need to call out the community for sending these unhealthy messages. This notion you should always restrict your food and always lose weight and no matter what you must restrict, restrict. That kind of messaging is so concerning.
“I know many athletes who are emotionally and physically broken because the system doesn’t care how much goes to waste as long as there are a few who make it. But what’s worrying is that those who make it are only there for a few years and then they’re broken too: they’re ‘too old’ or can’t sustain their careers.”
Korpi has a particular academic interest in the abuse of children and sees such behaviour as commonplace within skating circles.
“There can be serious emotional abuse in training and coaching,” Korpi says. “Maybe skating is specifically vulnerable to child abuse because of the way the sport has developed and the way we value those crazy jumps and how it’s easier to do them when you don’t have an adult body yet. So the more robotic you can treat your mind and body the better. The coach is the one that holds the key to success. But if their coaching is emotionally abusive it can have very drastic consequences and has been compared a lot to the abuse between children and parents.”
Some say it’s an overreaction. That skating has always produced exceptional, young talent. And it’s worth mentioning that coaches such as Tutberidze are working within the ISU’s age-limit rules. Ultimately, her job is to develop champions and she would certainly argue that everything else – regardless of the moral implications – is not a coach’s concern.
“Skating has had child stars – Tara Lipinski, Michelle Kwan, Sarah Hughes – but they weren’t pushed out of the sport because they couldn’t keep up with the technical demands,” Korpi says.
Because of the postponed world championships, the trio of Russian teenagers may not compete again competitively until the end of the year. By that stage, their bodies may have changed dramatically and Tutberidze may have moved on to her next project.
“I don’t think Eteri’s child factory is the biggest problem in skating,” Korpi says. “The problem is the sick culture that’s been created. Eteri’s factory is a symptom of this inhumane direction and culture our sport is taking. She’s not the cause. There are many other coaches who work in a similar manner to her and many federations that support this kind of coaching.”
So, it seems like skating has a decision to make: keep the facade in place or start to ask itself some tough questions.
“For many people, it’s not interesting anymore,” says Korpi. “People miss watching emotionally mature women skate instead of girls. It’s almost – and I feel this too – difficult to watch some of these very, very young child stars. Because you can’t help and think of what’s behind that kind of performance and success.”
“Quads are too dangerous for me for the time being,” she said. “I will need to prepare for them physically and mentally. I will also need to lose some weight, something like 3kg, to decrease the risk of injuries.”
And this is a cornerstone of the debate surrounding the jumping phenomenon in women’s skating and the rise of the so-called Russian Dolls: the female body.
Puberty can vastly change how a skater performs. They grow taller, and heavier. It’s expected. Most critically of all, it’s natural. But in some skating quarters it’s seen as an unwanted development and detrimental to skills such as the quad jump. Physical changes mean tweaking of techniques. And sometimes, coaches don’t have the interest or patience. They’ll merely find a younger skater to shape instead. Somebody who is prepubescent and weighs less. So, it’s a genuine possibility that skaters on the edge of adolescence are buying into a fear and suspicion of puberty. And in a society where body image and the messaging surrounding it is such a hot topic, it seems skating has aligned itself with a deeply unsettling pattern.
“It’s dangerous,” Korpi says. “I was never educated on the effects of not getting your period. The expectation was that it was a good thing. Nobody was talking about the symptoms it can create, the psychological problems, the stress fractures that can happen due to the fact you don’t get enough energy and your hormonal function not working. So we need to call out the community for sending these unhealthy messages. This notion you should always restrict your food and always lose weight and no matter what you must restrict, restrict. That kind of messaging is so concerning.
“I know many athletes who are emotionally and physically broken because the system doesn’t care how much goes to waste as long as there are a few who make it. But what’s worrying is that those who make it are only there for a few years and then they’re broken too: they’re ‘too old’ or can’t sustain their careers.”
Korpi has a particular academic interest in the abuse of children and sees such behaviour as commonplace within skating circles.
“There can be serious emotional abuse in training and coaching,” Korpi says. “Maybe skating is specifically vulnerable to child abuse because of the way the sport has developed and the way we value those crazy jumps and how it’s easier to do them when you don’t have an adult body yet. So the more robotic you can treat your mind and body the better. The coach is the one that holds the key to success. But if their coaching is emotionally abusive it can have very drastic consequences and has been compared a lot to the abuse between children and parents.”
Some say it’s an overreaction. That skating has always produced exceptional, young talent. And it’s worth mentioning that coaches such as Tutberidze are working within the ISU’s age-limit rules. Ultimately, her job is to develop champions and she would certainly argue that everything else – regardless of the moral implications – is not a coach’s concern.
“Skating has had child stars – Tara Lipinski, Michelle Kwan, Sarah Hughes – but they weren’t pushed out of the sport because they couldn’t keep up with the technical demands,” Korpi says.
Because of the postponed world championships, the trio of Russian teenagers may not compete again competitively until the end of the year. By that stage, their bodies may have changed dramatically and Tutberidze may have moved on to her next project.
“I don’t think Eteri’s child factory is the biggest problem in skating,” Korpi says. “The problem is the sick culture that’s been created. Eteri’s factory is a symptom of this inhumane direction and culture our sport is taking. She’s not the cause. There are many other coaches who work in a similar manner to her and many federations that support this kind of coaching.”
So, it seems like skating has a decision to make: keep the facade in place or start to ask itself some tough questions.
“For many people, it’s not interesting anymore,” says Korpi. “People miss watching emotionally mature women skate instead of girls. It’s almost – and I feel this too – difficult to watch some of these very, very young child stars. Because you can’t help and think of what’s behind that kind of performance and success.”
