Figure Skating at the Winter Olympic Games Beijing 2022

[NearPup 3,504]

40 minutes ago, MHSN said:

not weird than people in certain places want her dead and buried already in an ongoing investigation. what about innocent until proven guilty? or that phrase applies only when we like it. (and that certainly doesn't apply to a Russian, because they are animals, right? that's how certain western media see people in other countries)

 

if one day she finds guilty. then that's the time to punish the adults who are responsible for this. no matter what a 15 years old can never be responsible herself for such a thing.

If she wasn't under the age of 16 she wouldn't have been allowed to compete. Ask any other athlete that have been provisionally suspended then cleared how fair it was for Valieva to be allowed to compete here.

 

Valieva is getting preferential treatment on account of her age, and that's kind of problematic given it's happening at the Olympics.

 

Though what really angers me is that I feel I'm seeing the next abuse scandal involving children's well being being sacrificed at the altar of sports, and the reaction in some corners is simply to dismiss it entirely. There were already a lot of red flags around Sambo 70 before this whole doping situation.

[dcro 10,210]

Unbelievable that people are actually blaming the 'West' for Valieva's performance today. Unbelievable.

 

Again. To reiterate. She already had a relatively poor free skate at the Europeans. Her score from then (January) would have been enough only for the bronze today. Even without the whole doping affair, she was never before under this kind of pressure to deliver, so this is really not that surprising...

 

However, I do think it's also possible Eteri "kindly" asked her to take a dive. Medal ceremony is now not delayed indefinitely, so this will take a lot of heat of Valieva (but really mostly Eteri). Most of her mistakes were step-outs, which is interesting, and her reaction at the very end was certainly curious to say the least.

 

[Vektor 3,326]

This entire thing just reminds me how sport competitions involving children should be put under heavy regulation. Even adult athletes are in constant danger because of how demanding these competitions are both physically and mentally, it's ridiculous that IOC and everyone involved with sports are allowed to do this to children. Professional sport is not healthy, we all know that. People shouldn't be part of it until they are old enough to make the decision for themselves to commit to this lifestyle. Children should just have fun with sports and be healthy, and that can't be achieved in the current system. 

 

Personally I would do something very drastic: declare that the age limit is 21 years for every sport at the Summer and Winter Games, while the Youth Games would be for athletes between 17 and 20. (it would be even better to have the Youth Games every 2 years for athletes who are either 19 or 20 years old)

[NearPup 3,504]

8 minutes ago, dcro said:

Unbelievable that people are actually blaming the 'West' for Valieva's performance today. Unbelievable.

 

Easier to blame than to look inward. Everyone looked the other way for years as USA Gymnastics was abusing children. It took one of the most prolific (for lack of a better word) child sexual abuser of all times being unearthed for people to finally take a critical look at Béla and Mártha Károlyi. I see more or less the same patterns around Eteri Tutberidze and Sambo 70. People don't want to consider that she might be fostering an abusive environment because she produces winner after winner.

[NearPup 3,504]

 

[dcro 10,210]

6 hours ago, Monzanator said:

Getting rid of Tutberidze solves nothing because sooner or later there will be another Tutberidze-like coach replacing her. Russia is one country that doesn't change it's ways and they won't buckle to outside pressure when it comes to figure skating of all things. You can totally forget about that.

The whole Russian coaching scene is known to be at war with each other constantly. They don't care about Russia winning. They care about their skaters winning.

 

So, they will not be looking to replace Tutberidze should she get sanctioned (by the ISU). They will sooner have a field day.

 

[NMQ 243]

How ironic that one of the main reasons CAS let her compete was to avoid "irreparable harm". Look how it went. 

[Orangehair43 285]

3 hours ago, Adriano said:

So much hate for this young Russian skater, I do not think so she even know what she took.

Jayne Torvil believes the same. It’s a very dark situation. 
 

An age limit of 16 or 18 might work for the Olympics but not 21. That’s too late.

[thiago_simoes 1,441]

2 hours ago, NearPup said:

It took one of the most prolific (for lack of a better word) child sexual abuser of all times being unearthed for people to finally take a critical look at Béla and Mártha Károlyi.

Thank you. And it's baffling how many people still turn a blind eye to their abuses. I'm also disgusted by Viner in rhythmic gymnastics and the Deriuginas in Ukraine. How can people just pretend these people are not toxic or that there's nothing to discuss about them? There's even a whole MOVIE where Viner humiliates and disrespects Margarita Mamun, and she is just called a "tough" coach. It's just unbelievable.

[NearPup 3,504]

25 minutes ago, thiago_simoes said:

Thank you. And it's baffling how many people still turn a blind eye to their abuses. I'm also disgusted by Viner in rhythmic gymnastics and the Deriuginas in Ukraine. How can people just pretend these people are not toxic or that there's nothing to discuss about them? There's even a whole MOVIE where Viner humiliates and disrespects Margarita Mamun, and she is just called a "tough" coach. It's just unbelievable.

But apparently it's the people who want Eteri to be held accountable for how she treats literal children who think "Russians are robots".