Researched by: Sara Varghese and Prafula Grace Busi 

Remind me, who is Kamila?

Born in Kazan, Russia, Valieva started skating at age three—which is when she picked ice skating as her sport. She is taught by the world’s most famous figure skating coach, Eteri Tutberidze. She was the favourite to win the gold coming into the Olympics—having set world records and winning the Russian and European Championships in 2021. 

The quad queen: She is best known for the quadruple jump—where the skater jumps, twists four times in less than a second and lands on a single blade backwards. It is extremely rare in women’s skating. Valieva is the fourth female figure skater to land a quadruple jump of any kind, and only the second to land a quadruple toe loop.

Quote to note: Valieva is only 15, and sometimes appears at media conferences holding a favourite stuffed rabbit. She says of her childhood: 

“Figure skating starts very early, at the age of three or four. The child must be taken to training, first three times per week, then four times, and then six times per week. And this is not for a year or two. For example, I have been training for 12 years. Parents have no days off, no holidays, no vacation, that is, they practically need to give up their life.”

So how did she do at the Olympics?

She scored one gold as part of the team event—where she became the first woman to land a quadruple jump at an Olympic Games. But she was denied the medal ceremony because of a dope test (more on that later). More notably, she fell apart during her last event—the individual free skate part of the competition. She fell twice and ended up fourth—a performance that BBC Sports describes as “one of the most uncomfortable, unpleasant moments of sport in recent memory.” See the tragic showing below:

Then it got worse: Valieva—who was in tears by the end—was immediately chastised by her coach Tutberidze the moment she stepped off the ice: “Why did you let it go? Why did you stop fighting? Explain it to me, why?” There was not a word or gesture of consolation:

Later, the International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach would say: 

“When I afterwards saw how she was received by her closest entourage, with such, what appeared to be a tremendous coldness, it was chilling to see this. Rather than giving her comfort, rather than to try to help her, you could feel this chilling atmosphere, this distance.”

Also in tears: 17-year-old Alexandra Trusova who only scored a silver medal after a history-making five quadruple jumps. She shouted at the side of the rink: “I hate this sport. I won’t go onto the ice again.” The 17-year-old who did win the gold—her teammate, Anna Shcherbakova—simply said: “I still don’t comprehend what has happened. On the one hand I feel happy, on the other I feel this emptiness inside.”

To sum up: What should have been a moment of glory for a team for young, highly talented women ended in tears and sadness.

What’s that doping angle now?

Russia’s doping problem: Russian athletes came into the Olympics under a cloud. They were not allowed to represent their country because of a ruling issued by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)—which banned Russia from all international sporting events for two years. The reason: WADA found that the Russians had tampered with drug-testing data that involved more than 1,000 athletes who competed at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014. It uncovered a “sprawling and state-sponsored doping scheme”—which involved at least 15 medal winners:

“The director, Grigory Rodchenkov, who ran the laboratory that handled testing for thousands of Olympians, said he developed a three-drug cocktail of banned substances that he mixed with liquor and provided to dozens of Russian athletes, helping to facilitate one of the most elaborate—and successful—doping ploys in sports history.”

Point to note: Russian athletes won 33 medals at Sochi—including 13 golds, 10 more than at the previous Winter Olympics.

Valieva’s dope test: The doping issue raised its ugly head again thanks to a sample submitted by Valieva on December 25. The results were not released by the Russians until six weeks later—on the day Valieva won her team gold. What the results revealed: the presence of three substances—trimetazidine, Hypoxen and L-carnitine—typically found in heart medication. Of these, only trimetazidine is banned as a performance-enhancing drug. Valieva claims that she accidentally took her grandfather’s medication. But doping agency officials say it is unusual to find “a trifecta of substances” in a healthy, top athlete. 

Point to note: Despite the test results, Valieva was allowed to continue at the Olympics by the sports arbitration court. One big reason: her age. As a minor, she is treated by the Olympics as a ‘protected person’—and isn’t held responsible for taking banned substances. The focus of any future investigation will be on her coaches, doctors, nutritionists, etc.

The irony: Team officials from other countries expressed their disappointment that Valieva had not been penalised for the failed drug test. But as her final performance revealed, the intense pressure and scrutiny had proved to be punishment enough.

But why is she a victim here?

For three reasons: her coach Eteri Tutberidze, Russian attitude towards its own athletes, and a sport that favours prepubescent bodies. 

One: As Vox notes, Tutberidze is the single most dominant coach in women’s figure skating. Her skaters become champions before the age of 18—and have taken home Olympic golds and silvers, World Championships and European Championships. 

But most of them have short, if blazing, careers: “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.’” The reason: You have to be young and light to successfully execute those dazzling quads. Hence, her girls are often called the “one-and-done” Olympians.

And her methods are notoriously abusive:

“The Eteri girls talk openly about not being able to drink water during competitions. They do their best to delay puberty by eating only ‘powdered nutrients’ or by taking Lupron, a puberty blocker known to induce menopause. They are subjected to daily public weigh-ins and verbal and physical abuse. And they compete while injured, huffing ‘smelling salts’ while wearing knee braces and collapsing in pain after programs.”

Two: The punishing focus on maintaining prepubescent bodies isn’t unique to Eteri. The inhumane practice dates back to US gymnastics coaches Bela and Marta Karolyi:

“The Karolyis discovered that pre-pubescent girls, with smaller, lighter bodies, could more easily complete the difficult skills required of elite-level gymnastics. Those girls were pushed into a brutal training regime and were not allowed to complain about pain, for any reason. Either they competed while injured, or they were replaced.”

The justification to fight puberty is no different with figure skating:

“Smaller, leaner skaters have an advantage because of the physics involved. Lighter skaters have an easier time getting up in the air; having less mass and being narrow allows them to spin faster... Because puberty tends to add weight, height, and more fat to a woman’s body, it’s not uncommon to see it adversely affect female skaters.”

The pressure to keep the weight down is so intense that the Eteri girls don’t eat—and in some cases, don’t even drink: “I was, you can say, not drinking water at all. That is, we just rinsed our mouths and spit it all out.”

Point to note: The infamous Larry Nassar—who was accused of sexually abusing hundreds of girls under his tutelage—coached at the Karolyi Ranch.

Three: Coaches like Tutberidze are highly prized in Russia where winning is all that matters. Within a culture this competitive, young girls rarely have the option to say no—be it to starving themselves or taking drugs. As one expert notes: “In order to be a part of the Russian sport program, you need to be able to do everything that you’re told to do. And if you don’t, you’re removed.”

Point to note: Up until the Valieva controversy broke, many of the same commentators were praising Tutberidze—who was named “best coach” by the International Skating Union in 2020. So it’s not just a “Russia” problem.

The bottomline: The abuse of young athletes—especially girls—is an open secret in international sport. Yet we all act so surprised each time a child’s life falls apart in the spotlight. And then we move on to fawning over the next wunderkid.

Reading list

BBC News has a profile of Valieva. This New York Times interactive feature mapping her stumbles is brilliant. Vox has a detailed piece on Eteri Tutberidze—while Slate links her coaching to the broader pattern of child abuse in athletics. FiveThirtyEight focuses specifically on problems with figure skating. New York Times has more on the Russian doping scandal, while ESPN has a deep dive into the Karolyi Ranch.