Winter Olympics: Kamila Valieva treatment by entourage 'chilling' - IOC

[Hekate]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/winter-olympics/60417450

Winter Olympics: Kamila Valieva treatment by entourage 'chilling' - IOC
By Sonia Oxley
BBC Sport in Beijing

It was "chilling" to see the "cold" way distraught Kamila Valieva was treated by her Russian coach after falls in her figure skating routine at Beijing 2022, says International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach.

Valieva, weighed down by a doping scandal and questions over the wisdom of allowing her to compete, came fourth on Thursday after several mistakes.
There was no hug and no comfort for the 15-year-old from coach Eteri Tutberidze when she immediately came off the ice, instead she was asked "why did you stop fighting?"

Valieva was favourite to win the women's event, having set several world records in the short time since she made her senior debut in October. ………..

"When I saw how she was received by her closest entourage with 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," said Bach.
Tutberidze, whose training methods were already under the spotlight, did put her arm around the young Russian while she waited for her score. But moments before that had demanded to know: "Why did you let it go? Explain it to me, why?"

Bach said he was "very, very disturbed" by what he had seen when watching the competition on television. "All of this does not give me much confidence in this closest entourage of Kamila, neither with regard to what happened in the past, nor as far as it concerns the future," he added.
"How to deal, how to address, how to treat a minor athlete at the age of 15 under such an obvious mental stress."

Valieva is the subject of an anti-doping investigation after testing positive for angina drug trimetazidine. The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has also said it will be investigating Valieva's entourage, including coaches, doctors and other adults surrounding her. ………..
….

In response to Bach, the deputy prime minister of Russia, Dmitry Chernyshenko, said: "We are deeply disappointed to see an IOC President weave his own fictional narrative on the feelings of our athletes, and then present these publicly as the voice of the IOC. This is frankly inappropriate and wrong. Win or lose we know our athletes are world-beating, and they do too."

AND MUCH MORE AT LINK

Also see:
Winter Olympics: Who is Kamila Valieva's coach Eteri Tutberidze? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/60427119

[Hekate]

1. Meet the new Russia, same as the old Russia

Disgusting.

[Walleye]

2. Reminds me a little of the German girl in Hitler's Olympics who dropped the baton in the relay race

[dalton99a]

4. And Hitler was watching

[Walleye]

8. That's some great historical footage.To me it looks like Hitler's on meth in that film

[dalton99a]

3. Eteri Tutberidze

[Jilly_in_VA]

5. There was one person (male)

in the entourage who hugged her when she went to him for comfort. He was a blond man who looked to be in in his late 30s or early 40s. He seemed to show a genuine concern for the girl, but was about the only one who did. Perhaps Mr. Bach did not see this, but at least there was someone the kid felt she could go to.

[Trueblue1968]

6. Who is Kamila Valieva's coach Eteri Tutberidze? the coach is a MONSTER.

she needs to be investigated. i think she hurts the girls.

[Trueblue1968]

7. raise the minimum age to compete

[Hortensis]

9. Is there MORE to this "chilling" behavior than a couple minutes of

public film viewed from a distance by outsiders? A couple seconds of her coach, whom she's very close to, asking "Why did you let it go, etc," a slightly delayed comfort hug, some minutes before the cameras of them waiting quietly for the judges' decision?

No. Apparently not.

I opened this expecting to find that leaked, shocking reports of ongoing emotional abuse of this child by the "entourage" had required the president of the IOC to speak out. Instead, he said himself his accusation is based solely on what he, and everyone else, saw on TV during the competition.

How many millions around the planet were shocked and "very, very disturbed" at watching "chilling" mistreatment of this girl? Before they were told that what they saw was "chilling"?

This statement and behavior are striking me as very questionable and out of line. Has the whole world been taking lessons from Fox in standard use of political character assassination?

We know this child has been hurt, hurt by the Russian government, hurt by the media, hurt by fellow athletes who disagree with the IOC's decision, and hurt by the IOC's own rules and procedures. i'm wondering if Mr. Bach is reacting to criticism of himself and the IOC's role in potentially harmful exploitation of child athletes by trying to deflect world attention to the "entourage."

[Hekate]

15. Journalistic research. I've been posting about the coach since the story broke...

It’s not a leak. It’s not a moment’s hysteria in the “kiss and cry” box.

It is someone, and now a number of someones, who heard something that made them decide to look into the coach’s background, which they did. What they found was a string of broken kids. What they found was that in certain circles the coach is notorious for how young her ex-stars are and the nature of the health problems they carry with them.

Earlier article

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/winter-olympics/could-doping-spell-the-end-for-russian-skating-prodigy-kamila-valieva/ar-AATFGzN?ocid=entnewsntp

[Hortensis]

17. The accusation, though, was for what we all saw, Hekate:

This "incident" with this athlete at this Olympics.

I've never heard of someone in his position publicly doing such a thing, but there are unusually large political stresses and scandals in this Olympics. Especially involving Russia.

As for the coach, potentially believable going in as brutally demanding coaches aren't unusual, and I don't doubt for a second that some are producing athletes for governments like Russia's and China's. Whatever her history, though, she owns it, and similarly he owns his behaviors.

Possibly someday we'll hear from Kamila herself about the real beating she's taking at what will probably be only her first Olympics, and how she feels about the coach.

[Hekate]

21. My OP was a follow-up to earlier posts, which laid out the history of the coach. Sorry you missed it

For years, members of the skating community have lamented what's known as the "Eteri expiration date" — when, at around age 17, injury or diminishing results bring the careers of Tutberidze's athletes to an abrupt end. Competitors have long voiced concerns that Tutberidze treats her athletes as "disposable."

"Eteri was smart in her approach: she was first to find a method to teach quad jumps to girls, and the method works, but only until age 17," Benoit Richaud, the leading choreographer among quad-less competitors, told Insider. "What are skaters supposed to do then?"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/winter-olympics/could-doping-spell-the-end-for-russian-skating-prodigy-kamila-valieva/ar-AATFGzN?ocid=entnewsntp

[LisaL]

23. Figure skating is similar to gymnastics in that regard.

Once female goes through puberty, weight distribution changes and it becomes more difficult to do the jumps.
So 15-16 is the peak age for those two sports.
The current scoring system rewards the more difficult moves such as quadruple jumps that is a lot harder for adult figure skaters to perform.

[WarGamer]

10. watch closely, she turns AWAY from the Wicked Witch Coach of the East...

and seeks comfort from the choreographer.

[DFW]

11. Tutberidze is a Georgian name

Not Russian (maybe from Ossetia?). An import, like Stalin, who also was Georgian, and also known for his cruelty.

[Hekate]

12. Could be. I got interested because my husband is such a fan of ice skating...

He’s the one who pointed out the first article about the coach, as it really shocked him.

Meanwhile, DU was up in arms over the cheating scandal — and the cheating cheater at the center of it, who at 15 certainly “knew better.”

So I dug up that original article, whatever it was, and posted it here — because, like my husband, what I saw was child abuse on an epic scale — get a rising star at 12 or 13 and use them until they break — and this coach has left a trail of broken youngsters behind.

Meanwhile, DU rolls on. Some people now get it — others don’t.

[DFW]

13. The Eastern Europeans have a long tradition of chemical child abuse of their athletes

The best and most promising of the kids were fed whatever chemicals the coaches thought would yield the best results, and only regurgitated what their coaches told them. They had neither an idea nor a choice about what made them what they were. They steadfastly denied taking anything illegal because they hadn't the slightest idea that they were doing so. They were/are sad tools in an eternal propaganda war that spares none of its victims.

[RobinA]

20. I Am A Skating

fan as well and the red flags have been flying around this coach for several years. Figure skating will be a much happier place for young women if this woman and her Russian quad factory is put out of business. I'm hoping, but not hopeful.

[LisaL]

22. She was born in Russia.

As far as I can tell, her father is from Georgia.

[spanone]

14. It was so damn sad...the poor girl that won and the poor girl that lost.

As the commentators said, it should have never happened.
When the drugs showed up she should have been disqualified.

All the athletes know that.

FUCK THE RUSSIAN COACHES

[AngryOldDem]

16. That was a hard thing to watch.

I couldn’t help but think that that was the stuff of suicides. A devastated and broken child, and adults who just didn’t give a damn.

What should have been a celebration was ruined for everyone.

Shame on Russia, and shame on the IOC.

Bach can take his shock and shove it.

[LizBeth]

18. #2 gal says she hates the sport and will never be on the ice again. I know the #1 gal

had a tough time even with a win. It seems all the way around they fucked their team, young gals, all of them.

[LisaL]

19. #2 was pissed she didn't win the gold medal.

Seems #2 couldn't believe she didn't win the gold medal, while #1 couldn't believe she actually won one.

[bullwinkle428]

24. CNN showed footage of Valieva arriving home in airport, and there were tons

of fans cheering her on after getting off the plane.

[LisaL]

25. Russia loves her.

NT