Olympic Bloodsport - The Dominance of Teenage Bodies in Women's Figure Skating 

Yes very true. The IOC admitted that that Kamila was a child and therefore had special treatment so she shouldn't even have been competing in Women's Figure Skating. It's not Girls Figure Skating

The olympics should be the best athletes in the world: whether they are 12 or 22. Gladiators were willing to put their lives on the line for sport hundreds of years ago, why should modern athletes be different? There will always be those willing to pay the price. They should be celebrated like the heroes they are.

@@waltlock8805 the difference is that kids can't really consent to that. many children start competing when they're young, and then their parents force them to keep going, especially as they become more successful and eventually become the main breadwinner in their family. this isn't with sports, but the former actress jennette mccurdy is a great example of this. she started acting as a kid and thought it was fun, but eventually became the main breadwinner and was forced to continue by her parents, even as she developed a serious eating disorder at 11 years old. she has now completely retired from acting and is vocal about the abuse she and many other child actors experienced at the hands of their parents and producers who forced them to stay in the industry. children just don't have the agency to decide they want to put their lives on the line for sport. there's too much room for them to be coerced and abused by their parents and coaches

@@waltlock8805 no. Children can't consent to permanent damage to their bodies as they can't grasp the consequences in full.

@@AnnaEmilka All sports risk permanent damage. Hell, life is risk. That's why they have parents to guide them (i know that doesn't always work as well as it should). I find it funny how poor kids can manage running a household at 12, but rich kids can't consent to anything because their brains aren't done yet. Let the Olympics be for the best of the best.

This. There's no limitation on what Coaches like Eteri are trying to do to their girls. When they can't reach puberty because their bodies aren't in a healthy state to achieve it, something is horribly wrong. If it was anything but an Olympic sport, we'd typically call that "child abuse." These girls are being broken for the sake of "success" they might not even achieve.

+ it's not precisely female bodies, but rather female-teenagers bodies (yep, very injured), which is a different thing.

not really, some women can do the stuff, but very few. Very few is the definition of Olympic bodies. The exploitation of children, NFL style is borderline criminal and at least the NFL players now know the risk and many are pay enough for early nonforced retirement.

While I respect the sentiment, this is just coping via word-cel grasping. This is what Mishima meant when he called words corrosive.

Not to mention full blade assistance… Shcherbakovas jumps need to be checked 😭

@@yugiohlegend Ugh, yes. Eteri has created a literal monopoly on womens singles figure skating. Grown, ethically trained women are not able to compete with Eteris girls (especially with the ISU favoritism)...I mean just look at any major competition, junior or senior, from the past few years. Her skaters are literally just playing musical chairs with gold bronze and silver at this point. Her twisted success is pushing this sport in such a dangerous direction and things won't change until the ISU does SOMETHING... the senior age needs to be raised from 15 to 17, quads need to be banned from junior competition (for women, atleast), Sambo 70 (tutberidzes training club in Russia) needs to be investigated for child abuse and shut the fuck down, and the ISU needs some serious reforms put in place. But hey, Eteri was given the "best coach award" by the ISU in 2020 (you know, the same year she made Scherbakova compete with a high fever whilst recovering from covid, and then had to use smelling salts to keep her awake as she gasped for breath and nearly passed out at the end of her performance.) So clearly ISU intervention isn't happening any time soon. And the stuff with Kamila Valieva this year makes this all even more wild. Their method of "protecting her" after the doping scandal was allowing her to compete anyway? Not only is that super unfair to the other skaters but it's SUPER fucking dangerous. Like yeah good job guys, you essentially just sent out a message to every FS coach in the world that trainers can get away with feeding their underage skaters cocktails of performance enhancing drugs at the expense of their own physical and mental well-beings.... way to "protect" those young girls guys...good thinking.

@@alannahood4107 I agree with nearly everything you said. This WHOLE situation is bullshit and there are so many layers to it. I personally don’t think that changing the senior age will change much, especially by 2 years. Girls will still be pushed to their limits and will be forced to make it to senior competing age (at least I feel). Eteri might *possibly* treat her students a bit better before they turn 17 so they can make it to the point of competition but after they turn 17 I can’t imagine she’d hold back, but who’s to say she’d change even in the slightest. We can only wish I guess

FACTS FACTS FACTS

And how those girls get almost +5 GOE when the others barely make 2. It’s astounding

It's so messed up. Most women figure skaters peak in their early 20s. These Russian girls deserve better

It's the same with gymnasts as well.

Yeah. Kaori Sakamoto’s 23 now and she has been slaying without a ultra-c element. Loena Hendrickx just turned 24. Eteri and her coaching team must be banned for harming their athletes.

​@@slickm0uthNot today :) The champions have between 20-27 years. Look at Andrade, Biles, Martins, Saraiva, Jones, Barbosa, Salem...

@@slickm0uthI was thinking the same thing.

No one of these girls could be the next Michelle Kwan.

Would be more boring to have the same old people to watch. These Russian girls make it far more exciting to watch.

@@mbtbd So you enjoy the kid's Olympics ?LoL

@@mbtbd u can tell someone just likes watching girls skate rather than a fan of a sport lol! u know these girls have the ugliest eteri jumps? but thats not important as long as theyre little girls skating haha 🤣🤮

@@baibiebaibea9740 They are not so "little", 17 year olds are not little girls. They are a joy and beauty to watch, and their athletic determination especially Trusova's, is something else. You seem like a jealous person who only knows how to hate those from great foreign nations, perhaps being led around like a fool is support of war. Their performances over the last few years got me into the sport, that of Americans I found comparatively boring. Now I am a fan of the Russians, and seeing angry old ladies like you try to put them down just validates how weak their Western competition is, though most anyone who is not a simple bigot against Russians can watch either the comparitive artistry or athleticism and grace and discover the same.

Problem is alot of skating insiders and fans alike don't want to face the reality that in all probability quads and the triple axel will always be at the outer limit of what the female body can do because of the unchanging laws of physics and human biology.

Actually 3a can be jumped by grown women, wakaba higuchi landed 2 at this Olympics and she’s 20. Past skaters have jumped them as adults too. Quads is harder to say…imo with the right training ways and good technique, a quad can be possible. 4t and 4s only, I haven’t seen a single 4lz, or 4f from women that is done with correct technique. I don’t think with the same consistency though, Eteri camp pretty much changed the name of consistency in figure skating. And we all know their methods. Figure skating in general needs out with the toxic culture, wrier cmap is and effect of it. Grown women cannot thrive at the top of the sport if this toxic culture stays.

@@dekkacat8517 3a is possible. This Olympics itself had an adult women jump them. Wakaba higuchi. Other women skaters can jump them too past and present who are adults. Rhe quad is a harder question. Imo if a quad really isn’t possible for a grown women to do, then why expect it? If having a womens body is a disadvantage in a womens discipline. Then something’s wrong with the standards

@@dekkacat8517 I think women’s sports in general doesn’t face the reality that it’s treated less as a way of building amazing female athletes and more about comparing women to men and treating women and girls as disposable. Women CAN do these moves, they just aren’t given proper nutrition nor encouraged to build proper muscle mass…I have my guesses in the misogyny that fuels that. The wider scope of women’s sports in general you see this time and time again….and people dismiss it as women being the weaker sex instead of admitting the actions that could be clearly changed to improve this.

@@dekkacat8517Exactly. And after quads where to next?? Quins?? Both men and women are now at the very limits of what the human body can do so eventually the sport will be forced to go 'backwards'

Lol nobody has ever said that she abuses someone. Where did you you find that lol

@Brianne Morris oh yeah such an absurd argument “anyone says that”. How ridiculous to say something about the coach who trained several Olympic champions. Instead of admiring her coaching talent and talents of her athletes you pathetically condemn this lady

@@ninatuttle6548 You think that only hitting someone is abuse? She was shown to be abusing them right in this video. Open your eyes.

@@gcooper642 and if she is such an abuser, then why the parents of these young girls keep bringing their children to this coach for training year after year ? And no parent ever complained about her being abusive to the kids? If you don’t like her teaching style then it is just your opinion, nothing more

@@ninatuttle6548 Because they're brainwashed into thinking sporting success is more valuable than their child's health. It's not just an issue in Russia or in sports. Ballet has this issue too. Human beings can be really awful and have messed up priorities.

Why do you think,they don't know the high price?

@@trickortripslao8607 it is on record that Eteri their coach uses psychological manipulation like that they are getting an Olympic medal for their future children while putting them on a diet that can cause amenorrhea often leaving the girls infertile. There is an over two hour documentary that goes into depth on the psychological manipulation she does like not allowing the young girls to see their parents, making the girls absolutely terrified if they make one mistake, and showing how obsessed the girls are with not gaining weight or not going through puberty. My daughter getting a gold medal is not worth the emotional and physical damage involved. Many of these girls retire early due to permanent back injuries that leave them in pain most of their lives, they often have to go to clinics to treat amenorrhea and eating disorders.

@@lovetobe6118 Can I get the name of thee documentary? Thanks.

@@lovetobe6118 yup Eteri bragged about the powdered diet Yulia was on. She didn’t eat actual food often at all. Eteri is a sick child abusing hag.

@@thedog5k Here is the first part on RU-vid. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FqtHSvkPWPk.html

Figure skater here, getting injured in this sport can be one of the most cruelest and isolating feelings out there. I remember once being forced to compete with a fractured foot, whilst one of my teammates was also forced to compete with a fractured back. The experience left me in unbearable pain, both mentally and physically as i realized that the adults around me simply didnt care. They see us as possible medals and if we're not to deliver, they discard us like trash

male figure skater here, i was forced to start at 3 but learned to love the sport. i can't possibly think of a more cruel sport than this and cannot possibly comprehend how some people don't think it's a sport. I've been bullied and made fun of for years with no end. I can't just tell people I'm a skater because I get called gay, that i'm doing a girls sport, and whatever else you can think of. I can say for sure that if coach finds a better skater who can replace you, you're gone. so simple. out the rink. out the comp.

With us three coming from entertainment backgrounds, you two should look into MMA. They get treated like us but worse and it’s completely normal

So this does not happen only at Crystal and not only in Russia.

@@kadovax6567 yup.

This series is much better IMO: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FqtHSvkPWPk.html in depth, addressing the issues far more completely.

@@AndersWatches Seconding Fran's excellent work. This video is good, but Fran really pulled out all the stops and is an *actual* "true examination."

@@_Jay_Maker_ ehm nope. She spreads bullshit like always.

For imperialistic mindset it's worth.

@@_Jay_Maker_ Frans’s videos were great. They explain a lot in detail.

Preach!!!

Because mens' and women's is sport terminology to do with sex, not age. Even in the junior ranks and below the divisions are separated into mens and womens, and that is the case for several sports.

They r in all the sports. Even swimming, especially in women’s sports cos u have children in your 20s. Omg

That’s the biological advantage of being a man. They have a free supply of Testosterone

anna and sasha were completely clean and they still got 1st and 2nd place in the olympics. you're just mad that female russian skaters are objectively the best. stop looking for reasons to belittle their achievements.

@@stacyk6984 If they'll have soon-to-be permanent broken backs and legs, it's worth it to give belittlement to that achievement. Not worth being proud if they broke the records by breaking themselves. I'm sorry some don't agree with you that greed for fame/prestige and money is more important. Obviously you don't care that much about them when seeing this dark side of competitive sports.

Take care. God bless you, you will be fine.

This video is about HOW it became as cruel as it is, not an in depth video about what the specific cruelties are. You seem to be allowing your disgust with Eteri to manifest as attacking other women as if that does anything. If you want that info you're LITERALLY not watching the right video, which is not the creators fault that you expected more than what the title says. Also...you legit couldn't even watch the whole video before you went off? What exactly are you doing besides ranting in comments to change the way young girls are seen as disposable objects? Or is shifting your anger onto any other woman who dares also speak about this all you have?

Don't agree. He attacked friends of mine who were doing a pro show on TV once, and the vitriol he spewed-forth about them was nothing short of disgusting. He attacked their physical appearance as well as their skating. That, coming from someone who can't even skate is a damn joke. He didn't even know what they achieved in their competitive years, so certainly isn't a good "journalist". He's paparazzi trash mag level at best.

It is cool but it break my heart that most of these girls have eating disorders and permanent injuries. I would never let my daughter break her body and starve herself to become an Olympic gold medalist.

It's just biology, quads require you to spin faster while suspended in the air. In order to rotate 1 more you need to jump higher while also spin faster. With women post puberty body this proves to be difficult because women have wider hips and bigger chest than men. Plus women could not pack more muscle/ have higher muscle/weight ratio than most men. Eteri and Sergei have deviced a technique that utilizes small body weight and prerotate as much as you can on the ice. Plus they allegedly dope which explains the repetitions and harsh training environments that their skaters managed to endure to achieve consistency.

@@yohanes2034 damn that is pretty cool. But we're they ever confirmed of doping? Or was it just rumours?

IKR? I probably wouldn't have watched the Worlds this year if Russia hadn't gone and gotten itself banned from it (esp. since after the Olympics, they're all just doing the same things again at it). I watched it to see who finally had a chance on the podium this time without a Russian sweep possible, and I was SO HAPPY to see HOW HAPPY the medalists for 2022 all were. And two of the three were also legal adults, not children! And seriously, when watching the Olympics, I think the only thing that kept me from crying in both pity and disgust at the Russian team's reaction to the results (Kamila sobbing because she "failed" the team's expectation and THE ONLY FUCKING PERSON WHO GAVE HER A HUG WAS THIS RANDOM BROADCASTER, Trusova having a breakdown from coming in second and crying and yelling at Eteri, Scherbakova winning and just sitting there silently and unable to celebrate since her teammates were in such a state... ay yaye AYE) was Kaori basically screaming and crying for joy that she'd actually made it onto the podium.

@@SoundShinobiYuki I won't be forgetting the Women's Event in Beijing any time soon. What's sad is that there are so many beautiful and deserving women skaters but the event had such a cloud over it.

@@SoundShinobiYuki this "random broadcaster" is actually Alexei Yagudin, 2002 male FS Olympic champion...

@@annasolovyeva1013 But the one I saw was a woman, she looked like either a volunteer or a sportscaster/broadcaster. Unless I’m mixing it up with one of the other skaters. (Still, either way, fuck their awful inhuman coach.) Off to rewatch some things with me…

Follow Jackie Wong from Rocker Skating. True, honest and hardworking skating journalist, WITHOUT the bitching, lies and sensationalism.

@@lindatannock Yeah, but Jackie will never say what's going on behind the scenes or the politics. Never. There's nothing Jackie covers you can't find elsewhere. 🤷‍♀️

I think it's enough to raise the age limit to 18, so that the girls who can perform it can do it because of proper, sustainable technique and not relying on being petite and not having leg strength. Also splitting up the programmes to "artistic" and "technical" and weighing them a bit more equally could help the sport overall

@@SaturnineXTS that's a better idea. i agree! :)

@@SaturnineXTS Raising the age limit doesn't change anything, this isn't a nightclub, this is a sport, and when there are issues with the skills being performed in sport the code of points is what needs to be addressed. -Quads need to be banned for juniors and limited to one for seniors in the free skate only. -The use of the Tutberidze technique on any jump should receive the maximum deduction applicabe and should even result in the jump itself being downgraded to a single. -The Tutberidze reputation-bonus (in which skaters from her rink are outwardly overscored above others, having several of their flaws overlooked--which has been made clearly visible on several occasions when they have switched to other rinks and began receive the deductions they never used to) needs to be outwardly addressed as there is a myriad of hard evidence to prove this. -The code of points need to be reconstructed so as to not place so much emphasis on jumps. The sport is called figure/artistic (it's official name) skating, not ice jumping, so there should be more focus on actual technical skating skills and artistry coupled with a more balanced emphasis on the of a wider range elements of different groups as the point of an artistic-sport is that the athletes are supposed to be able to use construct their programmes using a full range of skills to attain victory, not abuse over-valued, under-deducted party tricks that result in cookie-cutter exercise with no distinct originality. Raising the age neither addresses nor affects any of the above; it simply offers a cosmetic superficial solution to a very serious problem without actually solving anything. Athletes develop at different ages in different sports and in some (such as FS) are more than capable of competing at the senior level whilst in their teens. But the idea should not be that they are supposed to peak at such young ages, it should be that they are there to gain incomparable senior international experience so that once they turn 18 and have finished school then they can focus on their full-time skating careers (which used to be the case as particularly evidenced by the career of Carolina Kostner, who turned senior at 16 in '03 and as of 2022 has still not announced her retirement).

@@MD-722 That's the point - the Tutberidze technique for jumping can only be used up until around 17 years of age, after which it becomes unsustainable for the vast majority of skaters. That's why raising the age limit would for all intents and purposes guarantee that if any quads are even attempted, they would be technically sound

@@SaturnineXTS If Tutberidze needed to make that method work for older skaters, she would. When there is an issue in a sport it is the technical aspects that need to be changed first because there have been several skaters who have had long and healthy careers prior to the Tutberidze era so the age limit should not be raised just because of one woman. Take Yuna Kim for example, the only woman in the sport to have achieved a Super Slam. In 2014 she took silver in the Olympics (robbed of gold due to politics) and was aged 23 at the time sharing fhe podium with a 27-year-old Carolina Kostner (the most decorated ladies singles skater of the European Championships as of 2018)--both turned senior aged 16. But the reason they had the careers they did was because the sport not solely determined by who could jump the most triples and quads in their tenures, it was about who could deliver the most complete performance. By straying away from that the sport has strayed away from the essence of it's core values and that is what needs to be rectified, not age limits.

This is so sexist

I really think you missed the point.

No she is not the only champion

Hope she can be a top skater for more than 10 years....like Michelle kwan.....and stay healthy.

Don't worry about that....Putin gave his word.....OMG.

Could she do it again and again and again ? Did a quad salchow make Miki become a ledge like Michelle kwan ?

@@TT-ee4qp the vid was highlighting women’s quads, why not put the first to land one? And to answer you, in Miki’s peak, yes. She’s been nailing the jump in practice but only got to land it cleanly once in competition. Miki Ando is a multi-medalled skater who managed to transition well from the 6.0 system to IJS. Kwan is good in her own merit, artistic and charismatic. But she can never equal Miki’s technical abilities.

@@kenanquitco With the new training, Michelle still could be a great skater today, including update the new technique . Michelle could keep top for more than 10 years, that's the highest ability. A jumper's life on the ice ....well....

@@TT-ee4qp you do know that jumping isn’t Kwan’s strong suit, right? Yamaguchi is a way better jumper than her. But her presence, artistry, and passion is what made her performances special.

@@kenanquitco Michelle was a jumper when she's 13th years old. But she grew up and focused on her artistry more. Michelle took care her body so well that made her performance reminded stable. Michelle could but wouldn't be a jumper to hurt her body... it's important .

Hormone blockers are off-label chemotherapy drugs. Why would you give those to healthy children when even sick adults are advised to use them for a couple of months at most?

@@nierrar Hormone blockers are mostly safe, I take them for HRT, however, some can cause an increase in potassium that you have to watch out for, and it's best to check in with a doctor to get your potassium levels tested. That being said, I find the idea of giving hormone blockers to girls who don't need it to be absurd. I hope the IOC would test for it just in case.

My understanding is that Eteri’s skaters ARE given drugs to delay puberty.

@@theknitwit7098 that's hormone blockers so they stay little.

@@furrymemelady622 Puberty blockers diminish bone mineralization and have been linked to early on-set osteoporosis. What we have here is bunch of girls who are not getting the nutrients they need to maintain their health and are being given powerful drugs that will undermine their health in the long run.

I think that's fair, but also it is okay to point out the toxicity in some of the tabloid-esque rumours and criticism he engages in. If I'm not mistaken, he spread rumours that Aliona Kostornaia was in a romantic relationship with her coach Sergei Rosanov, and was treating the whole thing as if it reflected poorly on Aliona. But if that were actually the case, it would be a clear indication that she was the victim of predatory grooming, and that should not in any way be construed as a negative reflection on her. It's a pretty heavy topic that should be handled with care. Idk, some of the stuff is just in really bad taste, especially when it is being said about such young teenagers

No, he's just bitter, and makes half of the stuff up that he says. Nasty piece of work.

@@townfool4682 That's what he was saying, that it was predatory grooming! He talks about this often, like the unamed coach who married his student the day she turned 18. It was NOT against Aliona, but the creeps around her allowing this to go on (if it was true).

@@lindatannock People keep saying that, then it all comes out latter as true.

Well.......maybe we need a kid's Olympics....for the little jumpers.