Winter Olympics: Kamila Valieva doping saga puts spotlight on teen figure skaters’ ages in a ‘throwaway society’
- Debate reopens over age in women’s figure skating and whether young athletes are adequately protected
- Female skaters have always skewed young, with six of the past seven Olympic golds won by teenagers
On the ice, the 15-year-old Russian Kamila Valieva exudes composure and emotional maturity.
But as a Beijing Olympic doping scandal exposes the teenager’s vulnerability, debate has reopened over age in women’s figure skating and whether young athletes are adequately protected.
Female skaters have always skewed young, with six of the past seven Olympic golds won by teenagers.
This year is likely to be no exception, with Valieva and her 17-year-old teammates Alexandra Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova tipped to sweep the podium.
All three train with coach Eteri Tutberidze, who has led a revolution in women’s figure skating over the past eight years, producing teenage Russian star after star capable of athletic feats of ever-increasing complexity.
But concerns have been raised over whether the technical brilliance they display withers away with puberty, leaving them prone to burnout, injury and, ultimately, the figure-skating scrapheap.
Former figure skater Katarina Witt, who won gold in 1984 and 1988 for East Germany, used the term “throwaway society”.
