Figure Skating at the Olypmics - 4.2

Olympic Figure Skating; A Russian Dominated field

The Russians have dominated the field of figure skating for years and Olympics after Olympics. But scandals have shook the figure skating world over and over again. 2014 the Olympics was held in Sochi, Russia which in itself got heavily criticized. The winner of the women's figure skating was the Russian skater Adlenia Sotnikova. She was never favored to win, everyone believed the Japanese skater Yuna Kim would take first place, like she did the previous Olympics. The world of figure skating raged about the outcome and blamed judges for being bribed and the Olympics being rigged in Russia's favor. 

The 2018 Olympics took place in Pyeongchang. This time the Russians took both first and second place. Evgenia Medvedeva was favored to win. People saw her as unstoppable and unmatched, she had never (ever!) fallen in competition and had won everything coming her way. But then, her younger, less experienced teammate Alina Zagitova started to rise. Alina Zagitova did something no other skater did. She put all her jumps in the second half of her program. Jumps in the second half of the program are given extra points since the closer to the end of the program you are, the more tired you are and the jumps become harder to complete. Because of Alina Zagitova's programme setup she won, making the favorite skater Evgenia Medvedeva ending up in second place. The next season it was decided that putting all the jumps in the second half is no longer allowed, it makes the programme uneven. Medvedeva lost because of a rule that got taken away right after the Olympics.

The coach Eteri Tutberezi, coaching both Alina and Evgenia had more promising talents on the way. One of them being Alexandra Trusova “The quad queen”. She was the first female skater to land a quadruple jump in competition (four turns in the air) at only 13 years old. This was something only ever done by men. When the 2022 Olympics took place either Trusova, the quad queen or her teammate Kamilla Valieva was favored to win. Trusova is athletic, she is a strong jumper. But Valieva had the whole package; strong jumper, beautiful performance, flexibility and a great spinner. But then something unexpected happened, Kamilla Valieva tested positive for doping. 56 different drugs were found in her system. This became a scandal itself, but what was more scandalous was that she was only 15 years old at the time. Would a 15 year old really take all these drugs on her own? Or were they given to her..? Turning all eyes on her coach Eteri Tutberezi. Despite the controversy Kamilla Valieva was allowed to compete, but because of the scandal and the stress it brought her, she couldn't deliver and her points were nowhere near a gold medal.

At this point we all thought it was settled, Alexandra Trusova, the quad queen, would win. She landed 5 quad jumps in her program, walked off the ice with a smile and a proud look on her face, expecting that nothing could beat her performance. But little did she know, her other younger teammate Anna Scherbakova, despite only having two quads in her program, would get a higher score, leading her to win. The results were shocking and when everything was settled, Trusova, the quad queen, could be seen in the background screaming, crying for her loss. Her black makeup ran down her face. She was pushing her coach away saying she hated this sport, that she would never compete again and blaming her coaches for the results. The coach Eteri Tutberezi and her team was trying to comfort a devastated Trusova and Valieva, leaving the winner Scherbakova alone, no one to hug and no one to share her happiness with. The entire situation was just heart breaking… After the 2022 Olympics was over the International Skating Union decided that every athlete had to be over 17 years old to compete.

And now we are at the 2026 Olympics, where no Russian athletes are allowed to represent their country due to the war in Ukraine. For me personally this was a good thing, not only because of the political reasons, but also because; do we really want to encourage the russian figure skating methods? Where figure skaters trained so hard they retired at 16 years old because their bodies were destroyed. Or the situation of Kamila Valieva, a 15 year old skater with 56 different drugs in her body. The 2026 Olympics gave skaters from other countries a chance. Alyssa Liu, the American skater and gold medalist of this year's Olympics would probably not have won against a bunch of Russian 15 year old skaters doing quad jumps. But does this mean she didn't deserve the gold? No! I love that Alyssa Liu won. She represents what figure skating should be; unique, athletic, aesthetic, beautiful and FUN! She delivered breathtaking performances, she hugged her rivals, shared happiness but also sorrow with her fellow skaters disappointed over their programmes. Alyssa Liu, with bleached circles in her hair and a lip piercing shows us that a great figure skater comes in all forms. This year's Olympics gave me hope for the future of figure skating and I'm excited to see what the future holds!

- Elsa, 

Spicy Hostel