Many questions have been raised about the Russian figure skater Kamila Vaieva’s doping allegations.
Some skaters feel it’s time for another question: Should a 15 year-old be allowed to compete in the Olympics?
After Tuesday’s skating, Mariah Bell, 25, said that she wanted these athletes to have the chance to make this a career, and not just a one-year stint.
“If there was an age limit (minimum), I believe it would encourage longevity. It wouldn’t surprise that someone is 25 at the Olympics.
Because Valieva is a senior citizen, she was granted extra rights in a doping case. Some skating officials are pushing to increase the minimum age for Valieva’s event from 15 years to 17, in time for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. Bell recommended a minimum age of 18.
Reformers claim that a change in the law would improve the safety of children athletes and decrease the chance of injury from putting the body through ever more extreme jumps.
“I believe that (the Valieva Case) really will push it forward and hopefully this will also put the question forward to other sport federations,” Mona Adolfsen of the Norwegian Skating Federation, who supports this change, told The Associated Press.
She said Valieva was a child and that whatever happened to her, they feel sorry for her.
It is expected that the issue will be put to a vote during the International Skating Union Congress in June. It is not clear if the issue will pass. Russia opposes the plan, and Canada and the United States declined to comment on how they would vote.
The Valieva doping scandal has brought attention to Eteri Tutberidze Russian coach, who created a “Quad Squad”, performing high-scoring quadruple leaps and risky jumps. Her skaters often have blink-and-you’ll-miss-it careers, and it’s not unusual to retire at 18 or 19, sometimes with severe injuries. Nearly all quads that have ever been landed in international women’s competitions were done by under-18s.
Alexia Paganini, a Swiss skater, stated that if they raise the age, it will be more motivating to make a skater who can last a lifetime. “You have to think about a technique you can maintain throughout your adult life.”
Some argue that younger skaters should be the center of attention and should not have to wait until an Olympic opportunity. The possibility of raising the minimum could lead to more cases such as that of Alexandra Trusova who is now one of Valieva’s Beijing teammates. Trusova, who was 13 years old, won the 2018 world junior title. Her score would have also won the senior title that year but she wasn’t eligible.
Figure skating has struggled for years to balance artistic performances and athleticism in its controversial scoring system. Adolfsen believes that artistry is the best way to connect with the public. This comes from experience.
Adolfsen stated, “I hope that the advancement will be that it can be possible to learn quads also for women later on,”. They still remember Katarina Witt (1984 Olympic champion, 1988 Olympic champion), and it’s not because they have to do difficult jumps. It was the performance.
Male and female skaters are affected differently by age. While men tend to be more successful and live longer, they still have the risk of injury. Sixteen of the 30 women’s skaters who participated in Tuesday’s short program were also at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. There were twice as many returning skaters in the men’s event than four years ago. Michal Brezina from the Czech Republic also skated at his fourth Olympics.
Adolfsen also cares about other sports and would like to see the same minimum age for all Olympic competitors.
The International Olympic Committee might object to this proposal. The International Olympic Committee might not approve of this promotion. It promoted the youngest athletes to last year’s Tokyo Olympics, including Sky Brown, a 13-year-old skateboarding champion who had suffered a skull fracture in a training accident. Different sports have their own minimum age requirements. For women’s gymnastics, competitors must be 16 years old by the time the Olympics take place. However, some teams may pretend that gymnasts are older. Olympic boxers must reach 18 years of age.
Bell believes that a lower minimum age would give skaters more time and allow them to be known to a wider audience. This could help figure skating regain the public attention it enjoyed when Bell was a child.
Bell stated, “If you look at Sasha Cohen (2006) and Michelle Kwan (five-time world champ), they were competing in a time when they did it for so long years that they had people that could back them.” It gave the sport a positive outlook because it allowed people to follow their careers.
