FORMER COACH OF BANNED RUSSIAN FIGURE SKATER KAMILA VALIEVA RETURNS TO WINTER OLYMPICS
The former coach of Kamila Valieva, the Russian skater who tested positive for a banned substance during the Beijing Winter Olympics, is working at the Milan-Cortina Games.
Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), condemned the conduct of Eteri Tutberidze, a celebrated but controversial Moscow-based coach, when the then 15-year-old Valieva was at the centre of Beijing’s biggest scandal.
Bach claimed that “it was chilling to see” Valieva treated with “tremendous coldness” after finishing fourth in the women’s single skating competition. Tutberidze was filmed asking her “why did you let it go?” and “why did you stop fighting?”
Valieva, who is now 19, competed this week in the Russian Jumping Championships in Moscow following a four-year ban. Her positive test for trimetazidine emerged during the 2022 Beijing Games, costing the Russian Olympic Committee team gold. She had earlier made history by becoming the first woman to land a quadruple jump during the competition. Tutberidze, who is half Georgian, is now coaching Georgia’s European champion skater Nika Egadze, who is competing in Milan.
The IOC has cleared 13 Russian athletes to compete at Milan-Cortina as Individual Neutral Athletes (AINs), including the 18-year-old skater Adeliia Petrosian, who was also previously coached by Tutberidze.
Following the 2022 Olympics, Tutberidze defended her interactions with Valieva and said that she “expected” an apology from Bach for his “unfair” comments. “You can’t hug someone who doesn’t want to, and the problem is not that she failed,” she told L’Équipe. “On the other hand, we have no right to give up. I just asked her why she stopped competing after [the] second element. She simply refused to fight to the end. My skaters have always been clean athletes. These accusations are insulting.”
The Italian government, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that it had thwarted a series of Russian cyber attacks targeting the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. “We have foiled a series of cyber attacks on foreign ministry offices, starting with Washington, and also some Winter Olympics sites, including hotels in Cortina,” said Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani during a trip to Washington.
2026-02-04T21:35:40Z