In the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, a dispute erupted when the scores were released in the free skate competition. Recently, people all over social media have been debating about the skater who deserved the gold medal. Ever since Alysa Liu surprisingly won the gold medal in this year’s Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, people have turned their attention to figure skating, and have even started a debate on previous Olympic results.
The Russian competitors Anna Shcherbakova, Alexandra Trusova, and Kamila Valieva participated in the Winter Olympics of 2022. 17-year-old Alexandra, otherwise known as Sasha, made history by landing five quad jumps in just one program. At first, she was overjoyed because she was sure she had just secured the gold medal. After all, she had just set a new record.
However, when the scores were released, Sasha was devastated to find that her teammate Anna Shcherbakova had earned a higher score and was placed in gold, although she had only completing two quads in her program. Sasha was placed in silver. She shouted, “‘Everyone has a gold medal, everyone, but not me…I hate skating. I hate it. I hate this sport. I will never skate again'” (New York Post 1).
In the midst of everything, gold medalist Anna sat alone with no one to accompany her. She said that while she felt happy, she felt empty as well, as if she was unsure how to act. She earned a gold medal, but at what cost?
At the same time, their teammate Kamila had performed her free skate routine with three quadruple jumps. To everyone’s shock, Kamila did not land any of them. She under-rotated the first jump, stepped out of the second, and collapsed on her last jump. Before Kamila performed her routine, most of the audience and even Kamila’s teammates expected her to win the gold. Surprisingly, she placed in fourth.
Instead of receiving comfort, the Russian competitors’ coach, Eteri Tutberidze, criticized Kamila, ‘“Why did you let it go? Why did you stop fighting?”’ (VOA News, 1). Later on, it was revealed that Kamila received a positive result from her drug test. This exposed the harsh and relentless training and criticism the teen girls received from their coach Eteri. Some people blamed Eteri for being too harsh on the girls, and saying that the girls’ constant and strict diets made them “too skinny to land jumps.” Many of Eteri’s students have retired with chronic back injuries or leg injuries. One of her students Alena Kanysheva retired at just 14 years old because of a severe back injury. She had only been working with Eteri for a few months and just began learning quad jumps. Conclusively, Eteri is very strict and toxic towards her skaters.
The dispute over the Beijing Winter 2022 Olympics free skate results still remains and is still relevant, even as the 2026 games have come to a close. Who deserved the gold medal: Alexandra Trusova, who holds four Guinness World Records and yet does not have a single gold medal, or Anna Shcherbakova, with the most artistic routine?
Sources:
https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/anna-shcherbakova-womens-figure-skating-gold-kamila-valieva-free-skate
https://nypost.com/2022/02/17/alexandra-trusova-upset-after-2022-olympic-figure-skating-silver/
https://www.voanews.com/a/i-hate-this-sport-rage-teen-tears-and-olympic-collapse-/6447235.html
