“Skaters and officials decided to raise the age limit out of desperation” – Svishchev

Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports Dmitry Svishchev reacted to the decision of the International Skating Union (ISU) Congress to raise the minimum age limit for figure skating.

The ISU Congress on Tuesday adopted a proposal by the organization’s board of directors to gradually raise the age limit to 17. 100 people voted in favor of raising the qualification, 16 voted against and 2 abstained.

– I think the skaters and officials made such a decision out of desperation. They can’t do anything with our figure skating stars. Before that we have a powerful figure skating school, before that we have young, powerful skaters, the strongest in the world.

Of course, this terrifies our competitors. They can’t do anything about it. I think it’s age discrimination. Why you can’t compete if you’re even stronger than adult athletes. I haven’t seen that, of course. All this is done against our daughters. But it seems to me that this is a mistake, it hinders the development of figure skating. If athletes at such a young age can execute the most difficult elements, it should be heartening, they should be proud of it. But officials made a different decision.

But nothing. I agree with many figure skating experts that this will not weaken our Russian skaters – they will always dominate. It is not necessary to limit someone, but it is better to train, to invite our specialists. Why do we succeed and they don’t? , — quotes the words of Svishchev Sport24.

Next season, the bar for participating in adult competitions will remain at the current level – 15 years. In the 2023/24 season the age limit will be raised to 16 and in 2024/25 to 17. It was also decided to raise the age limit in other ISU disciplines – in speed skating and short track.

sport24.ru