Athletistic/ Figure skating. On February 24, famous coach Eteri Tutberidze celebrated her 50th birthday. Many famous people congratulated the specialist and wished him all the best. Figure skater Kamila Valieva also congratulated her coach, who wrote on social media: “Happy birthday.” Valieva has been studying under Tutberidze since summer 2018.

Previously, the names of Valieva and Tutberidze appeared in the news almost every day. This is the doping scandal, the outcome of which shocked many. On January 29, the CAS suspended Kamila Valieva for four years for violating anti-doping rules. All of the athlete’s results during his adult career have been canceled.

After this verdict, Tutberidze appears to have decided to avoid public events. It’s strange, but the specialist ignored the Spartakiad of the strongest from Magnitogorsk. The competition was one of the flagship competitions of this season. Almost the Russian championship, only in a compressed format.

Skaters were carefully selected for the prestigious start, earning tickets to the Grand Prix stages. Participation in it opened up a second chance for many to prove to the figure skating federation that they deserve to be included in the national team. In addition, the total results of athletes at the Spartakiad and the Russian Championship depended on who would be invited to the Channel One Cup. Everything is as serious as possible.

However, Tutberidze decided not to go to the Spartakiad. Even if his students skated there in three out of four events. Adelia Petrosyan and Alexandra Boykova with Dmitry Kozlovsky were considered favorites. However, instead of personally supporting and taking the students to the rentals, Tutberidze decided to follow the course of events remotely.

How has Tutberidze’s absence affected the skaters? Many did not hesitate to say that without a coach it was more difficult for them to perform. At the Magnitogorsk Spartakiad, six coaching teams from Tutberidze competed for the awards: Adelia Petrosyan and Daria Sadkova in women’s singles, Andrei Mozalev and Daniil Samsonov in men’s singles and Alexandra Boykova and Dmitry Kozlovsky in doubles.

In 2024, Tutberidze decides to stay in Moscow. Although the skaters were not left without support. Daniil Gleikhengauz and Sergey Dudakov were involved in singles and singles, while Boykova and Kozlovsky were managed by Maxim Trankov and Pavel Slyusarenko.

However, many expected that at such a start the head coach would be next to the athletes. But Eteri Tutberidze preferred another option. Even if at the end of December the specialist was present at the Russian Championship. Then Eteri actively set up rentals for students and then met with them. Now everything happened differently. Tutberidze watched Spartakiad on television.

Tutberidze’s absence greatly surprised Andrei Mozalev. He moved to Khrustalny in mid-January. Spartakiad was Mozalev’s first competition under the wing of the new team, and he naturally hoped that Tutberidze would see everything with his own eyes.

“Mentally, Tutberidze seems to be there,” Mozalev told reporters.

Daniil Samsonov also spoke about Tutberidze’s absence:

“Eteri Georgievna does not contact me. She said everything necessary in Moscow,” Samsonov noted.

Why Tutberidze did not go to the Spartakiad remains a question. The cause is unlikely to be illness. There were no significant starts on these dates. Most likely, Tutberidze is simply not eager to appear in public after the doping scandal of Valieva, disqualified for four years.

Perhaps viewers will see Tutberidze already at the Channel One Cup. Or maybe the specialist will be out until the end of the season. Everything will be known very soon. But Tutberidze’s wards in any case want to see the coach nearby at all starts, without exception.

Andrey Andreev, Sport.Ru


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