Figure skating fans are tougher than Spartak fans, even without beer in the arena. Where does toxicity come from? Chronicle of Elizaveta Khudaiberdieva

Over the past few years, there has been a very simple truth: the figure skating fan sector has long become tougher and more radical than the fans of the Spartak football team (and notice, even without the presence of beer at the stadium). It would seem that in such a fragile, intelligent and beautiful sport there is a place for a clash between an army of fans, threats of death and violence against competitors of your “favorite”, the creation of cats in telegrams and other social networks with the aim of discussing failed photographs, interviews, personal life and in general of the skateboarder and his entourage? Let’s see that.

WHERE IT ALL STARTED

We cannot reliably say that the shock of the fan bases was commensurate with that of today, in the era of the conventionals Yagudin and Plushenko, or Slutskaya and Hughes. I am even inclined to believe that such chaos has never happened before for one simple reason: the lack of Internet and social networks.

It all started with the Korean drama of 2018: the PyeongChang Olympics. Already an established star of the national and world figure, invincible and having created a breakthrough in the evolution of sport, Zhenya Medvedeva, barely restraining her emotions, stands on the pedestal of the main tournament of her life. With a silver medal. For many years, she would joke at every opportunity that “being second is a destiny she cannot escape.” From these Olympic Games, only two gold medals came to Russia: with the legendary hockey team, a little teenager, Alina Zagitova, returned with the title of Olympic champion. At that time, no one could imagine what kind of news Alina would create and how many different things would revolve around her name. Many years have passed, and the so-called “Bearbots” and “Benders” are still ready to bite each other’s throats. Well, frankly, the girls themselves arouse interest in the conflict that took place six years ago and make the audience bite each other.

An almost identical story occurred four years later in Beijing. This is how “sherbabots” and “cowardly robots” appear. Fans come up with conspiracy theories, write fanfiction about everyone you can or can’t even imagine, and encourage you to vote in all sorts of contests, polls, and awards. What is the reason for such an amount of negativity, bile and sometimes even death threats? Fans are different. I think that part of the people capable of writing terrible things in comments to a person or even in private messages are lonely, unhappy and seriously deprived of attention.

By the way, speaking of attention.

Have you ever wondered what life is like for athletes in this environment? Every step, every interview, every word on social media, all of this is carefully studied and interpreted in a scandalous way. Because people like to talk. And condemn. Okay, public statements, but what about your personal life? You can be photographed at any time: you are walking hand in hand with your other half or relaxing by the sea, or maybe you just came with a friend to the bathhouse and don’t know how to respond to a request to be photographed while you are standing in the women’s locker room, wearing what your mother gave birth to. Luckily for me, my popularity level is much lower than the aforementioned single girls. It is not for nothing that I use the construction “fortunately”, because in some cases it is impossible to call it anything other than surveillance and the desire to attract attention.

Yesterday’s news about how a little-known footballer decided to pair up “very nicely” with an Olympic champion. Maxim, I hope you at least made a lot of money and flew to the UAE once again, and if you did it for free, then at least we all know your name.

You’ve probably heard that there are no friends in sports. The moment is very sensitive and interesting. Indeed, there can hardly be warm and trusting relationships on the ice. Figure skating is an individual event. All athletes who even reach the junior level are egoists who thrive on attention. To a greater or lesser extent, but without these character traits and personality traits, they rarely succeed on the ice. And after sport, there is friendship, the most beautiful and the most real. As soon as you go beyond the ice, the sport ends and you become ordinary people. Not everyone can learn this and often transfers sports emotions and situations into everyday life, but, as a rule, at a certain age and with experience we get there. There is plenty of evidence. Sometimes, of course, not all moments and stories of friendship can be shared with the public. Excessive attention always brings only problems. But nevertheless, you often become witnesses to the fact that we are ordinary Homo sapiens, like everyone else.

For example, the last two years have been a real wedding boom in the figure skating world: your favorite figure skaters are getting married, getting married, and often sharing these holidays with other figure skaters. Last weekend something important happened, mostly for me. Wedding of Katya Sergeantova and my partner Yegor Bazin. The guys would really like to emphasize an important point for all media – SHE’S NOT A FIGURE SKATER!) Exactly, exactly, we checked. And very soon the newlyweds will share pictures of this wonderful and happy day, I cry with happiness there, moreover, almost everywhere. And there were many, many skaters there, because there are real, kind, amazing people of all professions, ages and nationalities. The marriage of Katya and Yegor is proof of this.

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