Eteri Tutberidze’s contributions to women’s figure skating have revolutionized the sport, but at great physical cost. Here’s everything to know about the controversy surrounding Tutberidze
Photo: Sergei Bobylev/TASS via Getty Images Last week, two 17-year-old Russian girls — Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova — swept gold and silver in the Olympic women’s figure-skating competition. The outcome marked a shocking upset: Leading up to the Games, another young Russian skater, 15-year-old Kamila Valieva, had been hyped as the clear favorite and a “once in a lifetime” talent — until a failed drug test came to light.
But while Tutberidze’s exacting methods — such as making skaters redo their entire programs every time they miss a jump — may lead to moments of excellence, they have been widely panned as unhealthy and unsustainable. While competing at the Beijing Olympics, two out of her three “quad squad” girls nursed injuries, likely from overtraining. Before the Olympics, two other “Eteri girls” broke bones and couldn’t qualify.
Other coaches, like Rafael Arutyunyan, who coaches Olympic gold medalist Nathan Chen, have criticized what’s often referred to as the “Eteri expiration date.” “I don’t really like drinking coffee from disposable cups,” Arutyunyan said in a 2020 interview. “Similarly, I don’t like onetime champions.”