“In the Loop” is a column by Valerie Fang dedicated to the sport of figure skating.
Nearly a year ago, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Belarus’ aid in the operation prompted a number of sports governing bodies, including the International Skating Union (ISU), to ban athletes representing these two countries from participating in most of the international competitions. For figure skating, it means that the ISU has revoked Russia’s privilege to host any Grand Prix events and that the Russian skaters have mainly competed in domestic competitions since last season’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Well, times have changed. According to a recent statement released by the International Olympics Committee (IOC) titled, “Statement on solidarity with Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and Belarus, and the status of athletes from these countries,” it is most likely that Russian and Belarusian athletes will make a comeback at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The two additional requirements are that the athletes can’t have any prior experience of supporting the war in Ukraine and must agree to compete under a neutral flag.
The statement explicitly mentions that a vast majority of the decision makers believe that “no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport.” Although technically the discussion is still in the works and the IOC has not made the official announcement yet, a return for the Russian and Belarusian athletes is likely to be the final decision.
What does all of this mean for figure skating?
As we know, even before the sanctions placed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, Russia had already been banned from competing in international sporting events due to the country’s persistent doping scandals. Russian athletes, including their figure skaters, were only allowed to compete as the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) under the neutral Olympic flag. However, this has been just a difference in name, and Russia has enjoyed pretty much the same glory as other countries have whenever a Russian athlete brought medals back to their homeland.
In figure skating, such as during the Beijing Olympics last year, the ROC was allowed to participate in the Team Event where countries, instead of individual or pairs of figure skaters, compete against each other. The question for the IOC is how will this time be different? Will they implement different rules for Russian athletes so there can be a clearer distinction between the athletes and their country? Or will they just let everything go back to the way it was?
Another challenge for the IOC is how practical it would be for the Russian team to appear politically neutral. In this case, we need to consider not only the athletes, but also their coaches who usually stand right beside the boards while their athletes are competing on the rink, accompany them to Kiss & Cry and wait for the scores next to the athletes. The coaches often get a considerable amount of media exposure. In light of this, should the IOC put additional rules regarding the behaviors of Russian coaches as well?
Let’s assume that the IOC finally decides to allow Russian figure skaters to compete at Milan 2026. It is almost a certainty that athletes coached by Eteri Tutberidze and Evgeni Plushenko, two of the most famous Russian figure skating coaches in the world, will participate in the games. Both of them have trained Alexandra Trusova, the Beijing Olympics silver medalist. Tutberidze has also coached the Olympic champions from PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022, Alina Zagitova and Anna Shcherbakova.
However, both coaches’ political stances came into question when Plushenko received a 50-million rubles grant from Putin for his pro-war in Ukraine ice show last summer and when Tutberidze was just awarded one of the nation’s highest honors on Monday. What will the subtext be when, according to traditions, these coaches are given media attention and have a major presence at the competitions?
Allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to return to the rink might pose more challenges than any of us could imagine. As much as we may not want sports to be politicized, it seems like things tend to go the other way.
“In the Loop” runs every other Tuesday.