I have watched many videos and I have read many articles and I still cannot make sense of what happened to 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva. She is the victim of abuse by many of those whose job it was to protect her as an athlete and a person. How can a 15-year-old athlete be put in such a position that she feels the weight of the world on her shoulders? How can a 15-year-old girl be put in a position where she feels she has failed because she finished fourth in the world on figure skating’s biggest stage?
Kamila did not fail. In fact, she succeeded when all those around her failed her. Her coach failed her, the Russian Olympic Committee failed her, and the International Olympic Committee failed her. Everyone seemed to be only concerned Kamila as an athlete and not as a 15-year-old teenager.
Former Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton said it best. Here is a paraphrase of what he said. When I was 15 years old, I finished in 9th place in the novice division of figure skating. At that age, all I cared about was having fun when I was skating.
All the outrage that has occurred in the last 24 hours, means nothing if things do not change. Changes need to be made at all levels in all sports. Coaches cannot be allowed to abuse (physical or psychological) athletes of any age. Administrators cannot be allowed to overlook abuse of the coaches they hire. Parents need to protect their sons and daughters from abusive coaches. Sports officials need to call out and report abuse when they see it. Everyone needs to be held accountable. It is going to take a village to make the changes.
Former players, boosters and fans need to call out abusive coaches and stop supporting them just because they have created a winning program. We have created a serious double standard. Can you imagine what would happen to a teacher if he/she started screaming at a student for missing questions on an exam? The teacher would be fired immediately. Yet some coaches do it all the time, and no one thinks anything of it. In some cases, coaches are rewarded for their toughness. Think Bobby Knight, Woody Hayes, Frank Kush, and Bela Karolyi. These are all coaches who were considered the top of their profession, but eventually were taken down by their abuse.
What happened to Kamila Valieva is not an isolated incident that only applies to Russian figure skating. It is a symptom of a bigger problem throughout the sporting world that we should no longer tolerate. Coaches and those who hire them cannot be allowed to abuse the athletes physically or mentally.
It is imperative that we learn from the experience of Simone Biles and Kamila Valieva. If changes are not made, we are no better than Kamila’s coach who showed no compassion toward a 15-year-old teenager who succumbed to the pressure of the world on her shoulders.
What are you doing to stop the violence? Get vaccinated and get your booster.
Orchid of the Day: Mike Tirico of NBC Sports for his beautiful commentary about the failures of those surrounding Kamila Valieva. See my video of the Day.
Quote of the Day: “I was very disturbed yesterday when I watched the competition on TV. You could feel that this is an immense, immense mental stress. It was “chilling” to see the coldness with which Valieva was received by Tutberidze and other Russian skating officials after her performance. All of this does not give me confidence in this entourage of Kamila neither with regard to what happened in the past, nor as far as it concerns the future, and maybe she would have preferred to leave the ice and to leave this story behind her.” Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee
Onion of the Day: Those who failed to protect Kamila Valieva
Video of the Day:
Mike Tirico, NBC Sports
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzKR8jj0XfY
NBC Sports video