Around three years and six months ago, Russian forces invaded Ukraine.
This had severe consequences, mostly for the people of Ukraine, and naturally, ripple effects all around the world. Trade routes disrupted, oil supplies diverted, the most cringe political advertisement we've come across on Indian TV…
Another consequence, perhaps a minor one compared to the majesty of the woman declaring how 'War rukva di', was the banning of Russia from competing in Figure Skating.
It's hard to explain the seismic impact of this move without delving a little into the sport's history.
Figure Skating and Russia (former USSR) have, sometimes for better and often for worse, always been deeply entwined. Which is as you would expect, given, you know, Geography. In a sport that had its own pushes and pulls, whose very existence a constant effort to balance between artistry and athleticism, subjective judging and objective criteria, there was something you could always look forward to, or dread – when it came to the business end of a competition, the Russians would always be there.
For a long time, they dominated Pairs Skating and Ice Dance. Then there was the era of Evgeni Plushenko, an absolute diva who justified his billing as the greatest male skater ever more often than not. But from the mid-2010's, it was Russian women who took centre-stage.
Did I say women? Perhaps 'girls' might be the more accurate term to use here. For there was no doubt about it - even in a discipline that has always skewed toward young prodigies, and careers tend to be short, the Russian contingents would be so youthful as to be more 'middle-school' than 'Varsity'. Powered by coaches who achieved practically celebrity status, heavy investment from the Government, massive enthusiasm from parents who pushed their daughters into the sport as soon as they could walk, 'sports doctors' with very flexible attitudes towards ethics and drug use, and perhaps the innate connection to the ice that only comes from being raised by wild wolves and babushkas, Russian skaters began to dominate the medal tables across the world.
Occasionally a particularly talented Japanese skater might break through at a prestigious tournament, but this was an exception, not the rule. And another 'rule' that emerged? With one notable exception, Russian skaters retired almost as soon as they hit puberty.
1. Adelina Sotnikova (Olympic Gold, 2014) competed her last at 18,
2. Alina Zagitova (Olympic Gold, 2018), competed her last at 17,
3. Evgenia Medvedeva (Olympic Silver, 2018) competed till she was 21, but was no longer close to her earlier standards by then),
4. Yulia Lipnitskaya (Olympic Team Gold, 2014) competed her last at 17 but had already lost her consistency before her sixteenth birthday.
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| L-R Adelina Sotnikova and Yulia Lipnitskaya, having won Individual Gold and Team Gold for Russia |
And this is not mentioning the scores of girls who never quite made these competitive heights but were also 'finished' before they had seen 20, consigned to being ‘forgotten’ and pursuing the career path of being ‘Instagram Models’ for the most part.
The thing to note here is that these were not retirements driven by fatigue with the sport, or a sense of having achieved everything already (except perhaps Zagitova, whose career deserves a separate post). It was purely the complete breakdown of their bodies. Sotnikova, by the end, was competing with titanium plates in her spine. Lipnitskaya suffered from anorexia and related problems. Medvedeva's proximate cause for retirement may have been Covid, but she had three fractures in her spine and osteoporosis (at 18!). Zagitova, in 'only' suffering an arm and leg fracture, was the one who got off 'easier' than the rest'.
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| L-R Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedva were once bitter rivals. Clearly, this is no longer the case. |
What this pointed to, obviously, was a severe rot in the Russian system. It invoked images of a beastly, devouring machine, consuming youth, feeding on hope and spitting out flawed, broken diamonds who shone just long enough to bring a sliver of glory to 'Mother Russia' before being confined to the scrap heap, alongside all the ones who did not even make it that far.
I should, of course, clarify that Figure Skating as a sport IS brutal upon the body. Russian skaters were not the only ones who suffered horrific, career-ending injuries. Ankle, back and leg injuries have plagued competitors across the world, as, in pursuit of more and more difficult moves and complex routines, they push their bodies to extents that even the spectacular results do not justify. And Coaches are abusive in this beautiful sport everywhere, and it is fair to say that the bright sequins, the layers of make-up and perfect smiles hide more than just the pain of superhuman effort. But the Russian system was particularly egregious, relying far more on the natural flexibility and lightness of youth combined with brutal, abusive training methods, than on technique and strength training.
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| Amber Glenn, the best skater overall of last season, at 26 |
A telling picture can be drawn from the contrasting career arcs of Russian female skaters vs other countries' skaters. Where skaters from other countries could, and did, remain competitive till their mid-20's, often even improving as their strength evolved alongside their technical prowess, Russian skaters peaked typically in their first two seasons as senior before falling away, because their training methods focussed not on building a 'career' but on getting 'results fast', always at the cost of the health, physique and mental well-being of the girls who submitted to the machine in search of fame and glory. So while the Japanese Kaori Sakamoto enjoyed a stunning career peak after the age of 22, the American Amber Glenn had the best season of her career last year at 25, and Loena Hendricks had hers at 24, the only Russian skater to enjoy a high-level career past the age of 20 has been Elizaveta Tuktamshayeva, who is seen as a complete anomaly (the aforementioned ‘notable exception’).
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| Loena Hendricks has been around since 2015 and just gets better and better. |
Into this milieu, around 2019-20, emerged the trio who would be known as '3A' (a pun, for ‘3A’ is also the short-hand for the Triple-Axel, one of the hardest jumps in the sport). Anna Scherbakova, Alexandra Trusova and Alena Kostornoia were all young, charismatic and skating at what seemed like two levels above what anyone else was at the time, even their own countrywomen.
Scherbakova had remarkable consistency, reliably putting down flawless programs. Kostornoia had skating skills that matched the best Japanese skaters and beautiful musical interpretation. And Trusova - well, Trusova was a stormy petrel of a skater, a maverick who refused to let wise counsel prevail, pushing herself to jump Quadruple jump after Quadruple Jump (Four rotations in the air), often against coaching advice, relying on an incredible core strength and probably a death wish of some kind.
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| L-R Anna Scherbakova, Alena Kostornoia and Alexandra Trusova "3A" |
And the thing is, 3A caught imaginations worldwide. Figure Skating, long languishing on the margins of international sport, was threatening to become relevant again. Every Grand Prix, every tournament, became a contest to see what 3A would accomplish. And more important, their 'quad revolution' was spreading. American skaters, Japanese skaters, were training harder than ever. Loena Hendricks didn't expect to win a tournament where 3A were entered, but she damn well meant to try. Kaori Sakamoto didn't have the technical arsenal to match them, but she worked on being so good at executing what she did have that she managed, even without a Quad jump or Triple Axel, to be the closest to competing with them anyone has been.
We will gloss over, for now, the emergence of Kamila Valieva. We will gloss over the 2022 Olympic Games at Beijing and their dramatic, near-tragic conclusion. I have written about that in detail elsewhere, and may yet write much more. Suffice to say that Anna Scherbakova won. Alexandra Trusova was second while Kaori Sakamoto won the most popular bronze medal I've ever seen.
And then, mere days after Anna Scherbakova stood atop a podium as the saddest figure to even be on that top step, and Alexandra Trusova stood next to her after almost refusing to be there, as I said at the beginning, Russia invaded Ukraine.
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