Eteri Tutberidze, the terrible Russian trainer of the doped figure skater girl

• Sports What is known about the Russian figure skater Valieva's doping case?

In Russia,

(47) is a doubly decorated heroine.

She has in her possession an Order of Merit for the Fatherland and an Order of Honor, two of the most important distinctions in the country for her achievements as a coach.

However, outside of her land, she is considered one of the greatest villains in international sports.

A woman with a

an iron sergeant on both sides of the iron curtain who has been pointed out by different accusing fingers as the key figure behind the doping scandal that has affected the young Russian skating star, Kamila Valieva.

Under Tutberidze, the 15-year-old Valieva has undoubtedly made history in the world of ice skating.

Even though she was practically a child, this skater was the only woman able to land

in the team competition.

Something that a woman had never achieved before in the Olympics and thanks to what Russia achieved the gold medal.

Later, she came back positive for her by doping Trimetazedine, a prohibited substance that allows to increase tolerance to a low level of oxygen at the cellular level.

Even with the suspicions of having consumed prohibited substances, she was allowed to continue competing.

However, she was

for a girl and did not achieve the expected medal in the individual competition.

It was then that Valieva burst into tears next to Tutberidze and her eyes began to settle on the coach.

In the event that an athlete under the age of 16 tests positive for anti-doping controls -as is the case of Valieva, who has justified the results by saying that she drank from her grandfather's glass- the protocol of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) orders the opening of an investigation on the "environment" of the athlete.

An environment that, in this case, would lead Tutberidze.

The shadow of suspicion that hangs over the coach is based on

journalists and former athletes who assure that the Russian would train young athletes with methods more typical of the Spartan agogé than of a modern coach.

She is drawn as a demanding and tough woman using a method of

.

Her training routine at Moscow's prestigious Sambo70 club has been associated with words like "dehydration," "hunger," and a strict "almost military" training regimen that is said to physically and mentally tear athletes apart.

This was the case for

who was Tutberidze's pupil and gold medalist at Sochi 2014. A year after reaching the top, Lipnitskaya left the team suffering from depression and anorexia nervosa due to the pressure she was under. she looked subdued.

However, the apparent harshness of the Tutberidze method cannot be understood without the

that she herself endured as a child and without the harsh avatars she had to overcome throughout her life.

The daughter of a worker and an engineer, she began

with professional aspirations and, even as a girl, she suffered a serious back injury but did not allow it to stop her career.

His training was carried out by the Leninist organization of the Young Pioneers, an organization equivalent to the Boy Scouts in the USSR that promoted civic values ​​through sports and nature.

The young Tutberidze went to train at least three times a week for 11 months a year at the Pioneers Stadium (now demolished) located on the outskirts of the central almond of Moscow.

Due to her

she skipped part of school (the law allowed young promises of the sport) to forge herself as an athlete.

Eteri Tutberidze with Vladimir Putin after being decorated with the Order of Honor of the Russian Federation.

in young people .

A demanding sports methodology since adolescence that caught the attention of large newspapers such as the New York Times to explain the Olympic successes of the USSR.

Later she became part of the CSKA Moscow team (a multi-sports club then owned by the Soviet Army) and until the throes of the USSR she made a living (thanks to public funding) as a figure skater.

In addition,

(equivalent to bachelor's degrees) of sports coach and ballet choreographer.

Then the collapse of the USSR left ice skating with one hand in front and one behind.

The situation forced her to cross the pond and

, her old rival power.

There she concatenated a series of troubles while she continued to make a living on the ice: she got married, had a daughter, her husband abandoned her, she was the victim of the Oklahoma City terrorist attack (the most serious attack in US history until 9/11) and even went bankrupt having to sleep in YMCA homeless shelters.

Finally, she chose to return to Russia, alone and with a child in her care.

His return to the motherland was not a bed of roses either.

She was

by three institutions.

On the fourth, she was the charm but she was only given a job for an hour and a half a week and thanks to her good performance she gradually reversed her situation.

Even so, he had to wait almost a decade to take off and his arrival to stardom did not occur until

in Sochi 2014. Shortly after the honorary orders arrived from the hand of Vladimir Putin and, although the criticism and the shadows of doping hang over her, skaters from Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan line up at her club hoping to achieve Olympic glory with blood, sweat and tears.

Tutberidze style.

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