BANGKOK —
Ice skating’s governing body voted Tuesday to raise the minimum age for senior
competition to 17, months after an Olympics drug scandal involving teenage
Russian Kamila Valieva.
اضافة اعلان
The decision by the
International Skating Union (ISU) congress in Phuket, Thailand lifts the age
limit from 15 and will be phased in gradually, reaching age 17 in the 2024/25
season.
“It’s a very
historic decision,” ISU President Jan Dijkema said after 100 countries voted to
support the measure, with only 16 opposed.
Figure skater
Valieva, then 15, was allowed to compete at February’s Beijing
Winter Olympics despite failing a drug test beforehand but broke down after falling multiple
times during her final performance.
With the global
spotlight on her and favorite for gold, she finished outside the medals.
Questions swirled about the influence of her entourage following a tense and
tearful post-routine encounter with her coach.
The ISU said that
raising the age limit was on its agenda well before the Valieva case and
acknowledged it had a duty of care to elite adolescent athletes.
Ahead of the vote,
director-general Fredi Schmid said the ISU had faced media pressure and a
“major attack” in the wake of the
Olympics and reminded delegates the global
body’s reputation was at stake.
“The moment of
truth is obviously today because the credibility of the ISU will also be
scrutinized. The media and the public will watch us very closely so don’t
forget this,” he warned.
Top names in
Russian figure skating played down the decision — which will be in place for
the Winter Olympics in 2026 — with former coach turned media personality
Tatiana Tarassova telling the TASS agency: “We will win anyway.”
Former skating star
Alexander Zhulin, now a coach, told TASS: “The decision is mainly directed
against us.
“It is obvious to
everyone that at 15–16 years old our girls cannot be beaten. Everyone is
against us now so this decision was not surprising.”
Russian teenagers
Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova won gold and silver in Beijing. Valieva
was fourth.
Children first
The ISU’s medical advice backed raising the minimum age to 17 arguing it
would benefit young skaters physically and mentally, and help extend their
careers.
“I feel as administrators
of the sport of skating it is your moral obligation and duty to provide these
young skaters with the opportunity and time to develop... the skills they
require in order to be successful at the senior level,” Dr Jane Moran from the
body’s medical commission said.
“They have the
right to develop themselves as people during their adolescent age... They don’t
need us to be forcing them to compete.”
A medical report
said the change would allow junior athletes time to reach skeletal maturity.
It also warned that
some elite adolescent athletes could experience a puberty delay for an average
of two years as a result of the physical demands of training.
It noted some were
at greater risk of developing eating disorders.
The athletes’
commission surveyed close to 1,000 athletes and coaches, and 86 percent were in
favor of lifting the age limit.
Some
representatives from smaller countries argued the changes would have a negative
impact on their talent pool of skaters and ability to send athletes to elite
competitions.
But other smaller
skating nations such as Iceland and Ireland argued the focus should be on
protecting youngsters.
“We have to
remember they are children first and athletes second,” Ireland’s representative
in Phuket said.
An amendment to
raise the minimum age to 16 and then wait until after the 2026 Olympics in
Milan-Cortina to revisit the issue was rejected.
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