ワリエワの薬物騒動、「氷の女王」らコーチ陣に厳しい視線

【モスクワＡＦＰ＝時事】フィギュアスケート女子のカミラ・ワリエワ（ロシア五輪委員会＜ＲＯＣ＞）のドーピング陽性が判明して、北京冬季五輪で物議を醸していることにより、同選手のコーチ陣には厳しい視線が向けられている──その筆頭がエテリ・トゥトベリーゼ氏だ。（写真はフィギュアスケートのロシア人指導者、エテリ・トゥトベリーゼ氏）
　１１日にワリエワの薬物検査陽性が発覚して大会追放の可能性が出てくると、ロシア国内では「恥を知れトゥトベリーゼ」のハッシュタグがツイッター上のトレンドになり始めた。
　ロシア反ドーピング機関は「当該選手のスタッフに対して、調査が開始された」と発表。４７歳のトゥトベリーゼ氏の名前は記されておらず、同氏による不正行為を示すものは何もなかったが、評判の厳しい指導法に対して新たな注目が集まることになった。
　１５歳のワリエワをはじめ、チームメートで１７歳のアレクサンドラ・トゥルソワとアンナ・シェルバコワは、ともにトゥトベリーゼ氏の門下生として今大会の女子シングルを席巻すると期待されてきた。
　その冷徹な振る舞いや有無を言わさぬ指導法で「氷の女王」と呼ばれているトゥトベリーゼ氏は、自国開催となった２０１４年ソチ冬季五輪で一躍脚光を浴びた。
　同大会の団体戦では、当時の教え子だった１５歳のスター選手、ユリア・リプニツカヤ氏がロシアの金メダル獲得に貢献。それ以降、トゥトベリーゼ氏は世界で引く手あまたのコーチの一人となった。
　さらに２０１８年平昌冬季五輪でも、同氏に師事する２人が女子シングルで圧倒的な強さを発揮。アリーナ・ザギトワが金メダル、エフゲニア・メドベデワが銀メダルに輝いた。

■成功の裏のスキャンダル
　しかし、そうした成功の裏ではスキャンダルもあり、数人のアスリートがトゥトベリーゼ氏の元を去った。
　リプニツカヤ氏は２０１５年にチームを離れてその後現役を引退し、メドベデワも２０１８年にブライアン・オーサー氏に師事するためにカナダ・トロントへ拠点を移した。
　メドベデワは２０２１年８月にユーチューブでのインタビューで、トゥトベリーゼ氏の指導法は「成果を上げるものの、成長するにつれて、年々耐えるのが難しくなっていく」とコメント。優勝しても何の称賛もしてもらえず、それは「過酷な」経験だったと話した。
　２０２０年にはトゥルソワに加えて強豪選手のアリョーナ・コストルナヤも、同氏のライバルで４個の五輪メダルを獲得しているエフゲニー・プルシェンコ氏の指導を仰ぐためにチームを離れると明らかにした。
　トゥトベリーゼ氏は教え子が離脱した当時、インスタグラムに「練習のシステムを何か変更するかって？ いいえ、私たちは全て正しく行っている」と書き込んだ。
　ロシアの元アイスダンス選手エカテリーナ・ボブロワ氏は、トゥトベリーゼ氏について「人の自尊心を傷つけることもあるが、それは彼女の認識では善意で行っている」と話していた。
　そして、結局のところトゥルソワとコストルナヤ、そしてメドベデワはいずれも同氏の元へ戻った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/02/14-12:10）

The coaching team surrounding Kamila Valieva has come under fierce scrutiny after the 15-year-old Russian figure skater was engulfed by a doping controversy at the Beijing Olympics -- and none more so than Eteri Tutberidze.
After it was confirmed Friday that Valieva had failed a drugs test and could be kicked out of the Games, the hashtag shame on Tutberidze began trending on Twitter in Russia.
Russia's anti-doping agency RUSADA said that an investigation has been initiated into the athlete's staff.
It did not name the 47-year-old Tutberidze and there is no suggestion of wrongdoing on her behalf, but it brings renewed focus on the notoriously strict methods of a coach who has trained up a team of brilliant young skaters tasked with winning gold in Beijing.
Valieva and her 17-year-old teammates Alexandra Trusova and Anna Shcherbakova, who are also Tutberidze's proteges, had been expected to dominate the women's singles -- one of the Games' most prestigious and scrutinised events.
It would be great if all three medals were ours, Tutberidze told Russia's Channel One network in late December.
Tutberidze has been dubbed Russia's Snow Queen for her icy demeanour and no-nonsense coaching style.
She was thrust into the spotlight during Russia's home 2014 Sochi Games, where her then-15-year-old star Yulia Lipnitskaya mesmerised with a Schindler's List routine and took home gold in the team event too.
Tutberidze has since become one of the most sought-after coaches in the world.
A striking figure with blonde curls and piercing brown eyes, she is a household name in Russia, where supremacy in the sport is a point of national pride.
But her rise to fame has been coupled with controversy over her methods after several students abruptly left her team.
I prefer to tell my athletes the truth because they will hear flattery from others, Tutberidze told Channel One in an unusually candid interview in December, sitting with her puppy Michelle on her lap.
- Dashed American dream -
Born into a family of five in Moscow, Tutberidze aspired to become a singles skater but a serious injury forced her to pursue ice dancing instead.
In the early 1990s she left the Soviet Union for the United States, but promises of an ice dancing job there fell through.
Stranded without work, she and her troupe struggled to make ends meet.
They lived at a YMCA in Oklahoma City, where Tutberidze said she narrowly escaped the 1995 terrorist bombing that killed 168 people.
She eventually found work as a skating coach, but missed home.
Returning to a changed Moscow, she encountered failure after failure searching for work until she found a job with an ice circus, training amateurs.
She then returned to coaching and in 2008 joined the Khrustalny ice rink in Moscow, where she continues working today.
The rest is skating history.
After Lipnitskaya's success at Sochi, another of her skaters, Evgenia Medvedeva, took both the European and World titles in 2016 and 2017.
The following year, two of Tutberidze's students dominated the Pyeongchang Olympics women's singles event.
Alina Zagitova took gold and Medvedeva, in a bitter loss, was left with silver.
Also under Tutberidze's guidance, Trusova -- nicknamed the Russian rocket -- became the first female skater to land a quad Lutz and quad toeloop in competition -- technically challenging jumps that require four full rotations.
Just before they all headed to Beijing, Valieva, Trusova and Shcherbakova won all three medals at the Russian championships and the European championships.
- Tainted by controversy -
But Tutberidze's success has been tainted by behind-the-scenes scandals, with several athletes walking out on her.
Lipnitskaya left the team in 2015 and eventually retired, while Medvedeva announced in 2018 she would move to Toronto and train with Canada's Brian Orser.
Tutberidze's methods work but as you get older, with every year it's harder to put up with it, Medvedeva said in a YouTube interview in August 2021.
She said she had never received any praise for winning and that she had experienced cruelty.
Then in 2020 Trusova and another promising student, Alena Kostornaia, announced they were leaving to train under Tutberidze's rival, four-time Olympic medallist Evgeni Plushenko.
The decisions appeared to be motivated by internal rivalries between Plushenko and Tutberidze.
Will we change anything in our training system? No. We are doing everything correctly, Tutberidze wrote on Instagram at the time of the departures.
Perhaps Russia's most famous coach, Tatiana Tarasova, said it was ridiculous to even talk about a rivalry between the two.
Eteri is an outstanding coach, Tarasova said, describing Plushenko as just a beginner.
Retired Russian ice dancer Ekaterina Bobrova said Tutberidze can humiliate a person, but she does it, in her opinion, with good intentions.
And ultimately, Trusova, Kostornaia and Medvedeva all returned to her.