Examining the 'ugly moments' from the Russian figure skating controversy

JUDY WOODRUFF: This is the final weekend of the Winter Olympics that in many ways has been overshadowed by larger concerns, such as China's human rights record and doping allegations. Tonight we will see much of this, starting with the conduct of the Russian team. Yesterday, Russian ice skater Kamila Valieva failed to win the medal and immediately afterwards she was reprimanded by her coach. Many were disturbed by how this played out and worried about the pressures on athletes. Lisa Desjardins begins our coverage. LISA DESJARDINS:   The women's ice

skating

competition has been a particularly

ugly

moment for this week's Games.

For more on this, I'm joined by Stephanie Apstein of "Sports Illustrated." She's covering the Games right there in Beijing. Stephanie, let's start with that women's competition we saw last night in the United States. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. Could you help us get over those

ugly

moments

when Russian skaters were treated very harshly, which caused a lot of

controversy

? Lots of emotion at the end. What happened? STEPHANIE APSTEIN, "Sports Illustrated": Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen anything like that either. It was really hard to watch. Kamila Valieva, who was the early favorite and competing under this cloud of suspected doping, had dramatic problems in her free skate.

She fell twice. She came out of the jumps. I mean, it was really a disaster. She was crying when she came off the ice. And the first person to greet her was her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, who basically started yelling at her right away, asking her why she had given up, basically why she wasn't trying harder. So, understandably, Valieva continues to sob. And then they announce that she finished fourth, which means that her teammate Anna Shcherbakova is going to win. Shcherbakova is alone by the time she finds out. She's sitting there, somewhat dazed, not looking very happy.

Second place finisher, Alexandra Trusova, is also crying because she completed a very challenging routine that she thought she should have won. Then she is crying. She screams that she hates

skating

, that she hates the sport, that she hates her coaches, that she never wants to do it again, that everyone has a gold medal except her. It was actually a really disturbing scene to see these three teenagers having some really big emotions, all for pretty disturbing reasons. LISA DESJARDINS: As you say, these are young women who have really put most of the rest of their lives on hold for this sport and the Olympics.

Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, was asked about this and expressed some concern. Is there any way the Olympic Committee can change the way these skaters are treated or how coaches treat any athlete? STEPHANIE APSTEIN: Well, I think the International Olympic Committee tends to vaguely say the right thing and then not take much action to back it up. And that's what I assume is happening here. Thomas Bach said he was worried. But none of this should have been a surprise to him. I mean, this coach, this program has been talked about for years. Of course, Russian doping is not a problem.

And it is their organization that has let them skate, so to speak. So I think there are probably things that the IOC could be doing, like formal investigations. I think you could separate yourself a little bit from the higher court that oversees things. I mean, a lot of the people sitting on the court are also part of the IOC, so it's not really an independent body at all. It's all... they're so intertwined that it's hard to see anything real being done here. LISA DESJARDINS: As the kind of bureaucracy of the sport has trouble dealing with that, we've seen what's happening with the skaters here, in the sense that everyone is pushing the limits.

The second place finisher, as you mentioned, Alexandra Trusova, I think she did five quadruple jumps. I want to ask you, what do we know about what that's doing to the bodies of these young skaters? And is the sport going too far and demanding too much of these skaters right now for their own physical health? STEPHANIE APSTEIN: Yeah, that Trusova routine was actually - she landed five quads, which is the same number as the men's champion, Nathan Chen. So that's a pretty crazy statistic, if you think about the difference between the male body and the female body.

And part of the problem is that once these girls' bodies mature into women's bodies, they can't really generate the kind of strength needed to perform these quadruple jumps. They have the wrong ratio of muscle to fat, as they would naturally have as they age. And that also creates really backward incentives, in the sense that if your goal is to create skaters who can do these kinds of incredible rotations, what you want are kids, and you want them to be as skinny as possible, because, the less they weigh, the more they weigh. , the easier it will be for them to launch themselves into the air.

Then you end up with situations like this, where Russian skaters have talked about not really being allowed to eat much. Some said they didn't even drink water during the Olympics, because it's all about keeping the weight down so they can perform these jumps. And these are issues that the skating community has faced for a long time, this kind of artistic versus athletics issue. And I think this is the natural end point of this: if you want to see them do these jumps, the way to do it is pretty unhealthy. It's pretty bad for their bodies. LISA DESJARDINS: And in fact, you wrote that you think it's time for

figure

skating to set an age limit.

Do you think that...? STEPHANIE APSTEIN: Yeah, I think it would help. The age limit currently is 15, which, as I think we've seen, is low, both from a physical perspective, as I mentioned, but also from the horror of what we saw at the event. These are children. And the IOC sort of nods to this issue by having a protected person class through the World Anti-Doping Agency that basically says that 15-year-olds are too young to make decisions for themselves and therefore , they should not be prosecuted at all. in the same way. Well, if they're too young to know what they're doing, then maybe we shouldn't... we shouldn't have them in the Olympics.

So, yes, I would suggest, and a lot of other people have been talking, maybe it's time to suggest that everyone be 18. This is a sport for adults. It would make these children less likely to be taken advantage of. It would force these organizations to find a way to expand the careers of these athletes. Mariah Bell, a 25-year-old American

figure

skater, noted that she has really been able to make a career out of this and that, for many of her younger peers, she will do it for two years, maybe a senior year. At the elite level, they will compete in an Olympic Games, and then that's it, they will retire at 17, have back problems, and have to move on with their lives.

And is that really what we want for these people? I think it probably isn't. LISA DESJARDINS: A fascinating and sometimes very difficult Olympic Games. Thank you so much for joining us to talk about it, Stephanie Apstein of "Sports Illustrated." STEPHANIE APSTEIN: Thank you for having me.