Underage figure-skaters would be banned under a radical proposal from the sport’s world governing body in the wake of Katia Alexandrovskaya’s death.
In an extraordinary about-face, the International Skating Union says it wants to raise the minimum competition age from 15 to 17 to stamp out the international “trading” of young athletes.
The move is a bid to reduce the immense pressure on pre-teen and early adolescent skaters to perform complex jumps and dangerous routines in order to be ready for the Olympics and other international competitions before their bodies have matured.
An investigation by The Australian and The Daily Telegraph into Alexandrovskaya’s apparent suicide has also prompted the Australian Human Rights Commission to say its investigation into athlete welfare in gymnastics should also apply to other sports, including figure-skating.
More than a month after Alexandrovskaya took her life, Australian sporting officials have still not agreed to an inquiry into the circumstances leading up to her death, despite serious concerns about accountability and the welfare of underage athletes.
Other authorities are therefore taking matters into their own hands and looking at major reforms, including raising the age of Olympic ice skaters.
Under ice skating’s international regulations, competitors are permitted to enter senior competitions from the age of 15 but critics say that’s far too young, that it increases the risk of injury and promotes international “trading” of talented child athletes — a practice World Athletics boss Sebastian Coe likened to “human trafficking”.
Alarmed by the burnout rate and injuries to teenage skaters attempting dangerous jumps, the Dutch Skating Federation last year submitted a proposal to the ISU to raise the minimum age to 17. The matter was not discussed after it was removed from the agenda following a procedural motion but ISU president Jan Dijkema said Alexandrovskaya’s death had triggered a rethink.
Sporting federations have been shamed into taking action as more cases emerge, including the global gymnastics scandal, the death of Alexandrovskaya and Jessica Shuran Yu’s account of how she was physically and emotionally abused while training in China.
Mr Dijkema also revealed the ISU’s medical commission had begun a full review into mental health issues affecting young skaters and was working with the International Olympic Committee to find real solutions to the dark secrets emerging as more athletes speak up. “The ISU, through the respective ISU member federations, is trying to obtain information that might lead to review certain ISU rules and procedures, especially related to the applicable age limits,” he said.
“Besides a possible ISU council proposal to be put on the agenda of the 2021 congress, some ISU member federations have signalled their intention to do so … there will most likely be a debate on the issue (at the) congress.”
The ISU congress was to be in Thailand this year but was pushed back 12 months because of the pandemic; decisions about raising age limits will come too late for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Gymnastics Australia recently engaged Australia’s peak human rights authority to conduct an independent review to examine “the nature and impact on athletes of misconduct, bullying, abuse, sexual harassment and assault within gymnastics in Australia” and come up with recommendations to prevent it happening again.
julian.linden@news.com.au
jessica.halloran@news.com.au
