Just saw the recap of the women’s figure skating comp and “award ceremony”. It was SO PAINFUL to watch. The things we do to young folks that we purport to care/coach/mentor…
Reminds me of the fights that break out between parents at little league baseball, hockey, football. Maddening.
Just DON’T do it (you over zealous adults)!!! 
sing
It was painful to watch Valieva in the free skate. She failed a drug test and should not have been allowed to compete.
I didn’t watch but have read a bit and heard from people. Aside from allowing Valieva to compete after learning of the drug test, it’s strange that no medals will be awarded in any event where Valieva finished in the top 3. WTF? It’s like invalidating the hard and grueling work of the other skaters who played by the rules.
Then there’s the thing where Valieva is probably just part of a state sponsored doping scheme. It seems the skaters are responsible for the glory of Mother Russia and they want to win at any cost. That’s gotta be a huge burden to carry.
Valieva and all other Russian athletes competed for the “Russian Olympic Committee” because Russia is banned from competing in international sporting events until December 2022 for running a state-sponsored doping program.
Why such nonsense is allowed is beyond me.
If I have heard the commentary correctly medals will be awarded but there will not be the medals ceremony during the Olympics.
That may translate to
1: Wait until the lawsuits and geo-politics play out and then quietly pass out the medals or
2: They have been given an understanding that in a couple of weeks very few people will pay any attention at all to what they do as there may be events that provide a strong distraction.
Yes. Agree that the IOC should not have let that skate happen. It set up the “meltdown” for Valieva – a talented but young teen (not “woman”) skater. After getting off the ice, Valieva was met with a devastating, scorching and very public beratement by her coach. This was followed by the additional spectacle of Valieva’s teammates reactions at the award ceremony - the Russian silver medalist throwing a crying and screaming tantrum, while the Russian gold medalist was left in seating area, alone for long minutes, with a deer in the headlights look, watching the meltdown and commotion going on around her. These skaters were treated as national commodities rather than the young girls that they are.
Before we get too down on ROC, we should not forget what was done to scores of female (girl) gymnasts by our own US olympic committee and the various gymnastic coaches. The sexual abuses that happened for years on end would not have happened (at least at that scale) were the adults involved prioritizing the mental and physical wellbeing of these young athletes in their charge. This too reflect “institutional abuse.”
Parents also need to take greater effort and awareness in protecting their children/athletes. The drive for athletic success should not lead to “blinders” to everything else engulfing their child prodigies.
sing
All the above and then some has turned me and many off to the Olympics and many other sports. I had almost no desire to watch any of it this time around as I have many fond memories as a kid watching the Olympics with my parents as a kid on B&W OTA TV with rabbit ears.
I get great pleasure watching sporting events on a local level where the pursuit is purely in winning for the sake of the game. All this money and politics has ruined much of sports for me, not to mention having it in a country where…. well you know the rest.
Ditto that. Watching Peggy Flemming and Jean Claude Killy compete on a grainy black and white TV were part of my early American memories. Never knew about winter sports before then.
sing