The International Skating Federation (ISU) has approved this Tuesday raising the minimum age to compete from 15 to 17 years to “protect the physical and mental health” of skaters, the agency explained in a statement. The decision comes after skating experienced one of its darkest chapters at the last Tokyo Games with doping accusations against the young Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva.
At just 15 years old, she made history by becoming the first woman to complete a quadruple jump at an Olympic Games, but her sporting feat was soon overshadowed by the doping scandal. Valieva tested positive for a prohibited drug and although the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAD) authorized the skater to continue competing to avoid the “irreparable damage” that she could suffer otherwise, the pressure to which she was subjected sparked an intense debate about the minimum age that should be required of Olympic figure skaters.
“It is a historic decision,” said the president of the federation, Jan Dijkema, announcing the reform backed by delegates from 100 countries. This change will be applied in two phases. The 2022-23 season everything will remain the same to rise to 16 years in the 23-24 season and finally to 17 in 24-25.
The International Federation already indicated then that raising the age limit had been on its agenda long before the Valieva case and this measure has ended up being formalized at the international congress held in Thailand this week.
Great favorite for the Olympic title at just 15 years old, the Russian collapsed under the pressure she suffered and even the IOC president himself, Thomas Bach, spoke publicly about it: “I must say that I felt very disturbed when I saw the test for TV. Watching her wrestle on the ice, how she was trying to pull herself together, to finish her program… She could see in her body language that she was under tremendous stress. She maybe she would have preferred to come off the ice and try to put this story behind her for good,” Bach stated.
