Valieva’s former coach Igor Lyutikov spoke about the bullying the athlete experienced
Igor Lyutikov, the former coach of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, spoke about the bullying the athlete experienced as a child. His words are quoted by RIA Novosti.
According to the specialist, during the 2014/2015 season, a fight involving an athlete occurred at a training camp in Tallinn. At the same time, Valieva participated in it with skates in her hands. “She was actually being bullied. She used these skates to brush them off and defend herself. There were two or three of them, all the girls were older than her, and she was alone,” said Lyutikov.
The coach noted that Valieva herself did not complain to him. “And she didn’t tell me anything, she decided to figure it out herself. Can you imagine how strong the girl’s character is,” said Lyutikov.
Valieva is a world champion among juniors and a silver medalist at the Russian Championship. On January 29, the Court of Arbitration for Sport disqualified the skater for four years for violating anti-doping rules. The period of suspension is counted from the moment a positive test for the prohibited drug trimetazidine is taken – December 25, 2021. Due to disqualification, Valieva was deprived of gold at the 2020 Games in team competitions.
Source: Lenta
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