- Joined
- Apr 26, 2018
No one is saying that Eteri or Alina “invented” disordered eating.
Certain statements from Eteri and Alina give pause. It is valid to question and even criticize those statements.
A defensive rush to talk about every skater who has ever had an eating disorder or every coach who has ever said anything silly or wrong about eating does not change any valid criticism of evidence of disordered eating or encouragement of disordered eating. Simply makes no difference
I do not follow enough to know if the translations are correct or what context they were made in, so I can’t comment on that. My agenda is healthy skaters, and a healthy approach to eating. I can’t speak for anyone else.
I agree completely and couldn‘t have said it better. Frankly, the “but others do it as well“ is and should never be used as an argument. It just does not make sense. The fact that others do it as well or other coaches and athletes have similar problems doesn‘t make it any better. For what it‘s worth, it just shows that the problem is far more wide spread in our sport than most of us would like. Alina and the other girls at Sambo are minors, teenagers even. I think it‘s only natural that we worry if we hear things like that and want them to be safe. Healthy eating should be promoted. It‘s logical that an athlete‘s diet probably won‘t be the same as someone who doesn‘t compete on the elite level. But that‘s what nutritionists are there for. Coaches and parents should, in no case, be the only ones to help these young athletes with healthy eating and a healthy weight for their sport.
As someone who is a fan of many of these girls, I worry. I see them as children and most of them still are. And considering certain statements from both Eteri and her students, I think I have every reason to question this approach. As a fan, I just don‘t see any reason to just be all sunshine. I don’t see any need in putting anyone down but raising legitimate concern and wishing for minors to get help with their diet and eating habits from professionals (especially in a time and sport where eating disorders are very prominent) is not bashing anyone, neither the coaches nor the athletes.
But weight gain during puberty just happens. Inevitably. It‘s biology. It‘s an individual thing for everyone but it still happens. Elite athletes probably won’t have as much changes as other people, due to the high intensity training. But we still see the differences. These are young girls, they‘ll grow up, their center of gravity will change. So, what Alina said is essentially what you claimed she didn‘t say. I‘m aware of the fact that athletes need to be in a certain weight range and can‘t just stuff themselves with cakes and fast food. But that‘s not the point here. The point is that the quote was exactly that weight gain during puberty won‘t happen if you just don‘t eat (or eat less, if you want to say it like that). Which is, as simple as that, wrong. It should be possible to adjust the technique if you grow and not rely on not gaining weight because that is simply impossible. Liza went through those changes. Everyone has to at some point. It will likely result in having unstable results during that period of time but in the end, if you adjust to that new body, it will be far better than if you try to just keep the teenage body by trying to “not gain weight“.
Eteri isn‘t singled out. At least not by me. I know that there are some people who ONLY hate on Eteri and her skaters and are happy when they see Alina fail but I think we should just ignore these people. When they say “poor Alina“ they secretly think: “great! Showed them again that Eteri is a terrible coach, please fall again Alina and hurt yourself“ That‘s crazy.
To me it‘s fairly obvious that eating disorders are a widely spread problem in our sport. It‘s not just Russian athletes and not just Eteri‘s athletes either. But if Alina or Eteri make comments, then people will react. Admittedly more often than if other coaches do.
And I also wish that the translations could be checked by native Russian speakers before posting them here because I fear that otherwise we‘ll have many misquoted statements. I‘m still not sure if Alina really said something about not drinking during the Olympics. To me, that sounds like something that was wrongly translated. I would be grateful if someone could clear this up. I think it would make the discussion also a bit more meaningful if it wasn‘t just “she did say!“ against “no she did not!“y
Alina is, per se, not responsible for anyone. But she is a role model and actually she does a really great job at being one. Her story is inspiring. But these comments about weight are still worrisome because the fact that so many people look up to her (deservedly so) will cause her words to have a lot of impact.
She should not have to lie about having an acceptable calorie intake! She should have one in the first place.
I‘m in general in favour of not leaving diet and eating habits to parents and coaches alone. Not only in Alina‘s case but for everyone. While I understand that this sadly won‘t be possible for all athletes out there, Alina is an Olympic Champion. Her club has been hugely successful for years. Hiring a nutritionist really should not be a problem.
Finally, as someone who really likes and admires Alina I do not get why I should always be sunshine and positive when things are clearly worrisome. I was worried about Evgenia last year when she was so thin, I am worried about her now too because while she seems to work with a nutritionist, she‘s still got a lingering injury. I will defend Alina against senseless “she is done“ or “she is an entirely bad skater with bad programs“ arguments. I will defend her against senseless hate. But here I see legitimate concern. And I think, given the statements we have heard, it‘s only natural that fans like me start to worry too.
The truth is Alina should not be talking about this in an interview but she does not know not to talk about it. She doesn't think she's hurting her team or the Figure Skating World by stating that.. she's 16 and I cut her a lot of slack.. but the Rus fed needs to explain to her why she should not be discussing not drinking water and her parents need to get involved too. We have to remember she's only 16.
