Yes, 21 for the male partner. 19 for the female partner.
G/G had a 4 year gap, and would not even have run into eligibility issues under the new age cutoff.
This year's (2023-24) senior age minimum is 16 as part of the phasing-in process, and as noted the maximum for junior male partners is 21.
Under this year's rules, Gordeeva would have first been eligible for seniors in 1988 season, so they probably would have gone to 1988 Olympics as 3-time junior world champions rather than as 2-time senior world champions. Still entirely possible that they would have won.
Under next year's rules, assuming there is no change or temporary exception for pairs, she would not have been eligible for seniors until the 1989 season. Just in time, because Grinkov would have been too old for juniors in 1989. But they would have still been junior in 1988.
In men's singles and ice dance, it's completely normal for skaters not to move to seniors until they age out, and to not make their Olympic debuts until 19, 20, 21 or even older, and nobody bats an eye at that.
Yes, that's normal, because men tend to reach their top jumping ability in their later teens and to sustain or improve it into their 20s.
There certainly have been men who started competing at the senior level at 15 (or younger before the 1996 rules took full effect) but when they first compete at the Olympics (assuming they get there at all) depends in part on where their birth year falls within the Olympic cycle and also on the depth of the field in their home country as to whether they will make the Olympic team when first age eligible.
For example, Evgeny Plushenko was able to compete senior in 1997-98 only because of the same "grandfather" clause that allowed Tara Lipinski to compete that year (and the year before -- they were born the same year but her birthday is before the July 1 cutoff and his is after). Plushenko didn't make the 1998 Olympic team but he was an alternate, and he medaled at his first European and World championships that season. Under next year's rules, with no grandfathering and no transitional stepping up of the age rules as we're having now, he'd have had to spend an extra 3 years in juniors before a senior debut in the 2000-2001 season.
For the skaters who are not potential medal contenders at 15 or 16, the pressure is lower and they were able to fly under the radar getting experience at Worlds or Olympics if they made their country's teams at those first-senior years. Some might carry unreasonably high hopes from their home country's press, but in general they'd have less attention and lower expectations than if they'd already shown themselves to be competitive at the top level.
For the prodigies (more likely female than male) who were competitive with the older top seniors from those ages, the pressure was higher, fans around the world and the global press more likely to know about them if they're making a splash in senior competition at those young ages, and more likely to retire in their teens (especially girls from countries with deep fields) if they do manage to win Olympic gold.
I think it's primarily that kind of pressure that the current increase in age rules (still being phased in) was designed to avoid. And the contradiction of a skater being old enough to compete on the highest stage but too young according to WADA "protected person" rules to be held fully responsible for doping violations.
There are other reasons that have been floated over the years for raising the age limits. Including the kind of image the sport wants to present to the world (young adults and physically mature older adolescents) and protecting younger teens from the physical demands of the most difficult skills (not that effective because if young teens can do quads, they will train them to use in the junior free skates or at least to have them ready by the time they're old enough for seniors). For those reasons, another way of addressing the issues could have been to adjust the scoring rules to give more weight to skills that tend to improve at older ages and less to number of rotations in the air, or even to flexibility per se.
It does seem that the Valieva situation in 2022 was the tipping point that convinced more ISU members that raising the senior age minimum would be a good thing.
Not all parents want their kids to become the next star, quite the opposite as a matter of fact. The culture is already evolving. I have been working long enough to see this shift right under my eyes.
