Alina Gorbacheva missing - found safe

[Caliban]

Figure skater Alena Gorbacheva was taken to the investigative Committee unit

"The minor was taken to the department of the capital's IC. With the participation of a legal representative and a psychologist, the investigators began conducting investigative actions with her," the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said in a statement.

 

[decafjava]

Alina is found, official information

I'm relieved really, but I hope she gets proper follow-up.

 

[lariko]

Goodness gracious. Thanks God she is alive, but that's a close call.

 

[Mathematician]

I've had people from Russia and Europe tell me it's normal for a 16 year old girl to walk around alone at times. Being an American I found that shocking. Especially for this known athlete in a city of over 10 million people

Kidnapping isnt a big thing at all in Russia. In the west (America especially) child trafficking rings are rampant so kids get snatched everywhere. Yes I agree I also would rather my underrage daughter didn't walk alone regardless but in Russia theres way bigger issues.

Was there anyone in Russia to help Kamila when she was going through her issues?

She had a Priest with her in Beijing.

 

[Skater Boy]

I am glad they found her safe. BUt I have to admit I was thinking, I know wrongfully, how odd that she is a junior and she is 16 years old. Isn't that when Russian girls are in their prime (seniors) and she still is in juniors?

 

[Mathematician]

I am glad they found her safe. BUt I have to admit I was thinking, I know wrongfully, how odd that she is a junior and she is 16 years old. Isn't that when Russian girls are in their prime (seniors) and she still is in juniors?

I think she was going to compete in seniors this season

 

[Scott512]

Kidnapping isnt a big thing at all in Russia. In the west (America especially) child trafficking rings are rampant so kids get snatched everywhere. Yes I agree I also would rather my underrage daughter didn't walk alone regardless but in Russia theres way bigger issues.


She had a Priest with her in Beijing.

Panic that she was snatched off the street was my first reaction. I've lived in America my whole life I grew up in New York and Now live in Florida and for the last 10 years I swear there must be every week or 2 I get an Amber alert on my phone just for my area that a kid has been snatched. And when that loud alarm goes off on your phone about the Amber alert and you get actual Goosebumps. And that was my panic for Alina once we heard about all her stuff being on the sidewalk by the river or wherever it was.

I sure hope this is a wake up call for Russian athletes and authorities to watch out for their teenagers better. If she had someone to talk to that wasn't her parents or her coaches then might not have happened.

I forgot KV had a priest in Beijing. Thanks.

 

[TallyT]

Kidnapping isnt a big thing at all in Russia. In the west (America especially) child trafficking rings are rampant so kids get snatched everywhere.

Uhh, no. Stranger danger is a thing as it is everywhere but the media acoustics are far louder in some parts of the world, remember. I'm not saying it isn't worse in some Western countries simply because I don't have non-media-doctored stats, but not even vaguely to the extent you might hear from outside, and of course, in all countries the world over kidnapping and crime against children (and other countries' equivalents to those Amber Alerts) is sadly less likely to be from strangers.

But that doesn't matter here, the fact is this young girl has been found and is safe. Can I just suggest that, as we have no information about why she appeared/was reported to have vanished (and probably will never know the real story, which is right and proper) we confine ourselves here to being happy the outcome is good and wishing her and her family healing and happiness?

 

[el henry]

Kidnapping isnt a big thing at all in Russia. In the west (America especially) child trafficking rings are rampant so kids get snatched everywhere. Yes I agree I also would rather my underrage daughter didn't walk alone regardless but in Russia theres way bigger issues.


She had a Priest with her in Beijing.

In the US, less than one percent of all children who go missing are abducted by strangers, I gave the link with facts in my earlier post. Child trafficking is far from "rampant" and kids almost never get "snatched".

Kidnapping is not a big thing in America or in Russia. I am very glad Alina is safe, but that would have been highly unlikely, it appears, in either country. (ETA: I say "it appears" because I do not know enough about Russia to say; I know that stranger abduction is highly unlikely in the US).

 

[Mathman]

I tried to look up some statistics on kidnapping in various countries. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) maintains a large publically accessable data base. Russia has one of the lower rates of kidnapping incidents, 0.2 reported incidents per 100,00 population. (By the way, the U.N. Secretary of this Office from 2010 to 2018 was a Russian diplomat named Yuri Fedokov. His successor is Egyptian and the first woman to hold the job.)

Data from the United States is not included in the official U.N. statistics.. This is because in 2018 the then-president of the United States withdrew the U.S. from the United Nations Human Rights Council and related departments, joining Iran, North Korea and Eritrea as the only 4 nations that refused participation. In 2021 the newly elected U.S. president rejoined but I am not sure of the level of participation (or money contributed) compared to earlier. Eritrea also rejoined in 2022.

Anyway, love, support and best wishes to the young skater going forward.

 

[Mariott]

Thank to everyone who cared about Alina. No matter what the statistics say, we always expect the worst, especially when a child goes missing. Especially when it's the second day of the escape. Even though the statistical likelihood of this option is extremely low, it always seems like this is what happened in this case. The reasons for the teenage rebellion will be looked into by psychologists and everyone responsible for Alina, including herself. We won't know anything about it, thankfully. Let's just rejoice that everything ended in the better way.

 

[Mariott]

I am glad they found her safe. BUt I have to admit I was thinking, I know wrongfully, how odd that she is a junior and she is 16 years old. Isn't that when Russian girls are in their prime (seniors) and she still is in juniors?

Last season she competed adult and junior level. She failed to make it to the top 6 at RusNat, but she won gold at the Russian Junior Championships. This year she is technically on the junior team, but will be competing with the adults and aiming for the adult team (I assume).

It's pretty individualized even in Russia. You can go to the adults at 14, or you can stay in the juniors until 19. There's a lot of in-between between those extremes.

Recent events have made me think that Alina is not quite ready for adult competitions not only technically, but also psychologically. However, this could also be situational. She recently had a serious hip injury, because of which she had to miss the training camp in Novogorsk. This may have affected her psychologically as well.

 

[Mathematician]

Data from the United States is not included in the official U.N. statistics.. This is because in 2018 the then-president of the United States withdrew the U.S. from the United Nations Human Rights Council and related departments, joining Iran, North Korea and Eritrea as the only 4 nations that refused participation. In 2021 the newly elected U.S. president rejoined but I am not sure of the level of participation (or money contributed) compared to earlier. Eritrea also rejoined in 2022.

Very interesting. Thanks for this new info.

 

[icewhite]

What is this nonsense in this thread now? I had the options of report, debunk and make fun, and although I decided on "report" I now feel I missed out on a few great jokes. But I don't think a missing teenager thread is the right place to either make fun about it or spread nationalistic fake news.

I'm very glad she turned up physically safe, and now hope the best for her in every other way, too.

 

[icewhite]

One more thing as I've just been reading Medvedeva's comment: I really hope people don't blame the girl now. Her situation with the coach and the parents sounds like she's been taken advantage of and been put in a mess by at least some adults, and those should take responsibility for that. Of course I don't know the backgrounds, but it doesn't sound like someone is just being spoilt.

 

[JimR]

One more thing as I've just been reading Medvedeva's comment: I really hope people don't blame the girl now. Her situation with the coach and the parents sounds like she's been taken advantage of and been put in a mess by at least some adults, and those should take responsibility for that. Of course I don't know the backgrounds, but it doesn't sound like someone is just being spoilt.

It all got out of hand. She had probably heard of other girls doing similar things to punish parents/guardians without there being a city-wide search for a corpse. It was a little naive of her. Then she was probably too embarrassed to return when she realised it had got out of hand.

It's a strange dynamic having a girl grow up with a young woman with no experience being a mother, never married, went straight from college to coaching Alina (I think she might have been still completing her education when she started coaching Alina). Alina was somewhat of her first project I'm sure there were plenty of mistakes made a long the way in raising her (like most parents/guardians) and even training her.

Alina probably finds it all a bit suffocating now as a 16 year old. Probably looks at Fedchenko and thinks I don't want to be like you at 27. Wants to get out of the situation, change training camp, but doesn't know how to go about it, doesn't know how to break it off. She's lived with her for half her life, Fedchenko probably sacrificed a lot, she would have to move back with her mother.

It is strange to live with a coach, but not as strange as parents sending their children off to dysfunctional boarding schools, having them suffer through such things as violent hazing rituals. Horrible stuff.

The coach was a little naive taking her on, or never expected her to stay for so long. No good deed goes unpunished. Lesson learned for her.

 

[Mariott]

It all got out of hand. She had probably heard of other girls doing similar things to punish parents/guardians without there being a city-wide search for a corpse. It was a little naive of her. Then she was probably too embarrassed to return when she realised it had got out of hand.

It's a strange dynamic having a girl grow up with a young woman with no experience being a mother, never married, went straight from college to coaching Alina (I think she might have been still completing her education when she started coaching Alina). Alina was somewhat of her first project I'm sure there were plenty of mistakes made a long the way in raising her (like most parents/guardians) and even training her.

Alina probably finds it all a bit suffocating now as a 16 year old. Probably looks at Fedchenko and thinks I don't want to be like you at 27. Wants to get out of the situation, change training camp, but doesn't know how to go about it, doesn't know how to break it off. She's lived with her for half her life, Fedchenko probably sacrificed a lot, she would have to move back with her mother.

It is strange to live with a coach, but not as strange as parents sending their children off to dysfunctional boarding schools, having them suffer through such things as violent hazing rituals. Horrible stuff.

The coach was a little naive taking her on, or never expected her to stay for so long. No good deed goes unpunished. Lesson learned for her.

In fact, сases of missing children are widely reported in the press anyway. I remember two teenage girls who went missing a few years ago, they were found a few weeks later in another part of the country - they were just traveling. In any case, Alina's story would have made a lot of noise, even if she was an ordinary schoolgirl.

 

[TallyT]

Not meaning to be presumptuous or criticise anyone - I know we are all on this thread out of genuine concern and wellmeaning - but I do think that trying now to second-guess and analyse what happened and why is a bad idea. What this young girl and her family/coaching team want fans to know, they will tell in due course, and if that if nothing.... that's fine.

It's done, she is found and unharmed, let's leave her in privacy and peace.

 

[Holy Headband]

Panic that she was snatched off the street was my first reaction. I've lived in America my whole life I grew up in New York and Now live in Florida and for the last 10 years I swear there must be every week or 2 I get an Amber alert on my phone just for my area that a kid has been snatched. And when that loud alarm goes off on your phone about the Amber alert and you get actual Goosebumps. And that was my panic for Alina once we heard about all her stuff being on the sidewalk by the river or wherever it was.

I sure hope this is a wake up call for Russian athletes and authorities to watch out for their teenagers better. If she had someone to talk to that wasn't her parents or her coaches then might not have happened.

I forgot KV had a priest in Beijing. Thanks.

It is perfectly normal for 16-year-olds to walk around on their own, go places, run errands, make their own medical and paperwork appointments, etc. and the fact so many Americans think otherwise and believe every second of a child’s life has to be monitored and supervised for their own safety until they graduate from college is the reason anxiety disorders and depression are so prevalent among American youth. When people aren’t allowed to take ownership of their own lives when they’re supposed to, their psychological and social development suffers.

American panics about stranger danger and other violent crime are both unjustified given the statistical prevalence of such incidents and even more out of place outside of America. The reactions and emotions you describe here are not normal; they’re paranoid and the product of concerted media campaigns meant to make you feel like the world is a hostile place and every person you see is a potential killer. These sentiments are very profitable in the US, where people buy guns, security cameras, armored SUVs, tracking apps, etc. out of fear, but they are poison.

 

[Holy Headband]

In fact, сases of missing children are widely reported in the press anyway. I remember two teenage girls who went missing a few years ago, they were found a few weeks later in another part of the country - they were just traveling. In any case, Alina's story would have made a lot of noise, even if she was an ordinary schoolgirl.

Calling it a rebellion that will be looked into may be why she wanted to get away from her current life in the first place. If the adults around her listen to her concerns sincerely instead of acting like she needs to be fixed so she can go back to complying with their commands, they’ll probably get through to her more easily. Maybe she wants to quit figure skating or switch coaches or stop dieting or who knows what. Given how common abuse is in parenting and coaching, there’s a very high possibility the reason she ran away lies in her environment, not in her.