Figure Skating
Figure Skating Will Raise Age Limit to 17
Figure skating’s global governing body voted Tuesday to gradually increase the minimum age limit for elite competitors to 17 over the next three years. It characterized the move as an effort to safeguard “the physical and mental health, and emotional well-being” of skaters, but made its decision only after facing worldwide criticism for a doping […]
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Valieva Had 3 Substances Sometimes Used to Help the Heart in Sample
A sample provided by a teenage Russian figure skater to an antidoping laboratory before the Beijing Games included three substances that are sometimes used to help the heart, according to a document filed in her arbitration hearing on Sunday. The skater, Kamila Valieva, was cleared to continue competing in the Games by a panel of […]
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Kamila Valieva Can Compete but Won’t Receive Medals
Update: Kamila Valieva‘s sample had three substances sometimes used to help the heart. BEIJING — On Tuesday, Kamila Valieva, one of the Olympics’ youngest and biggest stars, will take to the ice and, if all goes as she plans, perform spinning jump after spinning jump on her way to an expected victory in women’s figure […]
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Valieva Falls and Shcherbakova Rises in a Blur of Jumps, Tumbles and Tears
Although Valieva landed her first jump, a quad salchow, she fell on two other jumps, looking disoriented as she struggled to right herself. In a perplexing performance that shocked even herself, she had errors on nearly every single jump, including her normally high-soaring quadruple jumps that she usually lands with barely a sound. The audience […]
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Valieva’s Coach and Russian Teammates React to Skater’s Crushing Olympic End
Several members of the Russian contingent were in tears by then, including not only Valieva but the silver medalist, Alexandra Trusova, too. In seconds, the scene at the edge of the rink quickly shifted to a blur of disparate emotions — crushing disappointment, raw frustration, incalculable pain — as the weight of a doping scandal […]
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Team Figure Skating Medal Ceremony Is Postponed Amid Legal Inquiry
Members of the United States figure skating team will have to wait an unknown period of time — maybe even a day or more — before getting their hands on their silver medals they won in the team event at the Beijing Games. With no reason given to the figure skaters, the ceremony was abruptly […]
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Zhu Yi and the Harsh Scrutiny of Naturalized Athletes in China
[Follow our live coverage of Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu at the Winter Olympics.] For two days, social media users in China have been heaping scorn onto Beverly Zhu, a 19-year-old figure skater who was born and raised in the United States but competes for China under the name Zhu Yi. The criticism began on […]
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Nathan Chen Isn’t Perfect but Wins U.S. Skating Championship
NASHVILLE — Nathan Chen, one of the most successful figure skaters in U.S. history, skated in his own stratosphere on Sunday at the U.S. national championships. Five powerful quadruple jumps that launched him high above the ice. Spins as precise as a gyroscope’s. Footwork that flowed like a fast-moving river. He fell twice — once […]
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Mariah Bell Wins U.S. Figure Skating Title and a Spot in Beijing
NASHVILLE — Mariah Bell, a newly minted national champion, knows that she is considered “ancient” in the sport of women’s figure skating. But she wants you to know that she is proud of it. At 25, she is finally a champion equipped to handle the pressure of the Olympics after nearly a decade at the […]
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