WADA president unhappy that controversial Russian figure skating coach is working at Milan Olympics
Eteri Tutberidze, coach of Georgia's Nika Egadze, waits for his performance in men's free skating during the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. Credit: AP/Mindaugas Kulbis
MILAN — Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva's coach from the Beijing Games is back at the Winter Olympics, and World Anti-Doping Agency president Witold Banka isn’t happy about it.
Banka said Thursday he's not comfortable with Eteri Tutberidze’s presence at the Milan Cortina Olympics. She is accredited with Georgia as the coach of European champion Nika Egadze.
In 2022, Tutberidze was coaching Valieva, the young Russian whose positive doping test overshadowed the Games.
Valieva, then aged 15, was at the center of a legal battle in Beijing when a sample she gave two months earlier tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine. The revelation came after Valieva won team gold with other Russian skaters. She was later disqualified from that event, which upgraded the United States to gold. Valieva was a contender for the women’s gold medal but placed fourth and was criticized rink-side by Tutberidze.
Tutberidze's scolding of Valieva drew public rebukes.
“It’s not our decision the coach is here,” Banka said Thursday at a news conference in Milan. “The investigation found no evidence that this particular person was engaged in this doping process, so there’s no legal basis to exclude her from the presence during the Olympic Games.”
“But of course, if you ask me personally about my feelings,” he continued, “I don’t feel comfortable with her presence here in the Olympic Games, for sure.”
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva competes at the Russian Jumping Championships in Moscow, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. Credit: AP/Pavel Bednyakov
The Georgian Figure Skating Federation did not respond to a request for comment.
Valieva's ban expired in December, despite legal efforts to have it overturned. She returned to competition last month but is not competing in Milan where another Russian skater, Adeliia Petrosian, is a contender for the women’s gold medal as an Individual Neutral Athlete who has been coached by Tutberidze for years.
Tutberidze’s daughter, Diana Davis, will compete in Milan for Georgia in ice dance with her partner, Gleb Smolkin.
Rules have been changed to raise the minimum age for skaters to 17 in time for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
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