Anna Levandi has been accused by her former students of mental and physical abuse
Estonian coach Anna Levandi has been accused of mental and physical abuse.
original source: sport.err.ee dd. 21st February 2024 by Maarja Värv, Mihkel Kärmas, Karin Koppel
Here’s a translation of some comments from a big article posted on ERR.
The Estonian Anti-Doping and Sports Ethics Foundation (EADSE) has received complaints from former students and parents accusing renowned figure skating coach Anna Levandi of mental and physical abuse. Levandi admitted that she is not a perfect coach but described most of the accusations as defamatory and absurd.
EADSE forwarded the information to the Estonian Skating Union, and the federation responded that the matter has been taken up for consideration by the board, which decided to leave the resolution of the issue to the union’s board.
The first written complaint against Levandi was received by EADSE just before Christmas. “And after that, there were more appeals. But we had heard such hints-signals before,” said Henn Vallimäe, a member of the EADSE board, confirming at the same time that, according to the information they have received, the skating federation wishes to resolve this issue within its own organization “It is serious because the accusation is against a very highly titled, very respected coach. Such accusations are not a surprise to us; there have been conflicts with younger or less experienced coaches. But the question is about this exceptionally remarkable coach and the possible episodes that describe her behavior.”
Levandi has provided her initial explanations to the board of the skating federtion verbally and has also submitted a written comment, “I am by nature passionate and achievement-oriented, and certainly very emotional. If I have appeared too harsh in my coaching or if someone has felt injustice or – worse yet – considered my words malicious, then I am very sorry for that. Elite sports is an effort that tests the limits of human abilities, which is extremely physically and emotionally challenging. Sometimes disagreements arise in this achievement-oriented team, which includes the athlete, coach, and parent. Sometimes mistakes occur due to effort, fatigue, or emotions. I sincerely apologize for any hurt or offense that anyone associates with me and try to learn from these mistakes.”
“When a clear goal of reaching the top is set, one cannot settle for mediocrity, neither as an athlete nor as a coach. This journey cannot be like a light pirouette in the downtown ice rink. It is a tremendous work and sacrifice, which unfortunately also include suffering, setbacks, sweat, pain, and tears. Everyone has had to sacrifice – athletes, coaches, their families, and loved ones. I am not flawless, but most of these accusations are defamatory, absurd, and deserve unequivocal refutation,” Levandi added, commenting on several accusations in her letter.
According to ERR, the first complaint against Anna Levandi for mental and physical abuse was filed by the mother of one former minor student after the Estonian Championships in December 2023. “My daughter participated there. Before the competition, Anna saw her and called her a pig behind her back. It was a very nerve-wracking situation for my daughter before the competition,” described the mother of the student, who wished to remain anonymous (Let’s call her Athlete A’s mother). “I went to Levandi and asked her to stop bullying my daughter. She said I’m also a pig. An ungrateful pig. It was emotional, you know, like market squabbles! Anyway, that was the last straw, and after that, I filed a complaint.”
Accordign to the ERR, the mother of another skater (Athlete B’s mother) stated, “It is common for her (Anna Levandi) to use words like down, moron, princess (ironically) when coaching children. She vents all her frustration on the children and says whatever comes to mind. In front of her students, she openly belittles other children of her colleagues – who are too fat, whose legs are crooked, whose mother is fat, etc. It’s not a good example for developing children. Such a person should not be taking the next innocent four-year-olds, whom she will mentally abuse, all the while shining in the media and adorning herself with the title of elite coach.”
Athlete B’s mother also told her daughter has been suffering from periostitis for five years, but Levandi showed no interest in what it was or what caused it. “Her catchphrase is that an athlete who does not feel pain is a dead athlete.”
“We negotiated a week off in the summer, but it was not enough to get the legs in order and endure the season. In addition, constant pressure not to tell anyone, not to say anything to anyone that something is wrong with you. But if during training the leg did not bear due to pain, she screamed and belittled,” described athlete’s mother. “In addition, she suggested that we should go to doctors less often, as this pain was supposed to be between the ears, and doctors make it worse with their pity.”
Athlete A’s mother also confirmed to ERR that Levandi threw skates, “They talked for a long time and very emotionally. What exactly, I didn’t hear, because I was quite far away. At one point, Anna took the skates – I don’t know whose – and threw them towards the girl on the ice. There was also spitting. I didn’t see where exactly, but I saw that moment of spitting.”
Zoja Martsenko (grandmother of Levandi’s former student Jegor Martsenko) said that everyone in the ice rink heard Levandi yelling at the children, and often children also left the ice crying. “Many endured it because it was said that she is the best coach in Estonia. Maybe that’s how it should be? That it’s a Russian school and that’s how they always train. But with other coaches, it turned out that no one yells there.”
“Anna thinks all this is right and should be like this, otherwise a child won’t become an athlete. But it’s not really right. The Soviet era is over, those training methods don’t work like this,” said the mother of one of Levandi’s former students, athlete C
One of Levandi’s former students (let’s call him athlete D), told ERR that for Levandi the most important thing about a skater was weight, and the methods used to achieve it didn’t matter. For him, this ended in an eating disorder. She added that when she started growing, the attitude was that now we need to find a way to stop growth because the body must definitely not turn into a woman’s body anytime soon. This issue affects everyone, but according to Levandi’s former student, the difference is in how coaches behave in this situation and how educated they are on the topic themselves.
She also said that “the coach’s task should be, in addition to technique.” She continued, “There are very clear examples, the top two in the skating world, Japanese Kaori (Sakamoto) and Belgian Loena (Hendrickx), both are in their 20, at the peak of their shape, not starving themselves in any way, very healthy and strong. I only remember that all the time, reduce, reduce, and reduce [weight], although then I could only jump because I was so light, but I had no strength left.”
Related topics: Anna Levandi
Anna’s apology did not sound sincere: was more of the type ‘Sorry YOU felt it that way – i didn’t do anything wrong’. It’s good parents are standing up for their kids.