“As long as there’s no physical aggression or anything extreme, it’s normal. This kind of thing happens in every skating pair.” Averbukh, Yagudin, Scoptsova, Medvedeva on Shibutani’s leaked video
Russian Skaters Discuss the Shibutani Siblings’ Training Controversy
original source: Sports
A recent episode of the YouTube show “Katok” featured a panel of renowned figure skaters, including Ilia Averbukh, Anastasia Skoptsova, Evgenia Medvedeva, and Alexei Yagudin. The group debated a leaked video showing a tense moment between American ice dancers Maia and Alex Shibutani during training. Here’s a translation of their comments.
Anastasia Skoptsova: Unfortunately, this is not the most pleasant topic. A video surfaced online showing Maia and Alex Shibutani in what can barely be called an argument – Alex is outright scolding Maia like she’s a little girl. She’s just standing there silently. Behind the boards, presumably, is their mother, though it’s unclear. But Alex is yelling at Maia loudly, using some inappropriate language. The video is quite long.
Ilia Averbukh: Wait, aren’t they brother and sister?
Alexei Yagudin: Yes, siblings.
Anastasia Skoptsova: They paused their career for seven years – that’s not likeK= Kamila’s two years.
Evgenia Medvedeva: After the Olympic season in 2018, they didn’t skate, not even in shows, for seven years.
Anastasia Skoptsova: During this time, Maia even battled cancer. Now they’ve come back and are reportedly in great shape. But then this video was leaked. First, I have to say: shame on the person who filmed and shared this. What happens between a coach and an athlete, or between partners during training, should never end up on social media.
It’s unethical. If I ever came across such a video, I would never post it.
Ilia Averbukh: Spoken by someone who’s now jumping on this topic and promoting it. You’re contradicting yourself, Anastasia. You claim you wouldn’t make a big deal of it, yet here you are airing it out. Somebody leaked the video, and now we’re dissecting it on a show.
Anastasia Skoptsova: The video was secretly recorded by someone. Some guy filmed it on the sly.
Evgenia Medvedeva: It looks like it was captured by a live camera; someone recorded the footage from a screen and then leaked it.
Anastasia Skoptsova: My point is that what happens between a coach and an athlete, or between partners, should remain private. It’s like someone sneaking into your kitchen and recording an argument you’re having with your spouse over who didn’t wash the dishes.
Ilia Averbukh: As long as there’s no physical aggression or anything extreme, it’s normal. This kind of thing happens in every skating pair. The partner yells, the coach waits for them to finish arguing – it’s typical. Especially when it’s siblings; there’s an added dynamic.
Alexei Yagudin: Ilia, in your pair with Irina Lobacheva, who yelled at whom? Did neither of you shout?
Ilia Averbukh: Oh, we yelled, of course. I yelled, Irina yelled, our coach yelled at us. And we stormed off sometimes. You could make a whole movie about it. The skaters from other rinks, and sometimes ours, would even throw blade guards at each other!
Anastasia Scoptsiva: Didn’t Grishuk once throw skates at Platov?
Ilia Averbukh: So what? These are internal processes within partnerships. It’s part of preparation, and it shouldn’t attract outside scrutiny or unsolicited advice. Athletes operate at their limits, in high-stress situations.
For the public, it’s important to understand this is a world you don’t want to intrude upon. And I’m certain if we walked into another team’s training session, we’d find similar moments that could be taken completely out of context.
Evgenia Medvedeva: Ilia, you talk about being “at the limit.” But does a line exist?
Ilia Averbukh: Of course. That line is physical aggression.
Anastasia Scoptsova: Returning to Maia and Alex – does the video cross a boundary, particularly with inappropriate language towards Maia as a woman and a sibling? Language aside, it wasn’t pretty toward her as a sister, no. But let me tell you – before winning the junior world title with Kirill Aleshin, we had an insanely difficult offseason. Our arguments would make that video look tame.
I screamed at Kirill, and he lost his temper. One time, judges came to watch our programs, and typically, skaters would skate perfectly for judges while smiling. But we fought so badly that Kirill stormed off the ice. I panicked, thinking he’d grab his skates and I’d never see him again. We didn’t just argue – we shouted things I can’t even repeat here!
This is just what the sport is. There have even been cases — no names — where partners deliberately dropped their partners during lifts, causing them to hit the boards with their heads.
What happens in a pair should stay within the pair. And what happens between a coach and an athlete should remain private as well.”
Related topics: Alexei Yagudin, Anastasia Skoptcova Kirill Aleshin, Evgenia Medvedeva, Ilia Averbukh, Maia Shibutani Alex Shibutani
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