The change from one 15-year-old girl to another in Russia is not due to a “loss of interest” by the age of 17. But because there is very little real interest and passion for figure skating as such. But parents have a lot of ambitions to raise another juvenile Olympic champion at the peak of his "maximum performance" (only no one says that this performance is at its maximum only in jumping, and not in skating skills, not in artistry, etc.). Why are parents so ambitious? Because sport in Russia is a social elevator - you can get money, love from fans, fame. You can skip compulsory school lessons, go to university without exams and skip all classes, not educate yourself as a person, because you will get a diploma anyway. The same "deserved" and "real" as some of the competition medals. Probably the Western world cannot even imagine such a thing, that higher education can be just a soap bubble. So it turns out that getting a medal is the ultimate goal of an athlete (I deliberately say "get", not "deserve". It was Yuzuru who was dissatisfied with the performance in Sochi and promised to show excellent skating at the second Olympiad in 2018, because he felt the responsibility and pressure of the title). Russian girls have it differently. Immediately after the Olympic medal, you can ride in ice shows for a couple of years and after that you will have a great life, doing very little at the same time - for example, becoming an official (who agrees with Putin's speeches about the need for war). Or become a media person who also broadcasts the position of the ruling elites to society, because the elites pay and support so many media people. And yet, at the age of 15, you can become a "legend of sports" in your own country - without winning anything really and without bringing anything to this sport yet. Do these girls have a desire to develop themselves and develop sports in general in such a system? To increase the level of artistry or skating skills? What do you think? Of course not. A new "generation" of the same young ambitious children and their parents is already breathing down their backs. Especially when there are opportunities to get a medal. Because there are loopholes in refereeing, and refereeing itself is dishonest, because there is collusion between federations and spheres of influence, and the second score (PCS) appears out of thin air.
Of course, there are exceptions among Russian athletes, but they are rare. The position of the majority causes sadness. Like the position of parents who deliberately spoil the physical health of their children with huge loads, poor (cheating) equipment, and in addition they also load them with psychological trauma.
But it seems to me that even without the introduction of age restrictions, this system would sooner or later gobble up itself. And I want to believe that something can change.
I do not deny that being an athlete is a huge job, and these children work no less than others. But some not entirely correct result is obtained from these efforts. My friend's child (a 6-year-old girl) has been figure skating for three years now. Her mother is constantly posting what is called "best moments" on her network. During these three years, I have never seen even a semblance of a smile on the face of this child. Small focused robot - in training and competition. And this makes me sad too, because it is not clear whether it is right to dispose of childhood like this. But I remember the genuine smiles and laughter in Yuzuru Hanyu's archived videos and tell myself that this is not the case everywhere.
I would like to note how pleasant it is to watch 20+ year old skaters from Japan at FaOI, how diligently they skate programs, how their hours of training work in skating skills are visible. They are so magical and have sparks in their eyes!! Do they have a chance to collect medals in the current judging system? Of course not. But that doesn't stop these athletes from training and getting better. They are still on the ice. Shizuka Arakawa (who hasn't competed for a long time), but even at 40 years old, is a delight. Maybe she does not slide at high speeds, like a "Russian rocket", but this does not make her less spectacular.
Sorry for my english. To be honest, there are so many thoughts in that I just typed the text in my native language into Google Translate and posted it here.
