A Russian skating coach has been cleared to work with one of figure skating’s medal favourites at the Olympic Games – despite being banned by the sport’s governing body.
Daniil Gleikhengauz was barred from the Olympic qualifier by the International Skating Union (ISU) after failing its neutrality vetting process, having applied as one of Russian champion Adeliia Petrosyan’s entourage.
However, his application for the Olympic Games, once again as part of the Russian skater’s team, passed the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) own vetting process.
Gleikhengauz also coached at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, where he worked with Kamila Valieva, the gold medal favourite who controversially skated despite failing a drugs test on the eve of the competition.
Petrosyan is among the favourites for gold (Photo: AP)Valieva, who was just 15 at the time, fell during her free skate and missed out on a medal – but was then handed a four-year ban from competition from which she has only just returned. The i Paper understands her coaches, including Gleikhengauz, were the subject of an ISU investigation but were handed no sanctions.
Neutrality remains a live issue
Despite signalling from IOC president Kirsty Coventry that she wants to take politics out of sport and potentially welcome Russian and Belarusian athletes back to competition, they remain banned from representing their country at the Olympics.
Those who want to compete must do so as neutral athletes, and go through a vetting process to determine whether they are in receipt of funding from the Russian or Belarusian state or have expressed support for the invasion of Ukraine – and so must their coaches and associated personnel.
The ISU has a similar process, which Gleikhengauz is believed to have failed owing to his marriage to Olga Pautova, a journalist for Channel One, a Russian broadcaster with close links to Vladimir Putin.
Same coaches, different skaters
The Valieva story in Beijing quickly became as much about the coaches as the athlete, although Gleikhengauz managed to stay out of the limelight which was predominantly stolen by Eteri Tutberidze.
An intimidating figure, Tutberidze made global headlines when she was seen berating a crestfallen Valieva, who came off the ice sobbing after blowing her chance at gold.
The 15-year-old had suffered the most tumultuous week possible, having been the subject of a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) hearing to determine whether she should be allowed to skate.
It clearly impacted her performance, but Tutberidze asked her repeatedly “Why did you give up? Why did you stop fighting?”. When the scores were revealed, Valieva burst into tears again, sitting next to Tutberidze. In the iconic image, it is Gleikhengauz’s lap into which she is sobbing.
Gleikhengauz (right) and Tutberidze (left) were both part of the Russian coaching team at the 2022 Winter Olympics (Photo: Getty)The “new Valieva” is Russian champion Petrosyan, one of the favourites for gold in Milan and another Tutberidze disciple off the factory line of her Moscow Sambo-70 academy. But she will not have the iconic coach in her corner, even though she will be present in Milan.
Sources close to the process say that Tutberidze would have failed vetting if she were entered as Petrosyan’s coach, but as she is here coaching Georgian athletes, where she has dual citizenship, the Moscow-born skating matriarch has found a loophole.
She will not be allowed to coach Petrosyan officially – she was cautioned by authorities for doing so at the Olmypic qualifier in Beijing – but boasted in Russian documentary The Tutberidze Method which followed her in the run-up to the Games that she was in constant contact with the 18-year-old in China.
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Gleikhengauz meanwhile was shocked at having been barred from the Beijing event last September.
“I couldn’t even imagine that I might not meet some criteria,” Gleikhengauz said.
“I always tried to be as correct and careful as possible in my statements, and together with the coaching staff and the federation, we chose me precisely so that there would be no risk.”
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