Dark Side of Competitive Figure Skating

Without a doubt, figure skating is one of the most anticipated, popular sports of the Winter Olympics. Just before the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018, Team USA figure skating “golden girl” Gracie Gold made the headlines for withdrawing from the Olympics. Later in the event, “the unbeatable” Nathan Chen made everyone gasp in shock by making multiple mistakes in the skating program. Everyone expected him to get the Olympics gold medal, but he left Pyeongchang with an Olympic team event bronze. These incidents were not just a stroke of bad luck for Team USA, it had a big underlying issue: disordered eating and extreme pressure for figure skating athletes. More and more elite figure skating athletes like Gracie Gold and Russian “white tiger” Yulia Lipnitskaya is facing early retirements due to the figure skating community’s long-lasting toxic beauty standards, encouraged by the International Skating Union (ISU) scoring components. To combat this issue and maintain the longevity of the sport, ISU should change the scoring and coaching requirements.

Figure skating is considered an aesthetic sport, meaning it relies heavily on presentation, choreography, and execution of artistic movements. This pushes athletes to maintain a certain type of body to look artistically pleasing on the ice. Prevalence rates for disordered eating vary depending on the type of aesthetic sport; however, a particularly high risk was found in elite athletes from aesthetic sports such as rhythmic gymnastics, figure skating, and dance (Hausenblas and Carron; Smolak et al.; Rosendahl et al). For such a high-risk group, they are trained excessively and judged by their appearance constantly, due to figure skating popularity and media exposure. On top of that, it’s not a rare occurrence for athletes to compare themselves to their fellow competitors, eyeballing every muscle and fat on their bodies. This may be a result of how figure skating scoring components work–encouraging extremely high-risk jumps with seemingly humanly impossible heights and speed, leaving little to no space for mistakes in other skill sets such as spins, ice coverage, footwork, and choreography. Exposure to high standards and constant evaluation of physical appearance in some sports can lead to negative body image if these standards are not met (Groesz, L.M, et al.). Furthermore, body dissatisfaction could be the factor through which athletes who are perfectionists develop eating disturbances or athletes could experience symptoms of disordered eating due to perfectionistic tendencies solely. Previous studies have proven the mediating effect of body satisfaction between perfectionism facets and unhealthy eating behavior. (Donavan, et al.; Ferrand et al).

Adam Rippon, American figure skater, and former Olympian, in his 2018 interview discussed how he used to feel the need to catch up with his fellow Team USA figure skating athletes like Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou, who were seemingly a foot shorter and were a size of his thigh (Crouse, Karen, 2018). Kaetlyn Osmond, Canadian figure skater, and former Olympian, has also voiced her opinion on this particular topic in her 2017 interview, mentioning how she used to compare her body to other athletes in the girls’ changing room and how she used to feel “too old” compared to them (Edwing, pp 3). This is not just personal insecurity; this is a widespread occurrence among skaters. It is easier to execute hard jumps with great height when the athlete’s body is not yet fully developed, with stick-like legs, and thin and lean arms. The explanation is easy–when the bodyweight is heavier, it gets harder to throw a heavy body up in the air and rotate with lightning speed. While this is a more technical standpoint of why figure skaters retire at a young age, there’s one crucial detail to keep in mind: scoring changes.

In the last decade, figure skating has changed tremendously in terms of scoring and technical standpoint. Previously, artistic spins and ice coverage (the athlete’s ability to better utilize the skating rink) had much more weight in the scoring; however, it all changed when ISU made changes in its scoring in 2015. Before 2015, when an athlete completed a jump or spin, it had a base score for attempting, and based on how they presented or completed, the score would be added. It’s known in the field as a grade of execution or GOE for short. Since 2015, ISU changed the GOE calculations by enabling athletes to have negative GEOs up to -4.25 (usfigureskating.org, 2018). This means, based on how they presented the jump, for example, if an athlete stumbles and makes a hasty exit, they will deduce points from the base point for attempting the jump. This new scoring system forces athletes to complete perfect jumps just to get a base point and extraordinary jumps to get more GEOs on top of the base score. Although the new system helps the sport to advance, at the same time, it also has many negative side effects. Since the scoring system changed, many extremely young skaters have paved their way into senior competitions, executing nearly impossible quadruple jumps. Since they are still prepubescent, and physically lightweight, it gives them an advantage over experienced athletes. In the winter of 2016, the International Skating Union has taken measures to further encourage this behavior and welcome more and more young talented athletes by lowering the age requirement for senior competitions from 18 to 15. Young athletes, they’re not emotionally mature enough to interpret music and convey various messages through their performance; therefore, they mainly rely on their technical abilities.

For women in general, there is evidence that media exposure greatly contributes to perceptions of the ideal body and subsequent pressure to be thin (Harrison, 2000). Elite athletes may face an extra layer of stress beyond competition and practice, with media consumption. A study on female Division 1 Female Athlete and entertainment media found a significant positive relationship between media consumption of lean sports, drive for thinness, and prevalence of bulimia (Bissell, 2004). Without the proper representation of female athletes in the media, most female figures shown fit stereotypical feminine ideals. The popular Sports Illustrated magazine was found to have only six percent of images showing female athletes (Gniazdowski & Denham, 2003). Besides this, there are inadequate portrayals of strong female athletes acting as athletes. Rather, they are typically depicted in bikinis or as sexual objects. During the Olympics, aesthetic sports like figure skating and gymnastics receive the most media coverage compared to other female sports and team sports (Lumpkin & Williams, 1991). This is foreseeable, as this sector of athletics epitomizes inherently feminine qualities and idealizes the female body. As a result, the majority of media characterization of females, athletic or not, remains within the realm of appropriate and hegemonic femininity. This lack of diversity is problematic, as it does set the standard as to what the ideal female is supposed to look like, creating unrealistic expectations for women of both athletic and nonathletic populations. Thomas 7 Media depictions of females pressure the ideal of thinness; more recently, there has been an increase in fitness movements, making a thin and fit body an ideal (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008). As a result, this does make athletic, lean female bodies a part of the standard — but this figure is extremely difficult to maintain, requiring strenuous training and carefully calculated nutrition, often leading to a lack of nutrition. Nonetheless, the increased media attention towards “fit” as ideal places a certain pressure on athletes who are covered in the news media to embody it. For example, white adolescent females who viewed lean athlete sports were more likely to be dissatisfied with their bodies (Harrison & Frederickson, 2003). Media attention on hyperfeminine qualities and sexualizing the female body fosters attitudes of what is acceptable in society, based on the premise of George Gerbner’s cultivation theory. Cultivation theory posits “the independent contributions television viewing makes to viewers' conceptions of social reality” (Gerbner, 1998, p. 180). An increase in thinness ideals portrayed in general media, along with the idealization of lean sports, can internalize attitudes of what body is expected of females. This contributes to the constant negotiation of identities that female athletes must engage in, between performance and being viewed as socially desirable. Especially once entering into the spotlight as an elite athlete, media messages and messages from coaches and other top performers embed the lean body ideal. As a result, elite female athletes are faced with this need to fit everyone else’s expectations — proving that they are feminine and lean, while also performing well and maintaining strength (Mean & Kassing, 2008). Top competitors usually do whatever it takes to be the best, to receive praise, fans, and sponsors. Thus, the internalization of media-thin and lean stereotypes and standards of females may place pressure on athletes to be fit, culminating in serious body image dissatisfaction that may manifest as eating disorders, ultimately deteriorating mental and physical health.

Eating disorders in figure skating are highly encouraged by the coaching system too. Research has shown that coaches can play a role in a figure skater’s body image (Buchholz, Mack, McVey, Feder, & Barrowman, 2008). Due to how competitive figure skating is scored, coaches often push athletes’ boundaries to execute a high level of techniques and jumps that seem to defy gravity. “Aesthetic sports, like figure skating, fosters various types of eating disorders, mainly anorexia, and bulimia…It is estimated that greater than 80% of national level competitors suffer from eating disorders or serious body image issues.” (Denis, 2010). One of the popular examples of how coaches encourage athletes to go on extreme diets can be seen in Russian competitive figure skating athletes. Once titled as a Russian “white tiger” Yulia Lipnitskaya, coached by Eteri Tutberidze, the youngest athlete to win Olympic gold in Sochi 2014, retired at the age of 18. Eteri Tutberidze later went on to coach Olympic gold medalist Alina Zagitova and silver medalist Evgenia Medvedeva in 2018. However, all of these athletes seemed like they had an “expiration date,” meaning that they retire at the age of 17. Although Eteri Tutberidze is a coach to many popular figure skating athletes, none of them had a successful career beyond the age of 17. Their peak performance age is between 15 and 17. In 2014, Tutberidze commented that she was glad Yulia Lipnitskaya could sustain herself only on “powdered nutrients.” Lipnitskaya has talked openly about her long struggle with anorexia. Daniil Gleikhengauz, Tutberidze’s main choreographer, spoke of how Anna Shcherbakova only ate two shrimp for dinner and said she was full, and he was glad that she was not obsessed with food like many other girls. Alina Zagitova stated during the Olympic season that they were not even allowed to drink water, that “we just rinsed our mouths and spit it all out.” A 2018 Russian Times documentary on Alina Zagitova and Evgenia Medvedeva showed them during their daily weigh-in. Both girls are joking around while stepping on the scale, with Medvedeva saying “Don’t film the weight!” She explains that “In our sport every 200–300g matter,” because “We mustn’t ruin our aerodynamics.” “…Figure skating officials have increased the likelihood of competitors developing anorexia or bulimia by implementing scoring standards that increasingly emphasize technically complex jumps and spins, which defy the laws of gravity. These changes inevitably favor younger competitors with pre-pubescent body shapes and create an unlevel playing field for more mature women with fully developed hips and breasts. It’s no surprise that skaters with more womanly shapes have responded with unhealthy dieting and exercising. It’s also not shocking that coaches and loved ones have encouraged many of these practices, or at least fostered a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ climate around eating disorders. These athletes have often dedicated much of their life to pursuing a spot in the Olympics. Skating officials should expect that many would respond in unhealthy ways, going to unhealthy extremes.” (Denis, 2010).

It is important to understand that there are many factors to consider when it comes to eating disorders in figure skating. But the biggest factor is, without a doubt, the scoring system created by the International Skating Union. ISU pushes pre-pubescent teens to compete alongside adults as well as to execute seemingly impossible jumps and loops. Figure skating is a beautiful sport that has more to offer than just hard jumps and rotations on ice. While changing the scoring system may not be able to fully resolve disordered eating issues in figure skating, it will help athletes to be quite literally “forced” into desiring to achieve and maintain unhealthy, unattainable body ideals. ISU needs to change its scoring system in a way that athletes are scored on how they’re interpreting the music, how they chose the music, as well as how they’re executing beautiful spins, and ice coverage. They also need to raise the senior competition age from 15 to 18, so that the experienced athletes are not competing and being compared to teenagers. This change is also extremely important for teenagers to preserve their sports careers for a long time.