Russian coach produces teen skating stars with short careers

Coach Eteri Tutberidze, left, embraces Kamila Valieva, of the Russian Olympic Committee, during a training session at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

BEIJING (AP) — Eteri Tutberidze’s young pupils have dominated women’s figure skating for the past eight years. Her camp in Moscow produces a line of teenage stars who can land jumps no other women even try. She rarely speaks to the media.

This week, she is in the spotlight because her star, 15-year-old Kamila Valieva, tested positive for a banned medication.

Tutberidze has said her work ethic was molded during years of struggle in the United States, where she was broke and struggling to find work in ice dance shows or as a coach. She was living in a YMCA in Oklahoma City when she escaped injury in the bombing of the federal building a block away.