NEW YORK — The International Skating Union voted Tuesday to raise the minimum age limit for figure skating competition to 17, to be phased in between now and the next Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
The ruling, approved in a 110-16 vote, stems partly from the doping scandal that enveloped 15-year-old Russian national champion Kamila Valieva at this year’s Beijing Games. But it was also enacted to give skaters time to build up resiliency, “for the sake of protecting the physical and mental health, and emotional well-being of the skaters.”
The decision applies to all skating-related sports, including speed skating, short-track speedskating and synchronized skating, the Olympic Committee said in a statement after the ISU approved the proposed changes at its biennial meeting being held in Phuket, Thailand.
The new limit will be implemented gradually, with the minimum age to compete in elite events raised to age 16 for the 2023-24 season, then increasing to 17 for the 2024-25 season, which includes the Olympics.
“There will be no change for the season 2022/23, an increase to 16 years for the season 2023/24 and an increase to 17 years for the season 2024/25 and subsequent seasons,” the ISU said.
The cutoff date of July 1 for reaching that minimum age still holds.
Some experts lauded the decision, while others said the timeline should be lengthened to minimize the effect on skaters’ careers.
“The physical, emotional, and social pressures of elite sport can be too much for adults to cope with and even more difficult for children,” April Henning, a sports doping expert at the University of Stirling in Scotland, told NPR, calling the change “a good first step.”
The issue lies in treating young athletes more like small adults than still-developing children, which is what often happens in stiff competition, when the stakes are high not just for the athletes but also for the people surrounding them, Henning told NPR.
Valieva’s situation was a case in point. At 15, she was the favorite for an Olympic gold medal in Beijing, but then it came out that she had tested positive for a banned heart medication, trimetazidine.
Medically the drug helps prevent angina and treats vertigo. In competition the World Anti-Doping Agency bans it because it can help endurance and amp up blood flow. Questions arose about the teen’s ability to consent, given that she was just 15. It also was never clear whether Valieva had sought a therapeutic use exemption.
“In terms of doping, this may offer some protection but really there needs to be greater independent oversight of how youth athletes are treated,” Henning told NPR. “This is especially true for athletes who are not yet in the anti-doping system and may be more vulnerable to both coercion and risk of harms from use.”
Valieva was allowed to compete, since the substance had been found before and not during the Beijing Games. But her training was closely monitored, and she failed during competition, dissolving into tears on the ice after many stumbles, and coming in fourth. It also threw the medal ceremony and award into contention.
