I debated whether to even bring this interview here. I actually waited a day or so before posting it. I hoped when starting the thread that it wouldn't immediately be hijacked by Eteri apologists and Russia defenders, because this article is about so much more than that. Kiira says so in no uncertain terms. Russia is not immune from criticism, but she makes it clear that nobody else is either — particularly not her home country.
I thought immediately when I read it of the Coughlin scandal and the conversations it has brought up about how girls are looked at and valued in pairs and dance training. I thought of the U.S. gymnastics implosion due only in part to the Nassar obscenity (he was just the ultimate outcome of an incredibly broken system that has not yet found its way). Not nearly enough hard questions are being pursued about the abusive (not just sexual) training so many of these "successful" gymnasts have endured over the years, not the least of which is at the hands of the Karolyis, who, for so many years, were untouchable, given absolute carte blanche and put up on a pedestal so high nobody dared to speak against the isolation tactics, promotion of starvation, and the inadequate (to say the least) attention to serious injuries. Too many people still lament their loss in the sport and the "success" they wrought. It's grotesque. This should have stood as a warning to all sports, figure skating included, but it has not.
I also thought of a friend of mine who was a college athlete in a team sport and had her entire experience blighted by an abusive coach (psychologically, emotionally and even physically — it's easy for coaches to do in team sports, all they have to do is call it "drills" and it's justified as "training"). I don't think he was ever stopped until he retired, with all his honours, because nobody wanted to hear from some nobody ball players when he had brought the school so much "success". The abuse he perpetrated continues to have repercussions on these now-former athletes to this day, many decades later.
Isn't it horribly ironic how some posters here are saying Korpi doesn't have the right to comment or question the system in skating? Isn't that what all these abusive systems tell the athletes they feed off of?
Current athletes are afraid to speak up because they fear (not without cause) that it could ruin their career or future in the sport. Past athletes who speak out are attacked and belittled like Korpi has endured, and the Couglin accusers.
So I say, continue to speak up Kiira, don't let those who would try to silence you distract from your important message with personal attacks and crazy conspiracy theories. Those that do so are threatened by what you say. Maybe they have a reason to be.
I thought immediately when I read it of the Coughlin scandal and the conversations it has brought up about how girls are looked at and valued in pairs and dance training. I thought of the U.S. gymnastics implosion due only in part to the Nassar obscenity (he was just the ultimate outcome of an incredibly broken system that has not yet found its way). Not nearly enough hard questions are being pursued about the abusive (not just sexual) training so many of these "successful" gymnasts have endured over the years, not the least of which is at the hands of the Karolyis, who, for so many years, were untouchable, given absolute carte blanche and put up on a pedestal so high nobody dared to speak against the isolation tactics, promotion of starvation, and the inadequate (to say the least) attention to serious injuries. Too many people still lament their loss in the sport and the "success" they wrought. It's grotesque. This should have stood as a warning to all sports, figure skating included, but it has not.
I also thought of a friend of mine who was a college athlete in a team sport and had her entire experience blighted by an abusive coach (psychologically, emotionally and even physically — it's easy for coaches to do in team sports, all they have to do is call it "drills" and it's justified as "training"). I don't think he was ever stopped until he retired, with all his honours, because nobody wanted to hear from some nobody ball players when he had brought the school so much "success". The abuse he perpetrated continues to have repercussions on these now-former athletes to this day, many decades later.
Isn't it horribly ironic how some posters here are saying Korpi doesn't have the right to comment or question the system in skating? Isn't that what all these abusive systems tell the athletes they feed off of?
Current athletes are afraid to speak up because they fear (not without cause) that it could ruin their career or future in the sport. Past athletes who speak out are attacked and belittled like Korpi has endured, and the Couglin accusers.
So I say, continue to speak up Kiira, don't let those who would try to silence you distract from your important message with personal attacks and crazy conspiracy theories. Those that do so are threatened by what you say. Maybe they have a reason to be.
I have doubts she actually thinks like that, but the way she generalizes things, it does appear so. 
