Eteri Tutberidze TV interview with V. Posner @ Russia-1

[Finsta]

I wondered that also. Will Russia view her as traitor. She said her real friends are in America and not Russian

 

[Tinami Amori]

I wondered that also. Will Russia view her as traitor. She said her real friends are in America and not Russian

what if she mean "Russians who live in America"?
"in America" is not the same as "Americans".
But don't worry, she has both, i am sure. Nobody is going to think she is a traitor, "friends" are personal business, no affect on skating, business, politics or russian money..

 

[starrynight]

Yes I think a lot of people don't know how rigorous the drug testing is. They hold the cup there for you and I understand that you also have to pull your shirt up to above chest level to prove that you're not surreptitiously feeding anything else down into the cup that you have stuffed under your jacket.

All incredibly awkward I'm sure, especially for young athletes. I'm sure there are some athletes who are gifted with the ability to 'pee on demand' and those for whom it's always a struggle.

Here is a great article about how incredibly embarrassing it can be to be made drop your pants in front of those drug testers: http://www.espn.com/espnw/athletes-life/article/9721225/lindsey-van-misadventures-drug-testing-espnw

Good extract here:

She opened a stall door for me to go in and came in right after me and said I had to pull down my pants below my knees and pull up my shirt above my belly button. I was so ashamed and embarrassed that I began to shake. I sat down, did as I was told, but ...

I sat there for at least 20 minutes with this lady shouting instructions at me and me shouting back that "I just can't do it!" I took some deep breaths and tried to relax and convince myself that I had to pee, but it was not happening. Not a drop. I had new empathy for toddlers going through potty training.

I was finally allowed to get up, go into another room and wait. I tried three more times -- go sit on the toilet, half naked, and try to go. Finally, on the third go-around, and an hour and a half later, the deed was done. Well, not really. I then had to pour the sample into two different A and B bottles for testing. I was still shaking, trying to pour the urine into the two small bottles. The tester tried to help me, and I accidentally spilled some on her. She yelled a few obscenities at me in broken English and Czech.

And this article too: https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...01687974517_story.html?utm_term=.f65a8fdb3a2e

(That article talks about one athlete trying to cheat the testing with a fake penis with tubes feeding out pre-stored clean pee??!!) Which explains why the athletes need to be tested in such a public way.

Although I understand that they start drug testing in the junior ranks, so it's not all new for them when they reach seniors.

Although I imagine they get well practiced at it in the end, because there is drug testing at every Grand Prix event. And they do turn up to your house randomly too. Plenty of stories of the drug testers banging on the skaters' doors at 6am on a weekend to do both urine and blood samples.

 

[skateboy]

I thought this was a great interview. Regardless of some of the things said about Eteri, I have a soft spot for her and believe she really does care about her skaters.