Interview with Kiira Korpi: The present state of figure skating, the problems within elite sports and the future beyond

[ldec]

Back in November, I had the chance to interview Kiira Korpi for my blog. As some of you may know, after the end of her skating career, she became active as an advocate for ethical sports education and fair and safe treatment of athletes and children. She has a strong media presence in Finland, which provides an outlet for her activism work, and has also been quite active on social media, bringing awareness on a variety of common problems in the sport including: unethical training methods, the exploitation of athletes, eating disorders, abuse in sports on all levels, etc. In the recent past, she was also interviewed about her work and views by a few notable publications such as ISU Development projects, Sport Express and TSL.

In the interview below, we discuss how and why she decided to pursue this path, what are some of the most common systemic problems plaguing sports (not only figure skating!), how they impair athletes and their progress, why questionable and abusive behaviors from authority go swept under the rug, and why is it important for everyone (athletes, coaches, experts, fans) to question this status quo.

Kiira has had a very long career in figure skating herself and possesses first-hand insight on the flaws of the system. She is deeply knowledgeable on how organized sports works and the roots of the problems, and shares some of the struggles she herself experienced during her career as an elite figure skater, and how she has grown as a person since then. She also brings insight into possible solutions on how to transform the training process so that the wellbeing of the athlete, both physical and mental, is prioritized.

Part 1: http://frozenintime.tk/interview-with-kiira-korpi-part-1/
Part 2: http://frozenintime.tk/interview-with-kiira-korpi-part-2/

 

[rosewood]

Yes! I thought this interview deserves a thread of itself in GSD when I saw it in TC. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Orm Irian]

That's a really fantastic, thoughtful interview - thank you for posting it!

 

[Hanna]

Thank you so much for this! A lot of interesting discussion and great, thoughtful questions.

I am really grateful for Kiira for tirelessly continuing to bring these issues into light. Trying to change the culture probably often feels like a near impossible task but exposure and getting more and more people to talk about it is the only way to start.

 

[hanca]

I hope her book will be available in English. I would love to read that.

 

[nlloyd]

Great interview! So much hard-won wisdom in Kiira's responses. My favourite comment relates to redefining success after her competitive career:

"The way I view success in life now could hold true in any sport or in any other profession. The first measure for me is how well I’m able to live life by my values. This is something I really needed to practice after I stopped with my sporting career and I know many athletes have similar struggles because for years they have always had somebody tell them what to do – either the coaches, or the Federation, or the parents. The big challenge for me was to realize how to coach myself now and how to know if I’m living a happy successful life."

I think many women, as well as some men, can relate to having to relocate the authority in their lives from an external source to their own internal source. I also found her references to other skaters' experience of success interesting e.g. Sasha Cohen in the Peter Attlia podcast.

 

[Elka]

I hope her book will be available in English. I would love to read that.

Her book will be available in English. It has been translated by a professional and she is editing the translation "how could I clarify my message that the book could serve as an opening for discussion for the international figure skating community". It will be published next year during the Winter Olympics.