The World Figure Skating Authority voted on Tuesday to gradually increase the minimum age for elite athletes to 17 over the next three years. He described the move as an effort to preserve skaters’ “physical and mental health and emotional well-being”, but made the decision only after facing global criticism of a doping scandal involving a 15-year-old Russian champion who darkened a single women at this year’s Beijing Winter Olympics.
The change in the rules for raising the age limit was approved at the organization’s annual meeting, the International Skating Union, in Phuket, Thailand. The change will be gradual, the union said: There will be no change for the 2022-23 racing season. But so-called adult skaters will have to be 16 in 2023-24 and 17 in the 2024-25 campaign.
The phasing-in means that the new, higher age limit will be introduced in time for the next 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy.
The decision comes just months after a major doping scandal at the Beijing Winter Olympics starring Kamila Valieva, a Russian skater who was only 15 at the time. Valieva, one of the best skaters in the world and a favorite for the gold medal, was found to have tested positive for a banned substance before the Olympics. The scandal has raised questions about the physical and mental safety of young skaters and whether enough is being done to protect them from the adults who run their careers.
The proposal seems to have received widespread support in the international figure skating community, where the issue of introducing a minimum age has been discussed for years.
He was adopted at Tuesday’s meeting with 100 votes in favor, 16 against and two abstentions.
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