Julia is a 15-year-old figure skater. What was the fate of Yulia Lipnitskaya? Olympics in Sochi
The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang were a difficult test for the Russian sports community. But, despite all the ups and downs, the team currently has 13 medals and two new athletes, who is now 18 years old, and 15-year-old Alina Zagitova. And at the last Olympics in Sochi, the star was 15-year-old Yulia Lipnitskaya, who made the greatest contribution to victory of the Russian team (20 points for the first two places). What is noteworthy is that she, like Medvedeva and Zagitova, was the ward of one of the best Russian coaches - Eteri Tutberidze. What happened to the world famous athlete, who is now 19 years old?
At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Lipnitskaya became the champion in the team competition and the second youngest Olympic champion in figure skating in the history of the Winter Olympics. In the short program of the tournament, she perfectly performed all the necessary elements and impressed with her unique stretching, which is characteristic only of professional gymnasts and ballerinas. The free program, which Lipnitskaya performed to music from Schindler's List, made the figure skater famous throughout the world. The director of the film, Steven Spielberg, wrote thanks to Yulia for being able to carry the image of a girl in a red coat (from the film) through the entire performance.
After winning the team competition in Sochi, Lipnitskaya began the most difficult period - media pressure, increased attention, bordering on hype. It was no longer possible to live and train in peace. They wanted to name an ice skating rink after the champion, her photo was on the cover of the Times, and she was begged to be present at numerous social events and television shows. Coach Lipnitskaya admitted that during this period Yulia did not have a single correct training, although it was then that she needed to hone her jumping technique. At the 2015 Russian Championships, she took only 9th place, and because of this she was not included in the team at the European Championships.
“Now I understand why some athletes end their careers after the Games. People are just sucked out, everything is sucked out of them.”
By 2015, the relationship between the ward and her coach had noticeably deteriorated. In the sports community, Eteri is known as a strict and demanding mentor who always sets a high standard for her athletes. Today, Tutberidze’s uncompromising condition is to remove parents from training their children, since there is a negative experience with Yulia Lipnitskaya. In one of the interviews, she said that Yulia’s mother actively interfered in her daughter’s activities.
In November 2015, Lipnitskaya changed her coach, choosing Alexey Urmanov as her mentor. At that time, Tutberidze was already training Lipnitskaya’s competitors - young Medvedeva and Zagitova, and Urmanov was the only one who was ready to deal with the exceptional Yulia. Weight problems made themselves felt again in 2016 - Lipnitskaya gained extra pounds, which motivated the athlete to actively lose weight. To lose weight, she took extreme measures - she ate almost nothing. Result: anorexia. By 2017, the athlete’s athletic performance began to deteriorate, and in August of that year, a year later, on September 12, 2017, Yulia gave an interview in which she admitted:
Recently it became known that Lipnitskaya decided to return to big-time sports, but as a coach. On her VKontakte page, she informed her subscribers about the opening of the Ilinykh-Lipnitskaya Figure Skating Academy. The main office of the school is located in Moscow, and training camps and master classes will be held in different cities of Russia. As follows from the online post, the first training camp will be held in the Tver region in March. In addition to Lipnitskaya, 2014 Olympic champion Elena Ilyinykh and silver medalist of the Winter Youth Olympic Games Maxim Miroshkin will act as coaches. Numerous fans of the athlete wish her good luck and believe in her new victories.
Finished her career. According to a comment from the athlete’s mother that appeared online, Yulia informed the federation leadership about her resignation back in April. The reason for this decision was the figure skater’s illness. The athlete’s mother noted that Lipnitskaya underwent three months of treatment for anorexia.
The athlete’s mentor Alexey, in an interview with Gazeta.Ru, did not refute the information about the athlete’s decision to end her career.
“I’m not answering questions about Yulia’s departure yet,” Urmanov said.
The leadership of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FFKKR), after the test skates in Sochi, will meet with the athlete and her coach Alexei Urmanov to discuss the skater’s future plans, the general director of the FFKKR said.
“Lipnitskaya, as you know, will not participate in the test skates in Sochi. But after the skates we will meet and discuss with Yulia and Urmanov their future plans,” R-Sport quotes Kogan.
Previously, the honorary president of the FFKKR hinted that it was time for Yulia to hang up her skates.
“Lipnitskaya’s situation, in my opinion, is similar to the story of Adelina Sotnikova. The sooner she finally draws conclusions and makes a decision, the better it will be for everyone, so as not to fool people and fans. There is no need to mislead figure skating fans. Everyone understands that when there is, it’s difficult for Lipnitskaya to fight them,” said Piseev.
Last season, Lipnitskaya missed the Russian Figure Skating Championships due to a hip injury suffered as a result of a fall on a slippery sidewalk while returning from training.
The main award the athlete won during her short career was a gold medal at the 2014 Olympic Games. Yulia became the winner of the team competition together with Evgeniy, Maxim Trankov, and Nikita Katsalapov.
Lipnitskaya in Sochi showed the best result in the short and free programs, gaining twenty points out of twenty possible.
The skater also won silver at the 2014 World Championships and gold at the European Championships of the same year.
Lipnitskaya's last start was the Moscow Grand Prix stage in November 2016, when she was forced to interrupt her free program due to problems with her leg and ended up finishing in last place.
It is worth noting that Yulia is not the only Sochi Olympics triumphant who is now experiencing difficulties in continuing her career. Thus, the winner of gold in women's single skating will miss the 2017/18 season. This was announced by the athlete’s coach Evgeniy Plushenko.
“Adelina Sotnikova will not compete this season due to injury. We all hoped that we would heal this injury, but unfortunately it did not work out. The injury still bothers me, I can’t do full training, and it’s wrong to enter competitions in such a situation. Now we need to cure the injury, which still exists due to the fact that, unfortunately, the diagnosis was made incorrectly, Adeline did not recover, and this damage worries her. She had a torn ankle ligament and a broken bone in her foot. Initially, they thought that Adeline would quickly recover from this injury. Initially, they did not put a plaster cast, and in general a completely different diagnosis was made.
Missing a season does not mean the end of a career,” Plushenko said.
The President of the FFKKR stated that in figure skating there are often cases when, after a long break, a returning athlete could again reach a high level.
“It happened so, no one is to blame for this. Zhenya (Plushenko) explained the situation in great detail - there was an injury, they did not begin to treat it quite correctly. Now she (Sotnikova) can skate, but she can’t train at full strength. Considering the time left, it will be unrealistic for her to enter this season.
He also emphasized that in history there were many examples of skaters returning to a high level. “We have many examples of athletes returning and performing at a high level again. The same (Italian),” noted Gorshkov.
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Where is figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaya now? After brilliant victories at the Olympics and being awarded the title of Olympic champion, the athlete announced the end of her figure skating career. What really happened and how are things now for the youngest “golden” winner of Sochi 2014?
Biography
Yulia Lipnitskaya was born in the city of Yekaterinburg on June 5, 1998. Mother Daniela Leonidovna raised her daughter alone. Her mother once brought 4-year-old Yulia to the Lokomotiv Sports and Youth Sports School skating rink in her hometown. In an interview, the Olympic champion admitted that for a long time she could not decide what to give preference to, skates or horses. By the way, Julia still retains her love for equestrian sports.
But the choice was made in favor of figure skating thanks to my mother. The girl’s first coach later recalled that the athlete impressed him with her hard work and persistent character. Also, mentor Elena Levkovets noted the girl’s good build for this sport: she has an excellent combination of jumping and stretching, and her reaction and vestibular apparatus are also excellent.
The young athlete and her mother moved to Moscow in 2009 to further develop their athletic talent. Lipnitskaya falls into the hands of coach Eteri Tutberidze, who will soon grow into a real Olympic champion.
Since 2011, the skater has successfully competed at the Junior Grand Prix, where she won first place. For an entire season, the ice conqueror was at the top, not giving others a chance to win. Next season, Yulia is already showing excellent results in adult tournaments.
Before the Sochi Olympics, Lipnitskaya earned the title of European champion. At the 2014 Olympic Games, a free program based on the film “Schindler's List” was shown. The latest news reported that the performance created a real sensation - the Russian president himself gave a standing ovation, and Steven Spielberg, the director of the film, wrote his admiring reviews in a letter to the athlete.
The Olympic Games brought gold to our country, and Yulia the title of the first single figure skater to achieve victory at the Olympics.
After triumphant victories in 2014, his career began to decline. Lipnitskaya was unable to get to the European Championships, conflicts began with her mother and coach. Everyone attributed the athlete’s behavior to adolescence, and some suspected Julia of star fever. The figure skater left Eteri Tutberidze and began training with another coach. In 2016, the champion severely injured her back and took a long time to recover. Then information began to appear more and more often that the girl was suffering from anorexia.
Where did Yulia Lipnitskaya go?
Where is figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaya now? This question can often be heard from both sports fans and all those who watched the 2014 Olympics, where Yulia showed brilliant results and brought gold medals to the country.
It must be said that after triumphant victories at the Olympic Games, Lipnitskaya’s career began to decline. In 2016, at the Grand Prix stage, she felt severe cramps in her leg during a performance. The girl tried to skate the program again, but made an unfortunate fall. She ultimately ended up in last place in the standings. This circumstance greatly overshadowed the athlete and all sports observers.
The failures did not end there. In December 2016, Yulia, returning from training, slipped and fell. As a result, a hip and lower back injury was diagnosed. Due to health problems, Julia was forced to interrupt the selections for the European and world championships.
Since then, the athlete has disappeared from the sight of fans and the public. She even stopped posting pictures and news on social networks. For several months, everyone wondered what happened to figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaya and where she is now.
A few months later, new photos of the athlete appeared on the Internet. In them the girl looked very plump. It turned out that the girl had hormonal changes and was suffering from excess weight loss. The athlete began to fight the disease. She tried to limit her diet and exercise, but full-fledged sports were impossible. As a result, the struggle to restore her former form ended with Julia beginning to suffer from anorexia.
For a long time nothing was heard about the Olympic champion. There was information that she was being treated for anorexia in one of the European clinics. This information was later confirmed by the girl’s mother, Daniela Leonidovna. Also, the mother of the Olympic star in mid-2017 announced another piece of news that shocked everyone. It turned out that Yulia Lipnitskaya was ending her sports career.
Now it has become clear what happened to figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaya and where she is now. Shortly before this, the girl was awarded the keys to a 2-room apartment in the southwest of Moscow for her sporting merits. Due to health problems, the girl gave up her dreams of returning to the ice, stopped going on debilitating diets and began to arrange her new apartment.
Last news
The news of Yulia Lipnitskaya's departure from big-time sports caused a wide public outcry. For some time the girl remained silent and did not talk about the reasons for leaving. A few months later she gave a candid interview. According to Lipnitskaya herself, 99 percent of her decision to end her career was influenced by health problems, other circumstances were already imposed from above. For several months the girl was treated for anorexia; psychologists worked with her and helped the athlete set life priorities.
Soon, Yulia met with the leadership of the Figure Skating Federation and announced her decision to leave the national team. Fans noticed that Julia was very sad at the meeting, it is clear that such a decision was not easy for her.