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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I also think Russia now is not as different from the Soviet era as you'd like to hope. The level of corruption and cronyism is still astronomically high, so winning a high profile Olympic medal still has enormous benefit to a skater and her family, who may be set up within that system. Or maybe not. The system is abusive and discards people who are not deemed useful. But the pressure to "be useful" is almost as intense now as it was in the 80s, and a talented young child and her family could be persuaded to participate in an abusive training program to win gold "for love of country" more easily than they might be in the US. Also, unlike in the US, there is still far more state sponsorship of young athletes in Russia, with many scholarships and public sponsorships available to those who have a demonstrated ability. It is also true for young dancers through the Bolshoi and other artistic programs. Russia may no longer be a communist country, but they have not dropped many of their ideals about making Russian arts and culture dominant. That still extends to athletes, as evidenced by the Sochi Olympics, the doping scandal, and now this debacle.

Russia has changed very little in the last 30 years.[/quote]

You've got it quite wrong.  Olympic medalists now have access to opportunities that were simply not there in the USSR times - endorsement contracts and TV shows come to mind.  In my view, it is quite fair that an athlete who invested a tremendous amount of energy and time into getting a medal gets a reward from the state.  You are also wrong that children are pressured to enter these programs.  Skating is tremendously popular and whatever you think of Eteri and her training methods, the line to her facility is around the block and she does not force anyone to stay as she has enough skaters to keep her busy.  If Kamila wanted to leave skating tomorrow, no one would keep her in.   Children stay in skating because they are driven from within; and it also helps when they look at champions like Zagitova, Pluschenko, Slutskaya or Yagudin, and see prosperity and popularity at the end of the line.

State sponsorship of athletes and artists is a good thing.   Accessibility of high arts and culture is a good thing. These things cannot pay for themselves, and it is not fair that they should only be available to the rich, or to families with a stay at home parent.  [/quote]

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