Skip to content
Sign In Subscribe
beijing 2022 — articles — russia — doping — ioc — winter olympics — kamila valieva — figure skating — cas — isu — yog — eteri tutberidze — age limit — thomas bach — vladimir putin — dmitry peskov — dmitry chernyshenko — marita koch — gdr — manfred ewald — seoul 1988 — juan antonio samaranch sr — erich honecker — ioc session 1985 — sed — dtsb — iaaf — olympic charter — rayssa leal — momiji nishiya — skateboarding — tokyo 2020 — nadia comăneci — béla károlyi — michael phelps — katie ledecky — kornelia grummt-ender — wunderkind — eileen gu — daniil samasonov — ioc session 2007 — guatemala 2007 — richard pound — lausanne 2020 — singapore 2010 — nanjing 2014 — buenos aires 2018 — dakar 2026 — innsbruck 2012 — lillehammer 2016 — gangwon 2024 — alzain tareq

Wunderkinder are too valuable for the Olympic system to set age limits

Kamila Valieva' doping case raised questions about a minimum age for Olympic athletes. The Games thrive on high-performing children – some of them so young that they are not even allowed to compete in the Youth Olympic Games. Children are vulnerable to authoritarian states chasing medals and glory.

,   and  Jens Weinreich
13 min read
Kamila Valieva. (Photo: NOC of Russia.)

Why it is so hard for Olympic sports federations to set age limits? The age rules are defined very differently in the seven Olympic winter sports federations. It is no different among the summer sports federations. Age regulations sometimes differ even within these federations, depending on the sport, discipline, or gender. In the International Skating Union (ISU), a proposal to raise the minimum age in figure skating from fifteen to seventeen years failed most recently in June 2018. Of course, at the ISU congress at the time, the Russians also voted against this proposal.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) introduced the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) at its 2007 Session in Guatemala. Why are there these global competitions called YOG, when at the same time children participate in – how shall we say: real – Olympic Games? Why is there so little coordination? Why has not even the IOC, as the sole owner of these circus events, reminded us of these Youth Games in the bitter discussions of the past weeks?

This post is for paying subscribers only

Subscribe

Already have an account? Sign In

Related

La noche de las noches
ioc elections

La noche de las noches

Samaranch or Coventry, that is the question. Coe was not only thwarted, his performance remained surprisingly poor, as if he himself had never believed in becoming IOC president. Lappartient, Watanabe, Eliasch and Feisal just don't want to come in last. The water level report.

,   and  Jens Weinreich
Members Public
IOC Presidential Index (III): Samaranch, the next chapter
uipm

IOC Presidential Index (III): Samaranch, the next chapter

There are not even ten full days to go to the election of the 10th president in the history of the International Olympic Committee. Nobody should completely rule out the option of the first female president, even if there is increasing resistance to the plans to install Kirsty Coventry.

,   and  Jens Weinreich
Members Public

Latest

Germany's Olympic bid and the DOSB: fundamental disputes, disregard for parliament, incompetence, waste of money, irresponsibility and madness
olympic bidding

Germany's Olympic bid and the DOSB: fundamental disputes, disregard for parliament, incompetence, waste of money, irresponsibility and madness

Next week, I will provide German readers with exclusive background information on the Olympic bid. Since dubious websites such as Insidethegames are spreading unsorted nonsense, a mixture of propaganda and AI hallucinations, I'm offering the English-speaking audience a brief summary in the meantime.

,   and  Jens Weinreich
Members Public