Americans spread dirty rumors about the Tutberidze family. What's happening?

Anastasia PaninaSport correspondentAll materialsToday was marked by rumors about Eteri Tutberidze's daughter Diana Davis. In the social networks of the American journalist of The Skating Lesson, information appeared that the dance duo Diana Davis — Gleb Smolkin will perform for the United States. The news rumbled everywhere, intriguing even people far from figure skating, but it seemed to be a fake — it was refuted by both Eteri Georgievna herself and Diana. The question, however, remains open: why did Dave Lees begin to substitute himself in such a way, not only publishing a deliberate lie, but also referring to the supposedly direct speech of Tutberidze? Let's try to answer it. Answer number one — Dave Lees just went crazy or is frankly hyping, wishful thinking. Profit — at the time of its publication became the most quoted, and the wave of discussions of what is happening due to uncontrollability has grown to the extent of a tsunami. But Dave's reputational losses after the refutation are huge, and hardly any hype is worth it. It is a well-known fact that Eteri Tutberidze does not favor the Russian press. The last big interview she gave in Russia was with Vladimir Pozner in the spring of 2019. At the same time, the relationship between the great coach and the Western press is kinder — despite the fact that she is often criticized there, Eteri Georgievna still sometimes agrees to talk, informally or officially. Therefore, one can easily imagine a situation in which Eteri Tutberidze (she is now in America with her daughter) crossed paths with Dave Lees at the rink and supported a secular conversation, answering a couple of topical questions.

Eteri Tutberidze and Diana Davis This is where answer number two comes from — translation difficulties. Dave could ask what Diana's prospects are, and Tutberidze could answer that the prospects are so-so. Therefore, they do not exclude the possibility of changing citizenship, so that Davis-Smolkin will have the opportunity to compete not only in Kazan and Syzran. Then the journalist translated the plans as a factual decision, went crazy with joy and immediately sent a «lightning bolt» to social networks. Diana Davis really has American citizenship, because she was born in Las Vegas — at the beginning of the 2000s, Eteri Tutberidze worked in the USA. Once there is citizenship, then there is a theoretical opportunity to represent the country in competitions. A similar alignment recently revived the career of Russian single skater Artur Dmitriev — he even performed at the last US championship. The son of two-time Olympic champion Artur Dmitriev Sr., just like Diana Davis, was born in America. Meanwhile, Davis and Smolkin are preparing for the new season as actively as if they were really going to start at the highest level. The couple is actively training with Igor Shpilband in the USA and is engaged in new productions. Evgeny Platov, a two-time Olympic champion, helps them with the latter. And all this while the International Skating Union extended the suspension of Russian athletes from the competition next season. This means that Davis-Smolkin will be able to start, like everyone else, only at the stages of the Russian Cup.

Diana Davis and Gleb SmolkinBut what if Dave Lis just revealed Tutberidze's trump cards ahead of time, and Davis-Smolkin really plan to urgently change sports citizenship, thus avoiding isolation now? And Eteri Tutberidze refutes this, because they have too many organizational issues to settle? This is a possible, but rather unlikely scenario. Our federation is extremely reluctant to release athletes, especially those who managed to «light up» at major international competitions. Artur Dmitriev was helped by the fact that he had a big break in his career and there was no need to sit in the prescribed two-year quarantine without competition. In addition, Artur has never played for Russia at the level of the continental and world championships. Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin also «lit up» thoroughly — this season they performed at the European Championships and at the Olympics. That is, they can’t avoid a two-year quarantine. It’s funny that they could “sit” without starts for half a year less if they weren’t so eager to join the main team this season. But who could have imagined that immediately after the Beijing Olympics, Russia would be banned from world sports for an indefinite period. Now it will be much more difficult for Diana and Gleb to leave under the American flag, and the prospect of playing at international tournaments for Russia is not yet visible even around the corner.