The Fifteen Year Old Girl Who Deserved Better

My Bitsy game is about the story of the Olympic Figure Skater, Kamila Valieva, a 15 year old from Russia.  Her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, is well known in the skating community for abusing her skaters and perpetuating eating disorders in order to keep her athletes small and able to complete the difficult quad jumps that help her team sweep the podium at most major competitions.  One of her skaters, Kamila Valieva, was slated for her Olympic Debut at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.  Kamila was the gold medal favorite out of everyone at the competition, getting into the spotlight for her consistency and grace.  

The sensation of Tutberidze's abuse exploded in the media when, at the games, Kamila was confirmed to have tested positive for a banned heart medication that increases stamina.   The Gold Medal she helped win for Russia in the team event was under review, and the Olympic Committee was debating not letting her compete in the Women's Single event at all.  They eventually decided to allow her to compete, but this proved to be a mistake and extremely detrimental to Kamila's health.  The consistency she was known for was nowhere to be seen as she bobbled and fell more times in a program than she ever had before.  Kamila went from being the Gold Medal favorite, to falling off of the podium and ending the event in fourth.  It is unclear whether or not this was intentional, as the Olympic Committee allowed Kamila to compete on the condition that, if she were to medal in the event, they would not have a medal ceremony at all.  Was it a last-ditch effort to save her reputation, ensuring she doesn't podium?  Or did the pressure of the abuse and the international spotlight finally get to her?

I decided to make this highly controversial topic the subject of this project because I wanted to bring to light the abuse that these literal children are subject to at the hands of the greedy adults that are in charge of their entire lives.  Through Bitsy's reduced color palette, I wanted to use the colors of the Russian Flag at different intensities to mimic the amount of pressure at the national and international level that Olympic athletes face.  They are not only fighting for themselves, and sometimes their lives, they are fighting for their entire country.  I thought Bitsy was an interesting medium to tell this story in, because of the nature of sprites and items.  Items can be picked up, while sprites can only be interacted with.  I used this to show the things that Kamila could and could not have, such as her skates and food.

Kamila, and the rest of her teammates, are phenomenal athletes with great work ethic and drive to do their best.  This unfortunately means they can be easily manipulated by the people who will assist them in achieving their goals.  This is not fair to anyone involved, and the child abuse that has been normalized in competitive figure skating is unacceptable.

Sources for Story:

https://www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/winter-olympics-2022-rocs-kamila-valieva...

https://www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/winter-olympics-2022-kamila-valieva-roc-...