13 Facts About Eteri Tutberidze

Eteri Georgievna Tutberidze is a Georgian-Russian figure skating coach who works mainly with female single skaters.

Eteri Tutberidze is head coach at the Sambo 70 skating club in Moscow.

Eteri Georgievna Tutberidze was born 24 February 1974 in Moscow.

Eteri Tutberidze's mother was a senior engineer at the Ministry of Agricultural Construction and her father worked at the Likhachev plant's foundry and as a taxi driver.

Eteri Tutberidze's daughter, Diana, was born on 16 January 2003 in Las Vegas.

Eteri Tutberidze began skating at the age of four and a half, guided by Evgenia Zelikova and then Edouard Pliner.

Eteri Tutberidze was coached by Lidia Kabanova for two years and then joined Elena Tchaikovskaya, who paired her with Vyacheslav Chichekin.

Eteri Tutberidze skated with Alexei Kiliakov until he emigrated to the United States.

Eteri Tutberidze worked in ice shows in the US for six years in the 1990s, including in Oklahoma at the time of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, for which she received compensation as a survivor.

Eteri Tutberidze then moved to Sambo 70 in Moscow, where she collaborates with Sergei Dudakov and Daniil Gleikhengauz.

Eteri Tutberidze's coaching methods have been criticized by fans, journalists and skaters, especially in the wake of Kamila Valieva's doping scandal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Valieva's doping controversy during the Olympics in 2022 saw a new wave of critical articles and figure skaters speaking out, with Romain Haguenauer, who coaches in Montreal, claiming that Eteri Tutberidze's training is "abusive, military even" and that "she wouldn't be allowed near children" if she used those practices in Montreal as a coach.

Additionally, it has been noted by several critics and observers that it is common for Eteri Tutberidze to lash out at students who have left her academy for other coaches.