Thu, Jul 23, 2020 page16

• Skater decries PRC training abuse

  • The Guardian
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  A world championship figure skater has urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to do more to protect vulnerable young girls after detailing how she and others suffered abuse inside the Chinese system.

  Jessica Shuran Yu, who was born, raised and trained in China, and competed in the 2017 World Championships for Singapore before helping to coach junior skaters, said that a “culture of physical discipline” was common in the country, with athletes also frequently criticized as “lazy,” “stupid,” “retarded,” “useless” and “fat.”

  She was regularly hit with a plastic skate guard after she made mistakes, Yu said, adding that another punishment involved being kicked so hard with the toe-pick of a skate that it bloodied her shin and left a lasting scar.

  

  Singapore’s Jessica Shuran Yu competes during the free skating event of the Southeast Asian Games women’s singles finals at the Malaysia National Ice Skating Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 27, 2017.

  Photo: AFP

  “The abuse started from the age of 11 when I started being told to reach out a hand whenever I made mistakes,” she said. “On especially bad days, I would get hit more than 10 times in a row until my skin was raw.”

  “When I was 14 and going through puberty, I started to struggle with my jumps because I was gaining weight,” Yu said. “I was called over and kicked on the bone of my shin with a toe-pick of a blade and made to try again. I wasn’t allowed to limp or cry.”

  “Most of the time such abuse happened in front of other skaters in the rink,” she added. “I didn’t tell any of my friends, adults at school or my federation, because I was incredibly humiliated. I was made to feel so small. It was dehumanizing.”

  Now 19, Yu said that she decided to speak out after watching Athlete A, the Netflix documentary detailing sexual abuse in US gymnastics, and reading claims of widespread abuse in British gymnastics.

  Yu spoke of feeling able to open up because while she had grown up in China and has a Chinese mother, she competed internationally for Singapore, the country of her father’s birth.

  However, it is highly unusual for an athlete who has trained in the country to speak out.

  Yu said she hoped that with Beijing hosting the Winter Olympics in just over 18 months’ time, the IOC would recognize that it had a unique opportunity to use its influence.

  “In gymnastics and skating classes, young children have to put their legs on two stools as a coach applies pressure to stretch them,” she said. “In my classes, every single person would be sobbing by the end. With one instructor, if we cried too much, they would add 10 more seconds. I remember thinking this didn’t feel right at all — and that something might tear.”

  Yu said that young Chinese athletes were abused when she coached recently at a prominent training center in Beijing.

  “I saw one junior skater get hit and dragged off the ice, while another was pressured into competing on two torn ligaments, which left them needing surgery afterward,” she said. “It really hurts me to know that this abuse is still happening. Many athletes and coaches believe that such behavior is necessary and normal in China.”

  “It is also hard for Chinese athletes to speak out,” she added. “They could lose their spot and their careers could end, but as a Singaporean athlete who trained in China, I feel I am in a unique position.”

  Yu urged the IOC to recognize that young and vulnerable girls in aesthetic sports are particularly at risk.

  She called for it to set up a dedicated hotline staffed by child protection experts for abuse cases and to use more of its resources to better enforce its 2016 consensus statement, which states : “All athletes have a right to be treated with respect, protected from non-accidental violence.”
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