Kamila Valieva was born exactly 18 years ago in Kazan, where she began figure skating. And not only them: the girl also went to rhythmic gymnastics and a ballet studio. Over time, for the sake of a figure career, other sections had to be abandoned, but the base had already been laid.
This is what her first coach said about Kamila Ksenia Ivanova: “Back in 2010 in Kazan, I led a group of children born in 2004–2005. And somewhere in the middle of the season, a small but very smart girl born in 2006 joined our group. Surprisingly, at four years old, Camila spoke very clearly!
Despite the fact that Kamila was a year younger than her classmates, and some even two, the girl quickly became one of the leaders of the group.
Kamila stood out for her plasticity, good flexibility, and stretching. Even then it was clear that the girl was very promising and talented. I remember we used every opportunity to do extra training on the ice. We went to the skating rink in one of the city’s shopping centers, and the skating rink guard, when he saw Kamila, always greeted her with the words: “Future champion!”
Kamila was a smart girl beyond her years, she grasped everything faster than the older children in the group. This is also a very important quality in sports. Since childhood, she had the right attitude towards classes, and I always say that no matter what the natural abilities are, the desire of the child himself plays a big role. It was clear that Kamila liked to reveal herself on the ice.
Of course, I didn’t think about big titles then, but I understood that with the right work of the coach and the support that Kamila receives from her mother, she could grow into a very good figure skater.”
When Kamila was six years old, she and her mother moved to Moscow. And before reaching Khrustalny, Valieva had to change several coaches at once – she worked with Marina Kudryavtseva, Igor Lyutikov, Stanislav Kovalev And Natalia Dubinskaya. Sometimes the breakups were difficult, as Lyutikov spoke about in an interview with Match TV.
“It all started when two girls a little older than Kamila came to the group and began to mentally eat her up. Kamila was angry, fought back, but for some reason she hid the problem from me. At a training camp in Tallinn, the girls had a conflict, and Kamila attacked her classmates. None of the adults saw how it all happened, and those girls presented the situation as if Kamila was to blame – she started a fight. Although it later turned out that they themselves provoked it. Kamila didn’t even try to refute the accusations, and I spoke to her sternly: I tried to convey that letting go is not normal. When we returned to Moscow, Kamila told her mother that she no longer wanted to study in our team. And they asked to join Natalia Dubinskaya’s group.
I was very upset. I didn’t understand the reason: everything was going up, we conquered triple jumps, progressed and made a lot of plans. I did everything for Camila, the relationship was good. And then, after an unexpected fight, when we had already planned a new training camp in Turkey, the student leaves. It would be okay if something didn’t work out. But Camila was at the peak of her form. I tried to talk, came to the Valievs’ home. Alsou (Kamila’s mother – approx.) also understood little, because her daughter did not explain herself to her. She only said that she was being offended, but without details. Alsou decided to give the child the right to choose and therefore did not put pressure.
In 2017, Valieva received a leg injury, but she was unable to achieve any serious results. Kamila thought about leaving figure skating, but still decided to show herself Eteri Tutberidze.
“If Tutberidze had not taken me into her group, I would have left figure skating altogether. I didn’t have a very successful season, and I had doubts about my prospects. I thought that maybe it would be better to do dancing, ballet. But my mother and I talked and decided to go to see Eteri Tutberidze’s group. We knew that Eteri Georgievna could teach something new. In addition, the girls there do quadruple jumps. This was probably also a decisive factor.
I remember my first training session very well: everyone was jumping endlessly without getting tired, but I ran out of strength in the middle of the training session, but I had to grit my teeth and work through it to the end.
Yulia Lipnitskaya became my very first idol. I remember watching her performance at the Olympics in Sochi and dreaming that I would also get to the Olympics. When I was already working in Eteri Georgievna’s group, I watched Alina Zagitova’s performances and tried to be like her,” – Camila recalled.
Since 2018, Valieva began training with Tutberidze. But that’s a completely different story.
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