Winter Olympics 2026: Ski coach Eteri Tutberidze in Milan-Cortina four years after the Valeeva scandal

Tutberidze’s official coaching role is with the Georgia Figure Skating Team and she was at the Milan Ice Rink for the team event to watch one of her longest serving pupils, Nika Igadze.

Ighadze had a strong win at the 2026 European Championships in Sheffield, where Tutberidze shared a warm hug with her skater after the gold medal-winning performance, and other athletes spoke positively of the coach.

It was a different story at the Milan Ice Rink, where Ejdze suffered two foul-filled routines as Georgia missed out on a medal.

In the short program, he made two early errors, failing to achieve a triple toe loop on his first technical element.

As he continued his performance, television cameras captured Tutberidze passing by, standing at the side of the race track with his arms folded.

Egadze did enough to improve the performance and helped Georgia finish 5th in the qualifiers and advance to the final. When he came off the ice, Tutberidze’s embrace seemed brief.

She joined the Georgian team while waiting for the results. In general, the teams waiting will be laughing and joking, even if they know elimination is coming.

Instead, the skaters and 11 team members sat stone-faced as the results were announced.

If this is any indication of the atmosphere in the team, it is certainly not positive, but perhaps just a moment of nervous concentration.

Tutberidze may have been paying attention to her body language on Sunday while Ighadze struggled more in the free skate. Three of his first four elements scored negative points, and he nearly stumbled during his triple axel.

His coach patted him as the numbers appeared. Although Ejdze scored just 154.79 points in the free skate – 27 points below his season best – there was no criticism.

This interest comes in a games that started for Georgia as their team was heavily booed at the San Siro when they entered the field during the opening ceremony.