Yulia Lipnitskaya's Journey: Olympic Fame, Anorexia, and Motherhood

Everyone remembers this athlete as the 15-year-old girl in a red dress on the Olympic ice in Sochi, dancing to the poignant melody from «Schindler»s List.« Then, figure skater Yulia Lipnitskaya rapidly burst into world sports rankings and news feeds.

The deafening success of the girl, who performed crazy pirouettes and the most complex jumps, soon ended, and after a few years, Yulia even finished her professional career. Over time, she gave birth to two children and plunged headlong into family life. E1.RU decided to recall the story of the talented athlete and also find out what she is doing now.

Her Mother Raised the Future Champion Alone

Yulia was born in 1998 in Yekaterinburg. Her mother, Daniela Lipnitskaya, raised her daughter alone. The girl«s father, Vyacheslav, left to serve in the army before she was born and never returned to the family.

‘When Yulia«s mother got pregnant, Slavka was taken into the army. He never returned from there,’ family acquaintance Valentina Popova said about the skater»s father. ‘They say he left for another city right after his service. Daniela raised the girl alone, gave her her surname. She had to work several jobs, even at the market. I remember Daniela coming back frozen. But she endured everything.’

The girl grew up as an active child and, as a toddler, boldly roller-skated. Her mother saw talent in her four-year-old daughter and took her to the local Lokomotiv sports school. Taking on several jobs, Daniela Leonidovna rented a cheap apartment near the stadium so Yulia could more easily go to training.

‘She Never Cried When She Fell’

Yulia«s first coaches were Elena Levkovets and Marina Voitsekhovskaya. The teachers immediately noticed that the girl stood out from her peers with her seriousness.

‘In 2002, her mother brought her to our school. Then everyone was left in the hall, there was a selection: some were afraid, some cried, some were shy, except for one girl—that was Yulia. She sat at the top of the climbing frame and watched all the children. During the testing, Yulia completed all the exercises and passed the selection with a grade of “five.” I remember how in training she fell, got up, and ran on. She never even cried when she fell at four years old. Never!’ said Lipnitskaya«s first coach in an interview with E1.RU.

When Yulia was little, she didn«t lose a single tournament in Yekaterinburg. The young athlete performed worthily in competitions and at the Russian championships.

‘She was always among the prize-winners. She even at nine years old took 8th or 9th place at the Russian championships, I don«t remember exactly. Even then, Yulia stood out with her flexibility, extension, and gorgeous spins. Specialists were already watching her, and even then a little star was lit,’ shared Elena Levkovets.

In 2009, when in Yekaterinburg Lipnitskaya had already reached her ceiling, she moved to the capital with her mother. In Moscow, she managed to get into the group of Eteri Tutberidze and within a few months master all triple jumps.

‘Yulia was about eight years old when she came to me for a viewing. Probably every coach looks for the material they can work with. But there«s no material separately, parents are also important,’ explained Tutberidze.

At the Russian junior championships in the 2009/2010 season, the skater placed fifth, and a year later she was fourth at the adult national championships. She also won the Grand Prix in Poland, and took gold medals in Italy and Canada.

The pre-Olympic season the athlete started with triumph in Finland, then won competitions in China, France, and Paris. In the Grand Prix final, Yulia did not perform due to injury, only in the second half of the 2012/2013 season did she return to the ice.

Another landmark victory for the athlete was gold at the European Championships in 2014. Then it was not easy for Yulia Lipnitskaya, but her coach and mother were always by her side:

‘Yulia is still having a very hard time, she fights with her weight every day. I haven«t encountered this in my work—she simply can»t eat at all. And I feel very sorry that she has to endure so much, but I can«t do anything about it. She»s great for coping with it. When she needs to lose weight, she eats only “Squeezy” powder—it«s fiber that gives energy. It»s hard for her, and the weight goes down very slowly—by 100 grams a day. But she copes, thank God,’ the coach said in an interview with Team Russia 2014.

Took Gold at 15

At 15 years old, Yulia Lipnitskaya became the main hope of the Russian figure skating team. The young athlete became a hero of the Sochi Olympics, brilliantly skating the short and free programs in the team competitions.

She climbed to the top step of the podium and became the second youngest Olympic champion in figure skating in the history of the Winter Games.

On 20 February 2014, Yulia performed her free program to music from the famous film «Schindler»s List.« Viewers around the world admired the athlete»s talent and wondered how such a fragile girl could be so restrained.

Then President Vladimir Putin personally congratulated the skater on her victory. Her number moved even director Steven Spielberg, who wrote Yulia a letter of thanks.

‘Should I Weigh 37 kg My Whole Life to Please You?’

Lipnitskaya continued to skate after Sochi, but never achieved such serious successes as before the Olympics. At the Grand Prix final in 2014, she placed fifth, at the 2015 Russian Championships—ninth.

Just a year after the Olympics, Yulia disappeared from the national team and stopped showing high results.

In January 2015, rumors spread about a conflict between Lipnitskaya and Eteri Tutberidze, and by the end of the year it became known that the skater was switching to Alexei Urmanov. With him, Yulia won silver at the Russian Cup and victory at the Tyrol Cup.

‘Lipnitskaya will never return to me. Three hundred percent—she won«t take that step, she left for so long. Moreover, she understands that I won»t change. You have to work. And why should I take her back if she won«t? For her to be an extra? But she»s not the girl who should just be listed in the group,’ fumed Tutberidze.

At the 2016 Russian Grand Prix, Yulia placed 12th—that performance became her last.

After the Olympics, Lipnitskaya was also promised a 70-square-meter apartment in Moscow, but she only received the keys in 2017. The athlete«s housing is located in the southwest of the capital.

In photos from receiving the apartment keys, fans noticed that the skater had gained weight. This became a reason for gossip that she was expecting a child.

‘I«m not pregnant at all, enough already. Have some conscience,’ the athlete wrote. ‘Should I weigh 37 kilograms my whole life to please you? I»ve lost enough weight already, that«s enough.’

‘Put the Skates in the Closet and Went to the Clinic’

On 28 August 2017, Yulia«s mother announced that her daughter had ended her sports career. The skater underwent three months of treatment for anorexia.

Later in an interview published on the Figure Skating Federation website, when asked what prevented her from fully realizing herself in sports, Lipnitskaya admitted: ‘99 percent—health problems. And the rest, of course, was added to that. After my diagnosis was announced, people started writing to me, asking why I did it. But even if I hadn«t said it myself, the information would have leaked anyway. Anorexia is the disease of the 21st century, it occurs quite often. Unfortunately, not everyone copes with it… After the Cup of Russia I came home, put the skates in the closet, and haven»t seen them since. I«m not drawn to the ice anymore. In January, I went to the clinic. That»s the whole story.’

That same year, former soldier Vyacheslav appeared on Channel One and stated that he was the parent of the famed skater: ‘In 2014, there was the Olympics in Sochi. I noticed the surname of one of the participants. I saw myself… I«m 100 percent sure. I googled online and saw that Yulia»s mother is Daniela, and immediately understood that this is my girl. All the dates when I met her match completely. They got me the phone number, and I made contact. Yulia answered the phone, I recognized her voice immediately. She passed the phone to her mom, who told me not to call,’ the man shared.

Later, Yulia stated that this man has no relation to her.

‘What he told about me—I just want to shove a gag in his mouth. It«s impossible to listen to such things! As for my father, I know perfectly well who he is and where he lives. So I warn: if such cases repeat, if channels feature my “daddies or relatives” obsessed with the desire to get publicity at my expense, then we»ll meet them in court,’ said Lipnitskaya.

But Yulia didn«t abandon skates. In 2018, together with athlete Elena Ilinykh, she decided to open the »Academy of Champions« to train children and adults. The skater also worked as a sports commentator and performed in ice shows.

In an interview with E1.RU, Ilya Averbukh explained why Yulia Lipnitskaya disappeared after ending her career: ‘Despite the fact that she has a public sport, she is a rather modest and even, perhaps, slightly closed person. She always, even at that peak, felt awkward in this giant popularity. After finishing her career, she calmly went into family life. She has a wonderful family, she works very quality as a coach. She has no internal need to keep attention around herself. Such a position, of course, commands respect.’

Now the athlete is part of the Plushenko«s Angels figure skating academy.

Two Husbands and the Birth of Children

In 2020, it became known that Yulia Lipnitskaya had become a mother for the first time. The father of the baby Katalina was Vladislav Tarasenko, with whom she had been in a relationship for several years by then. The young parents long hid that they were expecting a child.

Vladislav Tarasenko trained under Alexei and Tatyana Mishin, Eteri Tutberidze. In 2015, he won the Russian Cup final among juniors, and spent his last season in pair skating under the guidance of Tamara Moskvina.

In 2022, Lipnitskaya«s common-law husband was mobilized to participate in the special military operation. In autumn, he received a summons, and then he was sent to a training ground in Alabino near Moscow. After two years, the couple broke up.

In 2024, Yulia gave birth to her second child—a son, Arseny. However, the boy«s father was another famous figure skater and coach of Sasha Trusova—Dmitry Mikhailov. Lipnitskaya married him in June of the same year. The lovers» wedding took place in summer in a prestigious area on Rublyovka Highway, the newlyweds invited only the closest people to the celebration.

‘For both of us, this marriage is the first. We recently had a wonderful child, and this is true happiness! We would calmly have talked about it when we considered it necessary,’ the athlete explained on social media.

Now Yulia continues to lead a quiet, non-public life with her husband and two children. She still works as a children«s figure skating coach.

We collect stories of world and Russian stars who were born and grew up in Sverdlovsk Oblast in a special feature.

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