Russian figure skaters banned from world championships but not for reason we expected

Less than two weeks after Russia turned one of the marquee events of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games into a bizarre and troubling fiasco, all of its figure skaters were banned from the upcoming world championships, not because of the country’s state-sponsored doping, but because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

It took the most terrible thing in life to get the right result in sports.

As the international sports world continues shutting doors on athletes from Russia, the International Skating Union, figure skating’s worldwide governing body, announced that Russia’s powerful figure skating contingent would not be allowed at the world championships in Montpellier, France, later this month.

That means no Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old who would have been favored to win the women’s title presuming she has recovered after crumbling under the scrutiny of her positive drug test in Beijing. No Anna Shcherbakova, the defending world champion and surprising Olympic gold medalist who sat alone and barely celebrated that stunning evening after the women’s long program. No Alexandra Trusova, who was beside herself with anger that she did not win despite trying five quadruple jumps.

All that drama, rightly banned, but not for the reason we would have expected. The three teenagers heralded as the best in the world are not prohibited from competing because of Valieva’s drug test and what it says about the methods of her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, who also trains the other two. No, they are not allowed at the worlds as punishment for Putin’s state-sponsored killing, Russia’s awful attack on Ukraine.

That is the right decision, of course. As the world shuts Putin out and does all it can to punish him, sports certainly is doing its part. It was figure skating and track and field Tuesday; soccer, skiing and hockey, among others, a day or so ago.

LATEST: More sports ban Russia from competitions amid invasion of Ukraine