Kamila Valieva and Zhu Yi are victims in Winter Olympics’ puppet theatre of pain

‘Very young children are taught to push their bodies to the limits, to live off “powdered nutrients”, to burn briefly as child‑puppet athletes.’ Illustration: Lo Cole

Earlier this week the Winter Olympic skating finals dished up one the most heartbreaking things you’ll ever see in sport.

Zhu Yi is a 19-year-old Chinese figure skater. She was born and raised in California, and called Beverley Zu until she switched allegiance to her parents’ homeland four years ago. The day before Zhu had skated in the women’s short programme team event. It was a disaster.