Tutberidze’s official coaching role is with the Georgia figure skating team and she was at Milano Ice Skating Arena for the team event to watch one of her longest-serving pupils, Nika Egadze.
Egadze stormed to victory at the 2026 European Championships in Sheffield, where Tutberidze shared a warm hug with her skater after a gold medal-winning performance, and other athletes spoke positively about the coach.
It was a different story at Milano Ice Skating Arena as Egadze endured two error-strewn routines, with Georgia missing out on a medal.
In the short programme he made two early errors, failing to land the triple toe loop in his first technical element.
As he continued his performance, the TV cameras caught Tutberidze in passing – standing at rinkside, arms folded.
Egadze did enough to pull the performance around and help earn Georgia fifth place in qualifying, progressing to the final. When he came off the ice, the hug from Tutberidze seemed curt.
She joined the Georgian squad as they waited for the results. Generally, waiting teams will laugh and joke, even if they know elimination is coming.
Instead, the 11 skaters and team members sat stony-faced as the scores were announced.
If this was an indicator of the atmosphere in the team, it is certainly not positive, but it may have just been a moment of nervous focus.
Perhaps Tutberidze was minding her body language on Sunday as Egadze struggled even more in the free skate. Three of his first four elements scored negative points, and he nearly tripped over during his triple axel.
His coach gave him a pat on the hand as the numbers came in. Despite Egadze scoring only 154.79 for the free skate – 27 points lower than his season best – there was no berating.
The attention comes at a Games which began for Georgia with their team being roundly booed in San Siro when they entered the stadium during the opening ceremony.
