I have to confess, somewhat to my discredit, that I was completely unaware of this real-life sporting tragedy before I watched this feature-length documentary. I suspected a dark ending in advance but must admit, when it was eventually revealed, it still came as something of a shock.
It's the story of two talented, aspirational teenagers from completely different parts of the world, who coincidentally come together to share their mutual ambition to compete at the highest level in pairs ice-skating. He's Harley, Australian and when he meets her, 19 years of age. He has Aboriginal heritage and comes from what you'd probably call a poorish working-class background with no family links at all to the sport. She's Katya, Russian and only 16 years old but if anything she's even more ambitious than him. It's important to say there appears at no time to have been any romantic involvemen between the two.
Paired together with a top Russian coach, they settle in Australia and quickly achieve early success in junior competitions and are thrust into adult meets, all the time aiming for the Winter Olympics, which they manage to achieve, probably before they're really ready. She then loses her father when he dies suddenly and now thousands of miles from any kind of family support, it's no surprise when she struggles with homesickness and loneliness, not to mention poverty as she's forced by circumstances to live in her coach's house, giving her no respite from the sport. Unsurprisingly, she develops mental health issues, turning to drink and reportedly a reckless lifestyle, sadly culminating in the shocking conclusion.
Told frankly by those who knew her, with many contributions from recordings available of her own voice, this is a sad tale of young talent being pushed too far with little thought about supporting her psychological state. We've recently seen examples of other top sportsmen, athletes and gymnasts (Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles immediately spring to mind) withdrawing from competition citing symptoms of stress and it's a pity to think that young Katya was too far down the food chain to qualify for any kind of medical or financial support.
As regards the telling of her story, I found it a little tricksy and flashy at times, unsuited for the seriousness of the subject matter, with overuse of jump cuts, overlapping speech and trivially putting up a kitchen notice board to indicate the couple's changing coaches as their career progresses. I also felt it could have looked more into the circumstances of Katya's demise, with no coverage of her funeral or of the investigation into how exactly she fell to her death. I did like her partner, Harley, a candid, down-to-earth Aussie, trying to go on with his career after enduring this heartbreak.
A cautionary tale of thwarted and possibly even exploited young sporting ambition leading to disillusionment, depression and worse, one suspects it won't be the last story of its kind to come to light in the future.
