Ex-wife of Reinsalu alleges a pattern of abuse and violence
Content Warning: violence, physical and emotional abuse
Latvian police have opened an investigation into coaches Raimo Reinsalu and Olga Kovalkova for allegations of emotional, and in Reinsalu’s case, physical abuse of minors.
In May 2024, Latvian champion Sofja Stepcenko first told officials of the Latvian Skating Association (LSA) about the alleged abuse she experienced during the years she trained with Reinsalu and Kovalkova. In May 2025, she made a formal report to the LSA, and the LSA forwarded the information to the local police.
In July 2025, Stepcenko decided to speak to AnythingGOEs about her allegations. She explained she was frustrated with the lack of action from authorities, and concerned about conflicts of interest within the LSA, where Kovalkova is a member of the board.
Stepcenko told AnythingGOEs that she had been diagnosed with Complex-PTSD connected to the pattern of trauma and abuse she had experienced while training with Kovalkova and Reinsalu. “During [the 2024/2025 season],” said Stepcenko, “I didn’t say anything bad about my former coaches. But now it’s time to say the truth. I basically ran away from my former coaches because they were manipulative… because I was abused [and] they told a lot of gossip and lots of lies about me. They pushed me to do impossible things with injuries…they can promise to get you results, but at what cost? It’s not worth your life.”
Kovalkova and Reinsalu have denied any wrongdoing.
In August 2025, the International Skating Union (ISU) confirmed to AnythingGOEs that it was also investigating the allegations against the coaching team.
Reinsalu was originally slated to serve as a technical specialist at the September 2025 Junior Grand Prix in Baku, but was replaced by another official, and the ISU confirmed that he would not be officiating in the Junior Grand Prix.
A request for further information from Stepcenko was issued in September 2025 by the Administrative Violations Investigation Department of the Riga Regional Office Public Order Police Bureau of the State Police. Stepcenko responded in October with detailed documentation, including the names of other athletes that she said could support parts of her testimony, recordings of conversations with Reinsalu and Kovalkova, and copies of text messages.
By December, Stepcenko had received confirmation that the police had opened an investigation.
However, despite the ongoing ISU and police investigations, Reinsalu served as Team Leader for the Latvian delegation at the European Championships in Sheffield in January 2026.
AnythingGOEs has asked both LSA and ISU for an explanation of why Reinsalu was able to be accredited as a team leader for an ISU Championship while under investigation.
The ISU responded that “accreditation can be attributed to individuals in the event that activities have not led to their suspension. The ISU works with all stakeholders to prioritise the safety and well-being of all involved in its competitions and events.”
The LSA did not offer any explanation, but instead shared the list of the LSA’s delegation for the Milano Olympics, which includes Kovalkova, and does not include Reinsalu. However, recent information from the Latvian Olympic Committee shows that Reinsalu is attending the Olympics as part of the delegation of another nation, and will receive equipment from the Latvian team.
Reinsalu also remains part of the coaching team at Kristal Ice club in Riga, and works with several Latvian and Lithuanian skaters, with one skater from each country competing in Milano. At Europeans, Kovalkova and Reinsalu also accompanied Estonian skaters whose coach was absent due to recovering from illness.
Stepcenko, meanwhile, has slowly returned to the ice, and has posted videos of herself training triple Lutz and double Axel. She performed in a show in December.
She recently shared with AnythingGOEs that it is still difficult for her to go out on the ice. “I am taking very small steps and trying to start everything from the beginning. I am incredibly grateful to Karine [Magone] for her help and for giving me the opportunity to skate with her. Without her help and support, I would not have returned to the ice and would not have had the courage to open this case.”
Magone, head coach of the Ice Premium School in Riga, has also made allegations against Reinsalu and Kovalkova, and has publicly criticized the LSA’s handling of this case.
“I am thankful to everyone for their support,” Stepcenko continued. “I received many messages, and I read all of them with gratitude and replied.”
Stepcenko emphasized that she wants to encourage other skaters through her actions. “I truly hope that my experience will help other people in similar situations to open up and speak about what is happening. I hope that those who have been harmed will choose themselves and be able to move forward. I hope for justice and want this person to be held accountable. I am still fighting for my health. I am starting everything from the beginning.”
Reinsalu’s ex-wife alleges pattern of abusive behavior
Following the AnythingGOEs reporting on Reinsalu, his former wife, Tatjana T., felt compelled to speak about her experience, which she has never shared publicly before. According to her account, Reinsalu was frequently violent toward both her and their daughter during their sixteen-year relationship. Tatjana asked to be identified by her first name only, citing concerns about possible retaliation.
While AnythingGOEs continues to make every effort to fact-check, Tatjana’s claims have not been externally corroborated or tested in court.
“I want to say upfront, I have known [Reinsalu] since I was 18,” Tatjana said. “I am now 51. I have not seen a single thing [in the article] that did not sound true. …It’s been so many years, and I want to forget this man, because there was nothing good from him in my life, except my two children. He promised to kill me, and I’m really afraid of it. But I decided that we need to put an end to it, because what he did to me is one thing, but kids is another story, you can’t do harm to kids.”
Tatjana alleges that, from the beginning of their relationship in 1992, Reinsalu physically abused her. “My first meeting with him was not very pleasant, because he had beaten me very hard. I had bruises. In the end, he locked me in a room, so that I can’t go out with my bruises. But since my family wasn’t, let’s say, a good family, I had nowhere to go….Beatings were the regular practice during the next 16 years when we were living together. It wasn’t every day, but it was regular all this time.”
Reinsalu represented Estonia in Men’s singles at the 1993 and 1994 European Championships (the first for independent Estonia). After his retirement from competition, he remained active in the skating world, including serving as an Estonian judge at Junior Grand Prix events, in the 2009 Cup of Russia Grand Prix.
Reinsalu and Tatjana had two children together, a daughter born in 1998, and a son born in 2003. Their daughter became a figure skater and competed for Estonia at the novice and junior level. Reinsalu did not coach during this time, except for training his daughter.
Tatjana alleges that Reinsalu was frequently violent with their daughter during training. “He didn’t beat her…the way he had beaten me, but he was always grabbing her…by the neck…She always had pressure marks from his hand, because that’s how he trained her.”
“I was constantly receiving calls from the ice rink and they were saying that he raises hand [against] her again, or pulls her again.”
Sofja Stepcenko has also alleged that Reinsalu choked and hit skaters during training. AnythingGOEs has spoken to additional skaters trained by Reinsalu who allegedly experienced or witnessed him roughly grabbing skaters by the neck and threatening them.
“He didn’t touch our son,” Tatjana acknowledged, “but he beat me when I was pregnant with our son. It was very rough, hitting on my belly all the time – it was deliberate leg kicks to my stomach. But I did give birth to our son.”
In her account, Tatjana said she felt relieved when, in October of 2009, she learned that Reinsalu had begun a relationship with Olga Kovalkova. “I’d say it was even easier for me. Because that home violence was too hard to bear. In fact, I was asking God for many years for him to leave…I couldn’t be with him in the same room, it was too much.”
She further allged that in December 2009, Reinsalu beat and threatened her during an argument. “We [were arguing] a lot…I grabbed my son and ran outdoors practically half-naked, barefoot – it’s winter, December – but I was so scared, because I knew he was going to beat me. I took my son and tried to run away. He got to me on the street, grabbed and pulled my hair and dragged me back to the house. He pushed away the son, and started hitting my face against the wall, until I was all [covered] in blood. And when he was beating me, as far as I know, he was talking over the phone to Olga…He later said, ‘I even talked to Olga, and Olga even said that you need to be killed.'”
According to Tatjana, Reinsalu eventually allowed her to go to a hospital. “When I went there, they didn’t find any severe problems. I had a slight concussion and, maybe because I tried to cover my face [when he was beating me], I didn’t have a broken nose, just some blood coming from my nose. But nothing big like fractures.”
At the hospital, Tatjana said she was told by staff she was a victim of domestic violence. “They immediately told me, ‘We will call the police and go get your children.’ I said no. Because we would be taken away into [a shelter]. And I never wanted this for my children, [I wanted them to] still have their own home. I was suffering from this for so many years, and at that moment, it was two days away from my daughter’s birthday, and I didn’t want to have her birthday in that shelter or anywhere else. Maybe not everyone will understand me, but I want her to have her birthday at home.”
“After that—when I got home—[Raimo] got scared, because I immediately told him that the police were here. He left, I don’t know for sure, but I think he went to Olga’s in Riga, because he came back on December 24 for my daughter’s birthday. We celebrated, went bowling somewhere, and after that he went to Olga’s. And after that, I didn’t see him again until some point—I think it was in January—when everyone started calling me, telling me not to file the case with the police, because the European Championships [in Tallinn] were coming up and it couldn’t be allowed for this case to get out in the open.”
Tatjana said she received calls from several individuals with positions in the Estonian figure skating federation.
After the European Championships in 2010, Tatjana said that Reinsalu came home one more time. “[He] dislocated this finger of mine because I was pressing [the phone] —calling the police—so that they would come. Then he started choking me. He said, ‘I’ll kill you and bury you in the forest. Nobody will find you, nobody will even ask’ …When the police started shouting from the phone, ‘Hello, hello, hello, hello, answer!’, [Reinsalu] got scared then and ran off.’
According to Tatjana, her mother filed a report with the police, but Tatjana ultimately chose not to pursue charges.
She also expressed concern that speaking publicly could expose her to retaliation from Reinsalu. “Honestly, I am afraid of him a lot. I don’t know what will happen. But I will be very happy to help to make sure he won’t touch other people’s kids….He broke my daughter’s life…but I don’t want him to break others.”
“Enough is enough,” Tatjana concluded. “Olga and Raimo should stop injuring kids. They just make money this way, and children mean nothing to them. It’s just money. Raimo has always been caring only about money. So I think it’s only business for them.”
Read Part One: “Its Not Worth Your Life”: Latvian Skaters Speak Out About Abuse
Read Part Two: New Allegations Emerge as Latvian Club Defends Coaches Accused of Abuse
Read Part Three: Skaters Criticise Latvian Federation’s Late and Inconsistent Funding
