Diana Davis, Tutberidze, and Turning Points in a Skater’s Life

Diana Davis shared two images on social media. In the first, she is embracing her father, dressed in a simple gray jacket, with a famous Las Vegas welcome sign visible in the background.

The second image shows a man standing alone on a pier, holding a drink in his hand.

In December 2021, Tutberidze declined to identify the biological father of her daughter. “There is no father. It happens. It seems to me that a mother brings a child into the world for herself. If a man somehow rejects this story… That is why I always say that Diana has me, and Diana has something of mine.”

During a Channel One broadcast, Tutberidze spoke candidly about the ambiguity surrounding paternity. In 2018, Davis himself noted that his father would travel from the United States to Russia and bring gifts, highlighting a pattern of parental involvement.

The future figure skater was born on January 16, 2003, in Las Vegas. Tutberidze stated that her father is American. At the same time, the girl carries the surname Sergeevna. Fans of Davis and Tutberidze began jokingly referring to the man in the photos as “Sergio Davis.”

Within the figure skating community, rumors persisted for years that the real father could be skater Sergei Buyanov. Tutberidze never confirmed this, though Buyanov is married to Elena Vodorezova, a former skater and now a renowned coach who guided Adelina Sotnikova to Olympic gold in Sochi 2014.

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Tutberidze and her daughter faced many hardships. When Diana was about two and a half years old, she developed serious hearing problems after doctors prescribed inappropriate antibiotics. She suffered third-degree sensorineural hearing loss.

Davis also had significant hearing loss, able to catch only a few words by reading lips. Tutberidze took her daughter to Germany for evaluation, but the doctors offered little hope.

Despite these health challenges, the girl chose to pursue sports, inspired by her mother. She initially considered synchronized swimming, but at age six Tutberidze brought her to the ice rink instead.

“I loved swimming, and my breathing was excellent — I could hold my breath and swim 70 meters underwater without effort,” Davis recalled her earlier passion for water sports.

She noted that her mother was consistently demanding and not easily lenient.

“There were times when I tried to prove myself to my mom, but it did not always work. We had disagreements. She is demanding. Some people have said that is a bad thing, but to me it felt like a strict but fair coach. She can joke now and then, too,” Davis explained in a fall 2021 interview with Telesport.

Hearing loss affected her balance and coordination, which complicated jumps and turns. By age thirteen, her mother urged a switch to ice dancing.

“I always wanted to excel in pair skating. They’d jump, I did everything except the triple loop — it vanished with time. I lost stability in solo routines, and after a break, I dropped a lot of weight, grew taller, and suddenly all my jumps disappeared, even the simplest ones. So my mom suggested a shift toward dance.”

She described how she started by combining dancing with singles, training in one session and performing in another. Eventually, the mix didn’t settle, leading her to focus on dance.

As a child, she admits she could be unruly, which often frustrated her mother and at times led to jokes about military school. She recalled being sent from kindergarten, always chasing trouble and even narrowly avoiding a serious accident with a car — a memory that contributed to her mother joking about sending her away for discipline.

Despite earlier mischief and the challenges of education, the bond between Tutberidze and her daughter has grown strong. On February 24, Davis posted a heartfelt birthday tribute to her mother on social media, writing, “Mom, happy birthday. You are the best.”

Now a nineteen-year-old figure skater, she competes in ice dancing with Gleb Smolkin, with whom she shares a romantic relationship. The duo captured a silver medal at the 2022 Russian Championships and placed 14th at the Beijing Olympics. The pair currently trains in the United States, with Tutberidze accompanying them.