Trusova, who turned 18 in June, was in tears after finishing behind her training partner Anna Shcherbakova in Beijing and was heard telling coaches she would refuse to attend the medal ceremony and would never skate again.

Russian state news agency TASS reported a source as saying that Trusova had moved from the Tutberidze group voluntarily to team up with coach Svetlana Sokolovskaya.

"Sasha [Trusova] left the Tutberidze group and moved to the Sokolovskaya team on her own initiative", they said.

Trusova, the first female skater to land the quad Lutz, quad flip and quad top loop, also won bronze medals at the 2021 World Championships and at the 2020 and 2022 European Championships.

It is the second time she has left the Tutberidze group - in May 2020 she moved to the academy of two-time Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko, but returned to Tutberidze before the Beijing Winter Games.

Also coached by Tutberidze in Beijing was Kamila Valieva, then 15, who failed to earn a medal in the women's event despite being the favourite as a doping controversy broke regarding a sample she had given in December 2021 and overshadowed the entire sport.

After making a series of errors in the free skating element, a tearful Valieva finished fourth and was asked by Tutberidze as she left the ice "why did you let it go?" and "why did you stop fighting?"

Tutberidze, who had previously faced criticism for the short careers of athletes she has coached at the Sambo-70 school, was - unusually - publicly rebuked in a comment by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach.

"When afterwards I saw how she [Valieva] was received by her closest entourage, with what appeared to be a tremendous coldness, it was chilling to see this," Bach said.

"Rather than try to help her, you could feel this chilling atmosphere, this distance.

"If you interpret the body language, it got even worse.

"All this does not give me much confidence in the entourage of Kamila with regard to the past nor with regard to the future."

But Russia's Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin cautioned against "hasty assessments" with regards to Tutberidze’s methods, telling TASS: "Coaches’ methods of work, of course, can be discussed by someone, but, probably, this should not be done so publicly and definitely not at a time when the athlete and her coaching staff are in such a state.

"It's almost like personal life - the story of 'coach-athlete'.

"And in this case, I think you need to be more correct, respectful and not give such hasty assessments."

Trusova is currently barred from international competition because International Skating Union has followed IOC advice and excluded Russian athletes from all of its events over the war in Ukraine.