Valentina Marchei formally announces her retirement
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2020 7:11 pm
The automatic translation (from Italian) of part of her Facebook post:
I've been thinking about writing this post for months. Maybe because until today I wasn't ready to ′′ let go ′′ that part of me that was all I was: Vale, the skater. ⛸ ⛸ ⛸
I haven't competed in two years, since Ondrej decided to close with competition, but I confess that I've always hoped I could start doing it again. Just before the recent lockdown, I tried to convince a foreign partner to start a new adventure. It didn't go as I hoped, but I came really close to restarting my Olympic dream. Covid-19 then permanently archived any residual hope. Officially ending my skater career
To say hello to one last time my (our) supporter I would have loved to organize something targeted, sparkling, thrilling, but... it can't be done.
So I consider Ondrej [& my] performance at last December's Grand Prix Finale, really perfect, as our true farewell.
In January of this year, I also had the opportunity to perform alone in Piazza Gae Aulenti, in Milan, at my house, in front of my closest friends and family: that can be considered circle closure of my single career, culminating with the Sochi Olympics, which was then the longest path of my ice adventure that lasted 26 years.
Twenty-six years! Think about it? One life!
The last two were actually a difficult transition period, in which I tested myself on many fronts to find the most suitable path for me, guided by the idea that they are not just what I did or the medals I have won and convinced once again that an athlete is not just a physical expression and a set of technical skills refined in the years of practice of sport, but much more and certainly more.
Although I haven't been participating in official competitions for a long time, my ideal push not to lose hope of getting back to competing made me live in a kind of limbo in which I kept in exercise participating in some performances. Until today, therefore, I still hadn't felt the need to official my renunciation of competition, but since so many still write to me to know when I'll be back on ice, I feel the duty to clarify it now and to dedicate at least this post to them.
