This is where we discuss figure skating and skating related items. How did you favourite skaters perform, and so on? However we never speculate on the private lives of skaters, like who might be going out with whom, because that is poison and is not tolerated here. A good guideline is that if it's not publicly announced, in the papers etc. then it's probably best to leave it alone. Is it a gray area? Then write to me and ask.
Evgenia Medvedeva exclusive Q&A: On her life now, facing Olympic pressure and much more
In a wide-ranging one-on-one interview, the PyeongChang 2018 silver medallist discussed how she’s matured over the last four years – but is still striving to be better.
Nearly four years from her silver medal performance at PyeongChang 2018 and some two years since she last competed internationally in figure skating, Evgenia Medvedeva has good news for her legions of fans around the world: She’s content.
“I feel like I'm flying through my life and trying so many new things,” she told Olympics.com in an exclusive interview at the Rostelecom Cup in Sochi last week (27 November).
She added: “When I competed, I was afraid for this situation, like no competitions, no practices. I thought I will feel like I'm lost. But now I feel like I'm so interested in my life. It feels amazing, actually. And I'm so happy to be here.”
“Here” for the weekend was commentary for the Russian station Channel One, Medvedeva moving as seamlessly into the TV booth as she did on the ice itself. But the two-time world champion and one of the sport’s most beloved personalities of the last decade isn’t sitting still otherwise: She’s skating in shows, doing photoshoots and sponsor appearances and competing in the popular on-ice competition show Ice Age – all while keeping an eye on the next generation of Russian women who are changing the sport this Olympic quad.
If you read her comments carefully, you may come to the understanding that Evgenia (Zhenya) is actually disabled, despite being able to perform in ice shows, etc.
In her own words, she’s living with chronic pain resulting from her injury that limits the mobility of the left side of her body. This is something that was entirely preventable if the adults around her hadn’t failed her. It was caused by the particular training methods she was involved in (before she broke away briefly to come to Canada). For the rest of her life, she will have to accommodate for the chronic pain as well as the limited mobility to that left side of her body.
This leaves me speechless. I assume the East block countries are the worst offenders but the abuse young athletes are subjected to for the greater glory of (what, really?) is quite prevalent everywhere. So sad.
