Short on time here this morning, but OMG. Did anyone see the end of the Ladies’ Free Skate last yesterday?!?! After my posts recently about high level athletes and their sacrifices and discussions about if it’s all worth it….well, last night it most definitely did NOT look worth it!
If you haven’t seen the story, look it up. It’s crazy.
Basically, the 15 year old Russian who was favored to win (the one with the + drug test) ended up falling a bunch of times (very uncharacteristically) and dropped from 1st place down to 4th. So she was bawling at the end. I really felt for her, despite the whole “drug test” scandal. I don’t really know what happened with that, but she’s still a person and she is so young. Like the announcer said, “On a human level, I really feel for her.” I can’t imagine the stress she’s been under, at her very young age. Barely a couple years older than Ethan! She looked absolutely miserable.
Then, the other Russian girl, who historically did five quads, “only” ended up with Silver… so she was bawling and basically throwing a massive hissy fit on TV, screaming, “I won’t go out there! I won’t!” (about the medal ceremony), with mascara streaking down her face. Yikes.
Then the gold medalist, yet another fellow Russian (who really skated so beautifully!), sat there looking dazed and confused, because she really couldn’t celebrate at all while her two teammates were having literal meltdowns all around her. She was just sitting there all alone while her coaches were consoling these other girls.
The bronze medalist from Japan (who was adorable! So happy for her.) was also sobbing, but tears of joy- which then formed a kind of odd/ awkward juxtaposition next to the Russian girls’ extreme distress.
IT WAS NUTS.
I’ve watched a lot of Olympics over the years, but this will stand out as the craziest finale I’ve ever seen.
And it was pretty horrifying!! My gosh! I understand how invested they are in it all, but man. That was just a royal mess, and did not seem healthy or okay at all.
I almost felt guilty even watching it. I actually don’t know why the cameras weren’t just turned off to give those girls some privacy to deal with all those big emotions.
In case you were on the fence, this made a pretty strong case for not wanting your child to ever reach that elite level in sports! š¬
Anyone else see it? Crazy, right??
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for tonight being the night the big Regionals swim meet starts! Not because I’m so excited for it, specifically, but because this means all the volunteer work organizing I’ve been doing is basically ready to wrap up now. Everything is pretty much done, so now we just need to hope everything goes off without a hitch all weekend.
GRATEFUL KAE 
couldn’t find it in YouTube. will try later. I think that’s exactly why I don’t want my kids to be competition… too much at stake for one performance.
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It was heartbreaking!
In general, the Russians who medal at the Olympics tend to retire immediately afterward. I think, in a lot of countries, it is a really, really horrible existence to be an athlete. And the girls are SO young.
I really can’t imagine there is much fun to their lives – so much training and constant scrutiny. Not sure if you heard the translation of what the coaches were saying either? Basically as soon as she got off the ice, they were lambasting her for not being able to pull it together on the ice. It’s tragic!
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I did not watch the womens skating but I googled the results after Phil told me the 15yo got 4th to see who won, and saw this quote from the silver medalist: “Everyone has a gold medal, everyone, but not me. I hate skating. I hate it. I hate this sport. I will never skate again. Never.”
I read it out loud to my parents and Phil while we were playing cards and we were all appalled. Like could you be a worse sport?? You got a silver medal! Come on!
I have mixed feeling about the 4th place girl. On one hand, she’s a minor, but to say you accidentally took your grandfather’s heart medication? Come on! I shouldn’t be surprised there is a doping scandal but it’s disappointing and I don’t understand why Russia even gets to compete. I mean competing as the ROC really doesn’t seem like much of a punishment IMO. I just hate cheating so so much so the fact that they continue to cheat is so disturbing.
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