‘I often doubt myself’: Russian figure skating champion Evgenia Medvedeva opens up on ‘unhealthy thoughts’
Russian two-time world figure skating champion Evgenia Medvedeva has revealed she has been struggling with self-doubts which have affected her career, including the training process and competitions.
The 20-year-old said that despite her wealth of experience of competing at the highest level, she sometimes doubts her ability to perform the most difficult skating elements.
“Honestly, mental health is a huge part of my life. I often doubt myself. I don’t want to talk publicly about it, but I have some sort of problems,” Medvedeva said.
“As the majority of athletes, [I] sometimes I think, ‘What if I fail? What if I fall down?’ – and these are really unhealthy thoughts.
Also on rt.com ‘She can’t compete against quad-jumping skaters’: Russian Olympic champ says Medvedeva should retire“The only thing that I repeatedly tell myself is that I’m good at figure skating, I’ve been landing triple jumps for almost 10 years. I have thrown them thousands of times, why would I not be able to do it now?
“It helps me, sometimes you don’t need to prove anything to other people, you have to prove it to yourself. And that’s the most difficult way,” the skater added.
The Olympic silver medalist stressed that despite sustaining multiple injuries and suffering bitter defeats during her illustrious career, she has never thought of retirement.
Also on rt.com ‘It’s offensive’: Russian star Evgenia Medvedeva slams Netflix drama ‘Spinning Out’ for showing figure skaters drinking alcohol“I have never thought about it, never. I think figure skating will always be a part of my life. Whether it will be coaching, skating in a show or creating my own content – but I will not quit skating even if I finish my career. I love figure skating so much.”
Medvedeva, who now lives and trains in Canada, failed to qualify for the national team this season, having withdrawn from the Russian championship due to problems with her skates.
