Gabriella Papadakis: “I stopped competing because the environment I was in had become deeply unhealthy. I was exhausted, physically and mentally, and I had to leave to protect myself. I didn’t have a choice.”
Gabriella Papadakis on her decision to leave competitive skating
original source: Instagram
Gabriella Papadakis, Olympic champion in ice dance, opens up about the reasons behind her decision to leave competitive skating. In her Instagram story she posted:
“This weekend, I read in several articles that I stopped competing to “focus on shows.”
That’s not what happened. I stopped because the environment I was in had become deeply unhealthy. I was exhausted, physically and mentally, and I had to leave to protect myself. I didn’t have a choice.
It was only afterwards that I felt the desire to do shows, to skate with a woman, and to give visibility to the movement of same-sex couples in figure skating.
It’s important for me to say this, because reducing that decision to a simple change of direction completely erases what I went through and the weight this experience had in my life.
Today, I’m happy. I’m slowly rebuilding my life, and I want to keep working to make the culture of competitive skating healthier for the next generations.
But there’s a part of me that didn’t choose this ending, that will always carry its weight, and I don’t want to erase it.”
Related topics: Gabriella Papadakis
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