Nika Egadze: “I still don’t think I’ve realized that I’m the European champion. This week was very nerve-wracking; psychologically, I was in a tough state. Of all the practices in Sheffield, only the first one went well.”
Nika Egadze commented on his victory at the European Championships in Sheffield.
original source: Sports by Maya Bagriantseva
Georgian figure skater Nika Egadze reflected on his emotional victory at the European Championships, expressing disbelief and gratitude for the support of his coaches and teammates. Here’s a translation.
“I still don’t think I’ve realized that I’m the European champion. I can’t believe it – I look at the medal in disbelief and don’t understand. Right now, I feel empty – I gave everything I had on the ice. I only realized I had won after the scores were announced. On the ice, I kept my composure until the very end, because you can’t relax. I trained a lot over the last two months to add another quad to my program. And today, I managed not to fall apart.
This week was very nerve-wracking; psychologically, I was in a tough state. Of all the practices here in Sheffield, only the first one went well. Before the short program, it was just a nightmare – I didn’t recognize myself at all. It felt like everything was lost.
But I got a lot of help from Eteri Georgievna [Tutberidze], Benoit Richaud, and Maka Giorgobiani, the head of our federation [Georgia]. They each took turns talking to me and getting me ready. They convinced me not to think about the medal, but just to go out calmly and skate like I do in practice.
And Luka Berulava helped me incredibly. On Thursday, I was jumping for joy for him and his historic gold for Georgia, and today he was by my side. We have an incredible team, and I’m so proud of all of them,” Egadze told Sports correspondent Maya Bagryantseva.
Related topics: European Championships, Nika Egadze
Leave a Reply