“I had to do things I didn’t want to do, just because I was required to. There was a lot of media. They made me do what was good for television.” Ilia Malinin spoke about the intense media pressure he faced at the 2026 Olympics
Three-time world champion Ilia Malinin spoke about the intense media pressure he faced at the 2026 Olympics, describing how it affected his experience and performance.
original source: The Minnesota Star Tribune by Laura Yuen dd. 4th May 2026
Ilia Malinin, three-time world figure skating champion, discussed the pressure he experienced at the 2026 Olympics in Milan.
Malinin won the team event with Team USA but finished 8th in the individual competition.
“Some of my friends and close ones said you should approach the Olympics just like any other competition. I tried to do exactly that, but in reality, it turned out to be completely different, and I should have prepared better for it. In the end, it felt like everyone was using me to attract attention, trying to present me as the main hope for Olympic gold. That was wrong.
I had to do things I didn’t want to do, just because I was required to. There was a lot of media. They made me do what was good for television. They took advantage of the attention on me instead of letting athletes show themselves in the moment, and put too much unnecessary pressure on us.
They say they want to see more individuality, but the Olympics should be about the athletes.
Even after what happened at the Olympics, they kept filming me, even though they could have filmed the medalists. All they did was wait for my reaction. But there are ways to avoid this and still give everyone the attention they need,” Malinin said in an interview with The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Related topics: Ilia Malinin, Olympic Games
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