ZCZC
BSP-17
FSKATE-RUS-OLY-2014
Russian Olympic skating champion Sotnikova retires
MOSCOW, March 2, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Adelina Sotnikova, who became Russia’s
first woman to win figure skating singles gold, announced Monday she is
ending her career at 23 after a long break from the sport.
“I want to say one thing officially, I’ve definitely finished with
professional sport,” she told Russian television, after injuries prevented
her from competing since 2015.
Aged 17, she beat reigning champion Kim Yu-Na of South Korea to win gold at
the Sochi Winter Olympics, an event now tarnished by a scandal over mass
doping by Russian athletes.
Her triumph was unexpected and caused controversy over judging as some
commentators and skaters questioned whether her technical prowess trumped
Kim’s error-free performance.
Born on July 1, 1996, Sotnikova began skating at the age of four at an ice
rink near her home in Moscow.
She debuted at the senior level at the 2009 nationals and won gold at the
age of 12.
She became the third Russian woman to win an Olympics singles skating medal
after Irina Slutskaya won silver in 2002 and bronze in 2006, and Soviet
skater Kira Ivanova took a bronze in 1984.
Dogged by injury, her last competitive performance was in 2015 when she
finished sixth at the national championship.
In 2017, she began training with skating star Evgeni Plushenko.
A year later, she opted not to defend her title at the 2018 Winter Olympics
in Pyeongchang because of an ankle injury. Russian 15-year-old Alina Zagitova
went on to win gold.
Sotnikova “constantly tried to return to sport but her injuries didn’t let
her, it didn’t work out,” coach Plushenko told TASS news agency.
BSS/AFP/RY/1905 hrs