TASS, March 2. The first Olympic champion in women’s single skating in the history of Russia and the USSR Adeline Sotnikova announced the completion of her career. She announced this on the air of the program “The fate of a man with Boris Korchevnikov” on the channel “Russia-1”.
The last time the skater participated in the competition in the season 2015/16.
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“Officially, I want to say one thing: with professional sports, that’s all, because at the moment I want to be healthy, happy,” Sotnikova said. “It’s sad and hard for me to say that. I will also delight my fans and fans, but not anymore in the professional arena, although I miss you insanely when I watch competitions, my heart breaks because I want to, but, unfortunately, my health doesn’t allow me. I want to thank everyone for their support, for loving me, this is really my big family, curly story is not finished, n Sports officially closed. “
Sotnikova studied at the Moscow CSKA school from 2004 to 2017 under the guidance of coach Elena Buyanova, in the 2007/08 season she made her debut at the Russian Championship among juniors, taking 10th place, and a year later she won the tournament. In addition, in 2008, at the age of 12, she took part in the first adult championship of Russia for herself, which was held in Kazan. At that tournament, she won a gold medal, becoming only the second figure skater in the history of the national championships of Russia and the USSR, who managed to win the tournament at the age of 12. The first was her coach Buyanova (nee Vodorezova), whom this achievement was subdued in the 1975/76 season.
Due to age restrictions, she was not included in the national team for the main starts of the season. She took part for the first time in international junior competitions in the 2010/11 season, winning two stages of the Grand Prix and in the series finale, as well as at the World Junior Championships. In addition, she again won the gold of the adult championship of Russia. The following season, she made her debut in the adult Grand Prix series (two third places in the stages did not allow her to qualify for the final), became third in the junior world championships and second in the Winter Youth Games, adding to this a third gold medal of the national championship.
Season 2012/13 was marked by the full transition of Sotnikova to an adult level. Its results have declined markedly, the only gold medal was won by her at the category B tournament “Golden Horse of Zagreb.” At the same time, she took third and fifth places at the Grand Prix stages, again without a final, took third place at the Russian Championship, second at the European Championship and ninth at the adult world championship.
Victory at the olympic games
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Before the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Yulia Lipnitskaya, who was 15 years old in the 2013/14 season, was considered the main favorite. She won the European Championship, two stages of the Grand Prix and became the second in the series finals and world championships, losing only to the Japanese Mao Asade, in whose arsenal there was at that time the most difficult jump of those that women managed at the adult level – a triple ax. Sotnikova, after two second places at the stages of the Grand Prix series for the first time in her career, qualified for the finals, where she became the penultimate (fifth). Despite the fact that after the fourth gold championship in her career in Russia (only two skaters in history won the tournament more often – Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya) she was the nominal leader of the team, experts predicted her a place for Lipnitskaya, and this opinion was confirmed at the pre-Olympic European championship where Sotnikova became the second.
In the victory for the Russian national team team tournament in the Sochi Olympics, Lipnitskaya took the place of Sotnikova. However, in a personal tournament rival ward Buyanova allowed a fall in the short and free programs, dropping out of the fight for gold. Sotnikova, on the other hand, made technical content more complicated, performed at that time practically one of the most difficult programs among women almost unmistakably, significantly improving her personal records in short and free programs, as well as in the sum of two performances. This allowed her to defeat one of the favorites of the tournament, South Korean Kim Yong-ah, who already had the gold of the 2010 Olympics, and become the first Olympic champion in women’s single skating in the history of Russia and the USSR.
After winning the home Olympics, Sotnikova was harshly criticized by South Korean fans. At the same time, a judicial scandal erupted, the essence of which boiled down to accusations of a dishonest victory of a Russian woman over Kim Yong-ah, but no evidence of this theory was presented. The next season was the last for Sotnikova at the amateur level – she became the third at the Grand Prix stage in Moscow, the second at the category B tournament “Mordovian patterns”, and also the sixth at the Russian championship. In 2017, she stopped working with Buyanova and moved to the group with Evgeni Plushenko, but could not return to the competition.
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