Asada 鈥榞ave her all鈥, has no regrets
Print Edition
JAPANESE figure skater Mao Asada, an Olympic silver medalist and three-time world champion, said yesterday she had given her all to her career and had no regrets about retiring from the sport.
The 26-year-old, known for being the only woman to land the complicated triple axel jump three times in competition, said on Monday she had lost the will to compete.
Asada, who took a year off from skating before resuming training in 2015, told a packed news conference yesterday that while the decision had been difficult, she gradually came to feel it was time.
“Up to now in my skate career, I’ve given everything I had, and I have no regrets,” said the calm and mostly smiling Asada, at one point brushing away tears.
Asada is a household name in Japan, known by the affectionate nickname “Mao-chan,” and the news of her retirement was plastered across newspaper front pages on Tuesday.
Her retirement news conference was carried live by nearly all TV stations.
Plagued by knee pain this past season, Asada finished 12th at the national championship in December, the lowest finish of her career in a competition she had won six times — a situation she said was key to her decision.
“The first season after returning to competition went all right, but by the second I really had to keep telling myself over and over to just keep going,” said Asada, who described feeling as if she could not keep up with advances in the sport. “After the nationals I thought, ‘well, that’s it’.”
Asada began skating at the age of five, lured into the sport by her older sister Mai, and began to draw attention while still a junior, sharing the limelight with South Korea’s Kim Yu-na at the start of a long rivalry. Kim and Asada’s rivalry reached a head at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, when Asada had to settle for silver while Kim claimed gold.
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