Russia’s Olympic team figure skating champion Yulia Lipnitskaya, who announced her retirement on Monday according to the country’s Sport Minister Pavel Kolobkov, has numerous career opportunities in future, including becoming a state official.
“Yulia Lipnitskaya is a great athlete, who will stay in the history of figure skating,” Kolobkov said in an interview with TASS. “Her performance to the soundtrack from ‘Schindler’s List’ made an Olympic history.
“She is a great athlete with a great personality no matter how young she is. It is very sad that she decided to call it an end to her sports career so early, but I have no doubts that she will show herself more than once in other qualities and not in sports only,” Kolobkov said. “It is possible that she will be able to start a career of a state official and we will be always waiting for her. We will provide her with all necessary support.”
At the age of 15, Lipnitskaya helped Russia win gold in the team event at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. She became the youngest Winter Olympic gold medalist in figure skating for 78 years, and Russia’s youngest gold medalist at a Games. Her mother told TASS news agency Lipnitskaya had retired after having treatment for anorexia. – The news came a day after the coach of Olympic champion Adelina Sotnikova said the 21-year-old would not defend her title at the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, South Korea because of an unspecified injury.
This story first appeared in the blog, The Sport Intern. The editor is Karl-Heinz Huba of Lorsch, Germany. He can be reached at ISMG@aol.com. The article is reprinted here with permission of Huba.