Estonian figure skater Eva-Lotta Kiibus shares why she hung up her skates
22-year-old Estonian champion figure skater Eva-Lotta Kiibus says she's retiring from the grueling sport after years of giving it her all without getting enough back.
Kiibus, who placed seventh at the 2020 European Championships, said she always knew elite sports would be grueling and demanding. "Something may constantly be hurting somewhere," she said on ETV's "Ringvaade" Wednesday night.
She added that before the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and in the years that followed, she kept pouring herself into her skating and hoped to see results — in her performance, progress, and even in how she felt.
But after years of investing and coming up short, she said, she unfortunately ended up "in the red."
Old injuries kept resurfacing as well. She explained that whenever she felt hopeful enough to increase her training load, those injuries would force her to step back again.
"But what elite athlete wants to take it easy?" she admitted.
Three years ago, Kiibus moved to the Netherlands to train under Thomas Kennes. She stressed that she doesn't blame any coach or training location for her circumstances, adding that her current coach "has been fantastic."
Kiibus also sought help from doctors in sports medicine and psychologists to get "everything working together." She emphasized that she isn't a quitter and doesn't want to quit.
"When this is your life's work, giving it up felt completely impossible," she admitted.
Kiibus finished 20th in the Beijing Winter Games and admitted she'd still harbored hope this year to compete in next year's Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina.
This spring, she said, she was ready to push through anything to make it happen one more time. But sitting down with her coach, she mapped out exactly what conditions that would involve — and the math didn't look good.
She also knew she couldn't push past her limits without being able to train properly.
"I didn't even have the mental and physical resources to continue competing in smaller competitions," she admitted. "It wouldn't have been worth it."
So who is Eva-Lotta Kiibus without the skates? That question, she said, triggers panic because skating has been such an integral part of her entire identity.
"My next chapter begins with figuring out the answer," Kiibus said.
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Editor: Anders Nõmm, Aili Vahtla
