Gracie Gold says she’s 'ashamed'

Gracie Gold says she’s ’embarrassed,’ ‘ashamed’ in emotional interview
http://olympics.nbcsports.com/2016/...ure-skating-world-championships-fourth-place/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E45a_9_yGfA

She shouldn't be. She has world team trophy is a couple of weeks. She has her life ahead of her and she shouldn't destroy herself mentally because of this performance.

Somebody please give her a hug.

***hugs***

and another poster mentioned this, but think about how many years Ashley spent being the "almost girl" and she didn't give up. Gracie shouldn't be discouraged, there is always hope, especially for someone as talented as she is!

Sigh. There is no need to apologize or to feel ashamed at all. She did not skate terribly. She should instead use this as motivation to do even better in the future. Someone should tell her this.

If I were in her shoes, I think I would also feel unbearably embarrassed and ashamed. And maybe it's good that she's going to set goals that are more reachable.

I think it's an act of courage and faith in her fellow beings that she's just come out and said it.

I completely understand where Gracie is coming from and I have no problems with her saying what she's feeling.

I'm so sorry for Ashley. Really hoped she would get the bronze today, but oh well...

Oh dear no she really shouldnt feel this way, dissapoited yes but ashamed absolutly not!
It was a very very tough competition.

She has made great strides in managing competition pressure. Earlier in the season she closed down when things went wrong. Yesterday she did all in her program except 3L. In fact, she only lost 3 pts on combo. She was ahead by 2, so net of -1. Nothing, really. She needs a page from Adam Rippon - when things go wong forget them and perform everything else beautifully. She could have been on the podium.

When we don't achieve what we set out to do one interpretaton would be that we are doing the wong thing and quit. But, another way to look at it is we are meant for something far greater. Our failures are the force that drives us to the excellence that is our birthright.

She pulls off that sophisticated Firebird program because she is an artist in the making. She will see last night as an important step to a 2018 Olympic metal.

Oh my gosh, Gracie! STOP this. You are a freaking talented skater, and you had a few rough patches.
Look at the postitives as well ma'am...you won the short program with a strong lead, and you just had a few stumbles. You landed a 2A-3T, which is always my "hold my breath" moment.
She always tends to do these really terrible interviews after she doesn't do well. She did a similar interview at The Japan Open (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n82adNgiaM).
Frank Carroll has put Gracie in this "Evan Lysacek-hard work, no nonsense, no fun" environment. No disrepect to Frank Carroll who has produced MULTIPLE figure skating legends, but this just doesn't seem to be a right fit for Gracie. She needs a coach who will laugh with her, who will share the experience with her. I'm sure she felt so alone out there on the ice. She needs a coach who will take her hand and tell her to go get em'(Orser SKATES THOSE PROGRAMS at the boards WITH his students)! Gracie doesn't need to "calm down"....she needs to feed off the excitement, the roar of the crowd, and sell us those giant jumping passes....All while getting INTO the ice with good knee bend. Easier said than done, but Gracie needs a calmer environment. She needs a rink where she CAN make mistakes. Where she can learn from the mistakes, instead of feeling ashamed. I'm sure she gets ashamed anytime something doesn't go well at her practice rink...I sure wouldn't want to disappoint the great Frank Carroll.
It's a difficult decision to make, and I'm sure Gracie could figure out the kinks with her relationship with Frank...but I think there are some other strongs environments she could find suitable to her needs. Peter Oppegard, Brian Orser (gosh, I know he's got his hands full with Javi and Yuzu, but Tracy and David would take care of Gracie SO much! She needs some love right now.), or even Richard Callaghan, oh hell, Kori Ade and Rohene could take care of her. Love you Frank...

Snow63 said:

I'm so sorry for Ashley. Really hoped she would get the bronze today, but oh well...

Click to expand...

Yeah i saw this interview. There's really nothing to be ashamed of, really. She skated beautifully it's just that everybody did and she needed to be PERFECT. I really enjoyed her performance. It was spectacular. Gosh that ladies event was insane. The level of talent and the execution...unbelievable...

Oh Gracie... I feel the media and the public have been so mean to her throughout her whole career... not everybody is born with nerves of steel, she is a great skater, I just wish she would just try to enjoy being on the ice and not feel this need to be completely perfect: every time she makes a mistake you see her dying a little inside and not really performing anymore. I agree that she needs to change environment and to learn that even if you make mistakes it's OK. Look at what happened to Carolina, when she really learned to not let the errors affect her she became way more consistent and even ended up being clean at the Olympics (who would have ever thought!). Speaking of Carolina, Carroll (whom I deeply respect) didn't really work for her either.

I also think she's a little harsh on herself. We have seen a lot of clean skates lately, but doing those triple-triples is not easy and she's no tiny little thing. Ashley can tell us about that. The thing is that Gracie has potential and she knows it and everyone knows it. Ashley can always be the underdog, she likes the position whereas Gracie is always supposed to win.
@sarama
Carolina wasn't happy at all in L.A.. She felt lost and homesick, didn't like it at all. So Gracie's situation is different, she seems to enjoy it there. Frank and Carolina might have worked well together in a different environment.

Here is my comment from Youtube video of her free skate. It summarizes my view well.

Gracie failed. Yes, she crumbled. Despite that, I don't think she deserves this hate. She herself was so angry and frustrated on herself after this event and ''they are going to say it anyway.'' However, you have to consider at any other Worlds it would have been enough to medal, but this event was skated unbeliably well. She is still very talented and she can use this event as experience. It wasn't a total meldown and she had much better programs this year. She needs to work on projection but I'm sure she will. I began to like her much more after these Worlds. Ashley herself was quite a headcase and managed to win the Silver despite everything. If Ashley did, Gracie can do it as well. I hope she'll do it.

I think she will come back from this stronger. She has the goods, she needs nerves.

Hugs for a champion of hearts

I think, that her quote

"and it´s what everyone else is going to say anyway"

shows how sad she is about the people in her own country and how they treat her. She presents an "I don´t care attitude", but her heart is just broken if you ask me. I believe that there is no other country, where the media and fans, treat a world class athlete in such a rude and disrespectful way like they do in the USA. The response after Skate America or Sochi was shocking to say the least, not a single congratulation, but blame everywhere - what is wrong with people who do such things to her?

As for Worlds, the SP scores, did Gracie no favor and put her even more into the spotlight and knowing this girl from meetings we had, she is always there for other people and in the process of being the potential, next American champion, she most likely forgot about herself again and did not rest properly, as she wanted to fulfill her duties and be friendly to everyone, once again. No matter what happened at the event or to the scores by other skaters, Gracie is not the one to blame for anything.

Maybe she has some German ancestors or so and could immigrate to Germany and live at Oberstdorf, it would help her so much I think. Here, nobody cares about you, many don´t even know who Robin Szolkowy is and that figure skating is on the ice and not on top of mountains.

I really hope her friends and family will be there for her, if I could I would just give her the biggest hug on earth and tell her that there is at least one person, who does stick with her, no matter what.

Gracie should just ditch Lori and get a choreo she minimally connects to and it would do it.
I mean, if she skated like Ashley, she would be first even with the mistakes.

watched Gracie's practice session, she really showed brilliance, those easy/relaxed stsq drills, And she ends her practice session with a beautiful long spiral into a stop and bow. I wish some fans recorded that.
maybe set different goals will do wonders for Gracie.
or could put it this way, instead the goals of representing USA well and win that gold, set the goals to enjoy every moment of your skating.
And now, learn from the underdog position, learn your competitors' strength and improve.

Personally...I understand it as she let her emotions get to her. I get it. It's sad because it isn't necessary and it's too bad she cares what everyone thinks but also a bit of me thinks it's time for her to mature a little. Not like she is a spoiled brat or anything like that but maybe a bit sheltered for someone who is a world clas athlete who was just National Champion. Maybe she needs to move out of home for a year a two and focus solely on training and take a bit more ownership of her career. I don't know where she should go but could you imagine how cool it would be if she talked Tat into taking her in for two years!!! Tat still has the passion and that's what I think Gracie needs. Now I'm just dreaming

Good luck to Gracie and I for one think she did just fine.

Sometimes a championship is there for the taking as was the case for the men's competition at Sochi. Patrick Chan should have felt embarrassed in that instance but certainly not ashamed. In this instance a lady BEAT THE WORLD RECORD for heavens sake. Gracie didn't just have to skate well, she had to skate the performance of her life. So Gracie, feel sad, feel disappointed but you're young and you skated with some pretty impressive women last night. Try feeling privileged knowing that you were in the thick of it.