Ashley Wagner’s Olympic Breakup Won’t Keep Her From Her Greatest Love
A short article, with a first-rate accompanying video :luv17: featuring Ashley.
From the article:
What do you do when the thing you love the most stops loving you back? .... The good news is that Wagner hasn’t broken up with skating, even if, in that moment, it felt like skating broke up with her. “I’ve put my heart and soul into this sport for 22 years,” she says, which explains why she didn’t go down without a fight. A notorious postshow interview in which she said she was “furious” was not exactly what’s expected of figure skaters ....
Wagner’s still training; still skating with the same obsession she had before her heartbreak. Every morning she makes breakfast, hits the gym, hits the rink, repeats. “There’s no one to pick up the pieces other than me,” she says. “I have to be okay, because that’s my only option.”
And from the video (with Ashley's narration):
The scariest moment is when they shut the door to the ice, and you're locked in. I kind of say to myself, "Be fierce. Do your job." And as soon as I hear my name, it's like, you're in ... Xena Warrior Princess mode. I become a different person.
You have to be obsessed, if you want to go to the Olympics. Nationals is the main qualifying event .... I haven't felt like that in competition in years. It was euphoric, in that moment. You don't get that a lot in sports. When I finished, I was beaming. The audience was on their feet. And then ....
Skating is home, for me.... It's also kind of like Ground Hog Day. You wake up, and it's the same day over and over and over again.
Oh, Ashley, why are you so endearing? And at the same time, so valiant? :luv17:
