Aren't we all?
That was a great interview! And that is downright amazing that she had that life epiphany at age 18. Shows great maturity. Sounds like she's focused on what's best for HER not just her competition results. I think she made the right move!
And I love her approach to learning language. A big regret I had as a child is that I did not embrace learning the langauge of my parents (I'm Vietnamese-American) because I was too embarassed to talk. I am trying to get back and learn now, but I really lost some prime learning years. I love that Evgenia embraced what she did not know and has used it as a learning opportunity.