It's not disrespectful to think she will not return. I don't know if she will - it's a toss up. However, it's disrespectful to proclaim she's "done" when she hasn't said so. And to make up stories that she isn't consistent because of her technique that relies on a child's body, when Alina herself has spoken about her issues. She did say that she grew and had to work on regaining her jumps and adjusting them to fit her new body, and she worked on it. She also said she struggled at first. But the meltdowns she had in the competitions following the Olympics were mental; that she had to deal with the media and what people were saying about her which is not something she had before. And all her run throughs have been mostly clean in all the competitions post Olympics with the exception of Euros 2018 I believe. If it were a technical issue, it would be across all skates. It's disrespectful to disregard everything she's saying and insert one's own narrative.
Alina is not the only skater who has been inconsistent. Many of the most accomplished recent skaters have had bad skates after great skates. Osmond, Kihira, Medvedeva, Kostner, Tuktamysheva, etc. And yet when most of these skaters had bad skates, the narrative was that they were adjusting their technique and it takes time. But when Alina does, it's because her technique is failing, no work is being done to change it, and she's done. It cannot be that it's actually mental or that she's working on it like she expressed, for the sole reason that her coach is Eteri and therefore she does not have her own voice.
As for retiring at their peak in terms of medals, it's great when an athlete decides to do that, and their career should be celebrated. But obviously it's not the case for every athlete, otherwise Alina would've retired right after the Olympics, Liza would've retired in 2015, and Evgenia would've retired in 2017. It's up to each athlete as an individual, and only they can decide what's best for them.
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