American figure skater Ilia Malinin took to social media on Monday to address his surprising eighth place finish at the Olympics after entering as the heavy favorite and holding a commanding lead in the first session.
“On the world’s biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside. Even your happiest memories can end up tainted by the noise,” the caption of the video read while teasing his return to the ice. “Vile online hatred attacks the mind and fear lures it into the darkness, no matter how hard you try to stay sane through the endless insurmountable pressure. It all builds up as these moments flash before your eyes, resulting in an inevitable crash. This is that version of the story.”
Malinin wasn’t the only one on his team to address his earlier failings, though.
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Malinin’s mentor, coach and the one who taught him the quad axel, Rafael Arutyunyan, addressed the figure skater’s tough performance last week. He suggested it was the coaches, not Malinin, that deserved the blame.
“All of us who were on Malinin’s team now need to stop accepting condolences and openly acknowledge the mistakes that were made. Ilia is not to blame for anything, and I’ve already told him so. We, the adults, are to blame for failing to protect a rather young man from making the wrong moves,” he said in a post Google translated from Russian to English.
“For various reasons, I don’t feel it’s possible to comment further on this topic, although Ilia and I discussed many important things in our personal conversations. I hope this will help him continue to live in sport and enjoy what he does.”
Malinin will make his return to competition at the World Championships in late March.
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