Figure Skatingthe announcement
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The Milanese figure skater, who touched the Olympic team medal in the 2014 Sochi Games and several times the European podium, announced her farewell to competitive spirit after 26 years with a long love letter for her sport.
Wednesday 2 September 2020 9 minutes reading time
The Italian figure skating loses Valentina Marchei, a reference figure for the movement, able to duel with Carolina Kostner and play great goals, first on an individual level and then paired with Ondrej Hotarek.
At 34, the Milanese champion announced her farewell to competitive sport, she is five times Italian champion, eighth at the 2012 World Championship in Nice, before her first Olympics in Sochi where, in addition to the 11th place in his race, he came close to the medal contributing to Italy's 4th place in the team event. After the 2014 Games, here is the partnership with Ondrej Hotarek which led, in addition to touching the European podium several times as a couple, to the amazing 6th place at the PyeongChang 2018 Games, after which Valentina sought other partnerships to continue the career until the dream of his third participation in five circles.
Beijing 2022 has vanished definitively, as she announced herself with a long love letter for her sport, confirming the retirement: "I've been thinking about how to write this post for months - wrote Marchei on social media - Maybe because up to today I was not ready to "let go" that part of me that has been everything I was: Vale, the skater. I have not competed for two years, since Ondrej decided to end the competition, but I confess that I have always hoped to be able to start doing it again.
Just before the recent lockdown, I tried to convince a foreign partner to start a new adventure. It didn't go as I hoped, but I came really close to restarting my Olympic dream. Covid-19 then definitively dismissed any residual hope. This is how I officially close my career as a figure skater. To say goodbye to my (our) supporters one last time I would have liked to organize something focused, sparkling, electrifying, but ... it can't be done. Therefore I consider the performance with Ondrej at the Grand Prix Final last December, truly perfect, as our real farewell.
Furthermore, in January of this year, I also had the opportunity to perform alone in Piazza Gae Aulenti, in Milan, at my house, in front of my closest friends and my family: that can instead be considered the closing the circle also of my career in the single, which culminated with the Olympics in Sochi, which then was the longest path of my adventure on the ice which lasted a total of 26 years. Twenty-six years! Do you think about it? A life...".
Valentina confesses that "the last two were, in truth, a difficult period of transition in which I tested myself on many fronts to find the most suitable path for me, guided by the idea that I am not only what I have done or the medals that I have won and convinced once more that an athlete is not just a physical expression and a set of technical skills refined over the years of practicing sport, but much more and certainly more. Although I have not participated in official competitions for a long time, my ideal drive not to lose hope of returning to compete made me live in a kind of limbo in which I have kept myself in practice by participating in some performances.
Until now, therefore, I had not yet felt the need to formalize my renunciation of competitive spirit, but since many still write to me to know when I will be back on the ice, I feel the duty to clarify it now and to dedicate at least this post to them. Now it's like this, right? Thank you all, dear friends in love with skating. Thank you very much for your support over the years. Thanks also to my parents, who made immense sacrifices to see me realize the Olympic dream, for teaching me to be resilient and “not very modest” when it came to dreaming big goals. My brother Lorenzo Marchei, in particular, has the sweetest thought: in the period in which he was my athletic trainer I was the strongest version of the skater I could have been.
Thanks also to my coaches - over the years there have been many, Italians and foreigners - who guided me, supported me, encouraged me. Some of them have been able to be excellent advisors even outside the ice. Thanks to the companies that welcomed me, raised and pampered me. A special thanks goes to the Air Force, which taught me to belong to a loyal team, able to support you in times of difficulty and not to abandon you when everything seems to collapse. Thanks, then, to Ondrej Hotarek, who flew with me in what until now has been the most beautiful madness ever done for the love of my sport. And thanks to all the training mates I have worked with over the years, and to my colleagues at the Nazionale, with whom I have shared many daydreams. The blue Dream Team from PyeongChang will always be in my heart ”.
Finally, a warning for the youngest: “I close with a message for the younger skaters: do not let yourself be held back by the fear of failure. Above all, don't let those around you limit your opportunities or convince you that you can't do it. You have to believe in yourself, not others. Don't look for alibis, but find solutions. Above all, find the strength within you, not around you. Your mind and heart will take you exactly where you want to go, even if you have to work hard to make your dream come true ”.
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