Russian Olympic skating champion Sotnikova retires

MOSCOW: Adelina Sotnikova, who became Russia’s first woman to win figure skating singles gold,announced Monday she is ending her career at 23 after a long break from the sport.

“I want to say one thing officially, I’ve definitely finished with professional sport,” she told Russian television, after injuries prevented her from competing since 2015. Aged 17, she beat reigning champion Kim Yu-Na of South Korea to win gold at the Sochi Winter Olympics, an event now tarnished by a scandal over mass doping by Russian athletes.

Her triumph was unexpected and caused controversy over judging as some commentators and skaters questioned whether her technical prowess trumped Kim’s error-free performance. Born on July 1, 1996, Sotnikova began skating at the age of four at an ice rink near her home in Moscow.

She debuted at the senior level at the 2009 nationals and won gold at the age of 12. She became the third Russian woman to win an Olympics singles skating medal after Irina Slutskaya won silver in 2002 and bronze in 2006, and Soviet skater Kira Ivanova took a bronze in 1984.