Ilia Malinin, super favorite to win the gold medal in the men’s singles figure skating event at the Milan Cortina Olympics, couldn’t handle the pressure. His final performance was full of errors, not by him, not by someone who at 21 years old is known as “QuadGod”, or the God of quadruple axels, a particularly complex technical gesture that only he in the world seems to be able to perform correctly. He finishes eighth in the rankings, amid tears that shocked his fans, who were immediately ready to cheer him up on social media, where in the space of a few days he more than doubled his followers. The attention on him was in fact very high, evidently excessive.

An enormous suffering

“You will make up for it at the 2030 Olympics!”, they write to him on Instagram, but right now he needs everything except to put further pressure on his shoulders. In these moments we must not immediately think about the next occasion (which in the case of Olympic athletes is very distant), we must take the time to process what has happened, because the psychological trauma can prove to be much more serious than a physical injury and, sometimes, can compromise the entire career. “I’m in shock,” declared Ilia, who probably didn’t even expect to suffer so much. A boy who seems to already have, like many his age, anxieties related to life, so much so that on his TikTok profile he often re-shares content regarding depression and self-harm. Right now he just needs a lot of affection from his loved ones. In particular of his parents who, according to what was reported in an article in Vogue, were initially against their son following in their footsteps and dedicating himself to this sport, but then, seeing his amazing abilities, they had to give up. But Malinin wasn’t the only one to make mistakes in the final: the other favorites also made several mistakes, so much so that many began to hypothesize that it was a problem on the ice of the arena.

Manage the pressure

Yet the truth is probably simpler: when you risk everything, years and years of grueling training, in five minutes, the human mind is subjected to unimaginable stress. According to a study by Victoria University, 77% of athletes experience severe symptoms related to performance anxiety, with frequent episodes of stress and negative psychological consequences. Athletes who usually compete at a much lower level than Malinin. And a sport like figure skating, which is based on perfectionism, can be even more exhausting from this point of view.

The precedent of Simone Biles

What happened to Malinin is partly reminiscent of what happened at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 to Simone Biles, also an American and a huge favorite in her sport, gymnastics. Simone decided to withdraw before the final to preserve his mental health. Many criticized her, judged her, accusing her of being weak, but with hindsight it was undoubtedly a correct choice, because Biles returned to the following Olympics and won the gold medal. His story reminds us that nothing, not even an Olympic medal, is more important than our mental health. And above all, it reminds us that for an athlete, safeguarding their mental health means ensuring a longer and more rewarding career.