Saskia Alusalu, the former top Estonian female speed skater, has announced her retirement from sports after several years grappling with mental health challenges. The athlete, 27, revealed she experienced a significant decline in self-confidence and faith in life during her extensive career, primarily spent away from home in competitive sports. Alusalu’s career peaked with a fourth-place finish in the men’s 500-meter speed skating relay at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018, which was Estonia’s sole achievement at the event. However, just over a year later, she lost faith in her sport. Following two years of fluctuating performance, Alusalu officially concluded her sports career this week. “I have not been able to talk about everything before, but now I want to talk as I think,” Alusalu stated. “I can no longer give non-answering answers. I feel that I have to let it all go.” Alusalu described a pivotal moment in the summer of 2019 when she realized she could no longer continue her previous lifestyle. This occurred while she was crying on a field, an experience she described as “half-mystical.” She admitted to struggling to articulate the specific events and receiving reactions that she was taking drugs. She explained that this experience led her to believe she had lost faith in her sport and, in a broader sense, in Elva. Alusalu stated she felt like a “horse with eyes closed,” eventually losing her fear of risk and entering a state she described as “half-death” within her sports career. Topics: #sports #not #saskia Post navigation Sinijärv suggests: every optimist who has plans to open a café should read this book When checking digital evidence, they are too strict