Olympic figure skater Gracie Gold has announced that she is taking time off from training for the 2018 Winter Games in order to ‘seek professional help’ after going through ‘struggles on and off the ice’.
The 22-year-old, from Newton, Massachusetts, who was part of the bronze medal-winning US team at the Sochi Games in 2014, had been actively training towards the next Winter Games, which is set to take place in Tokyo in February.
However, in a statement made on Friday morning, the competitive figure skater admitted that she would be ‘taking time off’ from her rigorous training schedule in order to deal with some undisclosed issues.
Putting her training on ice: Olympic figure skater Gracie Gold has revealed she is taking time away from working towards the 2018 Winter Games to ‘seek professional help’
Health first: Although Gracie, 22, did not specify what kind of treatment she will be undergoing, she admitted that she has had some ‘issues on and off the ice’ recently
‘My passion for skating and training remains strong,’ Gracie told USA Today.
‘However, after recent struggles on and off the ice, I realize I need to seek some professional help and will be taking some time off while preparing for my Grand Prix assignments.
‘This time will help me become a stronger person, which I believe will be reflected in my skating performances as well.’
Although Gracie did not expand on what kind of professional help she will be seeking, a source close to the athlete told US Weekly that she has been going through a number of ‘personal issues’ in recent months, and her ‘health’ is her number one focus while she is seeking treatment.
‘[Gracie] has been dealing with a couple of issues in her personal life and needs to take a step away and focus on her health,’ the source revealed.
‘Her family and friends are so proud of her for being so brave and facing these issues directly. Everyone is so happy that she is stepping away from skating to take care of herself. It takes a lot of courage.’
Reports suggest that Gracie will return to training after her break, however she will not compete in the Japan Open competition later this month as originally planned.
Although it is not known how long the skater plans to take away from her training schedule, the two Grand Prix events that Gracie referred to in her statement – the Cup of China in Beijing and the Internationaux de France in Genoble, France – are due to take place in November, suggesting she may be aiming to return as early as eight weeks from now.
Training time: The last time that Gracie was known to have been on the ice was on August 21, when she shared these images from a break during a session at the Broadmoor World Arena
Updates: The skater has been sharing updates with her followers as the Olympics gets ever nearer, counting down to the Games in several posts
Her decision to take time away from the sport comes at a pivotal time, however, given that the Winter Olympics are in less than five months, and trials for the three spots on the US women’s team are scheduled to take place in January.
As reported by USA Today, it has not been an easy few months for the two-time national champion, who has suffered an incredibly disappointing 2016/17 season.
Gracie finished in a less-than-impressive sixth place at the national championships in January, a result which saw her miss out on a spot at the world championships for the first time in five years.
Meanwhile Gracie’s friend and Olympic teammate Ashley Wagner, 26, ended up in second place, just behind 18-year-old Karen Chen, who went on to finish fourth at the world championships.
Gracie’s second teammate from the Winter Games, Polina Edmunds, now 19, was also forced to take a break from training back in November 2016, when she discovered a fracture on the navicular bone in her foot.
She returned to the ice in March 2017, and is currently thought to be training for a spot on the 2018 Olympic team.
Gracie is thought to have last trained just a few weeks ago, when she posted an Instagram image of herself and her hairstylist doing a fun ‘Polaroid photo shoot’ in between training sessions at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado.
Champion: Gracie has won two US championships, and came fourth in the individual competition at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi (pictured)
Disappointment: She looked incredibly shaky at this year’s national championships, finishing in sixth, a result which was her miss the world championships for the first time in five years
The figure skater, who was wearing her Team USA sweater in the images, tagged US Figure Skating in the post.
She has also been happily sharing her aim to compete at the next Olympics, counting down to the sporting event in various Instagram posts, and also checking in occasionally at her training sessions.
This is not the first time that Gracie has opened up publicly about her struggles with mental health.
In October 2016, following a disappointing performance at Skate America, Gracie admitted that she had been struggling with her weight and the pressure to stay in shape during training, suggesting that both her ‘physical and mental shape’ had been responsible for her shaky programs.
‘We just need to adjust my physical shape and mental shape to see if the program can be salvaged for the rest of the year,’ she said after the competition, before adding: ‘You don’t often see – there aren’t that many – you just don’t see overweight figure skaters for a reason.
‘It’s just something I’ve struggled with this whole year and in previous seasons. It’s just difficult when you’re trying to do the difficult triple jumps.
‘It’s something that I am addressing but it’s obviously not where it should be for this caliber of competition…. It’s a lean body sport and it’s just not what I have currently…’