“It was as if everyone hated me, and some even resorted to insults.” Chikunova explained why she did not communicate with journalists

World swimming record holder Evgenia Chikunova In an interview with , she explained why, during her career, she did not communicate with journalists for some time, noting that due to negative comments, she began to doubt her own abilities.

Chikunova finished fourth in the 100m and 200m breaststroke at the Tokyo Olympics.

— What happened to you in Tokyo? Yes, we didn’t win a medal, but that’s sport.

— I didn’t communicate with journalists at that time. Because as soon as I beat Yulia Efimova in 2019, I was faced with hatred in the form of doping accusations and the fact that this was my only victory in my career.

But I was only 14 years old. I give an interview and I see that the audience’s reaction is not at all happy. And even, in a certain sense, inadequate. It was as if everyone hated me, and some even resorted to insults. These are social networks, you can find anything there. Everyone can leave comments.

And now I understand that I don’t want to give interviews anymore. Because I’m afraid that the hate will come down on me again. That they will disagree with me so much again, no matter what my opinion is, that they will accuse me of something again. I was afraid, that’s exactly how I feel. I withdrew into myself and, to a certain extent, doubted myself. Can I really swim like that again? It had a huge impact on my confidence. I repeat, I was 14 years old.

My environment was wonderful. Everyone always supported me. My parents were always happy for me, even if I was a bad swimmer, they were always by my side. But at that time, public opinion played a big role in my life. And I just protected myself from it.

— What prompted you to resume communication?

“I realized that hiding like this all the time was also not an option.” And somehow I already started to communicate a little with journalists. We had a very good press officer then, Yana Novikova, she helped me in this. I changed my attitude towards this, the situation calmed down, and self-confidence returned. After that, I won a lot in junior and all-Russian competitions, improving my time, “Chikunova told .

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