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Meryl Davis shares her Olympic lessons and the challenges of life after figure skating
The two-time U.S. Olympic medalist in ice dancing reflects on the ways that setbacks set up her successes in Vancouver and Sochi and also looks ahead to new passions and ambitions.


Meryl Davis knows that falling during a figure skating routine won’t win you an Olympic medal. But she also knows it’s impossible to reach the heights needed to win gold if you’ve never fallen — and learned from it.

Four years removed from winning a gold medal at the Sochi Olympics in ice dance with her longtime partner Charlie White, Davis knows that their failures were instrumental in their triumphs.

“One of the things that served us really well was knowing the successes in our history, but also the setbacks, the challenges that we learned from,” she told SB Nation. “Some of those times when we approached competition the wrong way were the best lessons for us and a part of our strength going into both our first and second Olympic Games.”

Davis, who also won a silver medal with White at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and a bronze in the team event in 2014, chatted with SB Nation during the 2018 Winter Olympics about her experiences in Vancouver and Sochi, shared her insights into the U.S. performances in Pyeongchang, and talked about ways that she’s applying lessons learned as an athlete to the rest of her life since retiring from competitive skating.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity

What goes through a skater’s mind before going out for an Olympic event. What is the combination of nerves, anticipation, and excitement?

It’s a combination of all of those things. Of course, every athlete deals with the pressure, the excitement, a little bit differently. And it’s not necessarily the same from one day to the next since figure skating competitions are oftentimes multiple days. And some people are in their second and third Olympics games, so, of course, the experience is different every time. I can remember going into my first Olympic Games in Vancouver thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the Olympics! It’s going to be completely different from anything I’ve ever experienced before: The arena is going to be so big I won’t be able to see the ceiling, and the crowd will be so loud I won’t be able to hear my music.’

You just anticipate it being this otherworldly experience. I think after those first couple minutes on Olympic ice competing, sort of getting your feet under you, you realize it is incredibly special, it’s such an honor to be there, but in a lot of ways it’s something you’re ready for because it is a figure skating competition. It is a competition. It’s something that you’ve prepared for. And I think once you realize that, it’s much more fun.

The ability to get your feet underneath you makes you much more comfortable as an athlete. And so for me — and I think for my partner, Charlie, as well — going into our second Olympic Games we had a much better idea of what to expect in competing in the Olympics Games. That being said, there is also a different level of pressure. For example, in our first Olympic Games in Vancouver in 2010 were just so thrilled and so honored to be Olympians and excited to perform our best. But going into Sochi, I think we were perhaps more focused on the task at hand in terms of we knew that winning gold was certainly possible for us. And so we were more focused I think on the job that we had to do on the ice. So, you know, I think the mentality is really different depending on the situation. And I would imagine that’s true for all the athletes.

That sounds like the sort of thing that you need to experience to understand, but do you try to give advice to younger skaters? Or did anyone try to give advice to you about this sort of dynamic?

I think any time you make it to the Olympics in some way shape or form you’re kind of a seasoned athlete. It takes a lot to get to the games so most of us have competed for many, many, many years. And the advice for the games is oftentimes similar advice that you get for other really major competitions, things like ‘enjoy the moment,’ ‘take your time,’ and ‘just do what you do every day in practice.’

Those are very solid, sound pieces of advice that are like the go-to pieces of advice because they are so applicable. I think it’s true, all of those things are true. And I think in particular for the Olympic Games, it’s easy to feel like you have to do more or be more. But the reality — and I would imagine this is the case for any athlete in any sport — is that on the biggest stage that’s when it’s most important to do what you know how to do. If you know you’ve been training well, it’s what you do every single day in practice.

That’s something Charlie and I learned from mistakes early on in our career: trying too hard in competition and wanting to push beyond what we were ready for, beyond what we did in practice. Charlie and I had been competing together for 17 years before our win in Sochi, and I think, for us, that was one of the really beautiful things about that experience. One of the things that served us really well was knowing the successes in our history, but also the setbacks, the challenges that we learned from. Some of those times when we approached competition the wrong way were the best lessons for us and a part of our strength going into both our first and second Olympic Games.

Certainly, those lessons paid off for you. With the current U.S. team, we’ve seen some some successes, of course, but also some some struggles given what we know of the potential for these skaters. What do you see as either the lessons they’re learning or the things that might be holding them back?

I think oftentimes, it’s easy to let pressure — whether it’s pressure other people are putting on you or pressure you’re putting on yourself — change your approach to what it is you already know how to do. I think we have a lot of young athletes on our team who have no ceiling to where they can go. The sky’s the limit, and I think with a little bit more time, a little bit more experience under their belts, anything is possible.

But I think in sport the only way to get past a challenge is to take it as an opportunity to learn. And I think for any of the imperfections that any of our athletes have had in this Olympic Games you know that’s got to be the solution: Just take it in stride, take it as a learning opportunity, and use it as motivation to be better the next time out.

Thinking of the women’s skaters going Thursday night, there is an opportunity for them even if it isn’t to get on the podium to certainly start building towards the future. What do you see as the most important thing for them going into the free skate?

I think it’s important to remember that medals aren’t necessarily the end all be all. We have big goals, we have small goals, and sometimes achieving those small goals along the way is the best way to get to the ultimate dream, which for a lot of athletes is winning at the Olympics. You look at, for example, Mirai Nagasu. She didn’t have the perfect short program in the individual. Yet, at these Olympics Games she’s already become the first American female ever to land a triple axel at the Olympics, and the third woman ever to land a triple axel at the Olympics. She helped Team USA to win an Olympic bronze medal in the team figure skating event. So, of course, there’s going to be people who are disappointed in an imperfect short program. I’m sure Mirai would have loved to have gone out there and skated a perfect short program. But there have already been so many successes for her in this Olympic experience. Going into the long, I think she can be nothing but proud and excited about what she’s done here and her potential for the future as well.


That’s one of the things that can be hard for outsiders to understand about figure skating. You can do something amazing during one program, but then fall during another or fall later in that same program. As a skater, how do you balance the joys and the setbacks?

When you’re so in the world of sport or in your particular sport — many of us have been in our particular sport for the majority of our lives — sometimes you have to take a step back and realize other people don’t necessarily have that same understanding. I can remember when Charlie and I won the silver in Vancouver, which we were just completely thrilled with, just an incredible experience and in no way shape or form where we disappointed. But I remember coming home and there were definitely a few people who said, ‘Oh, you won the silver I’m so sorry. Better luck next time.’

I think that it’s just interesting because it’s not gold or bust for every athlete out there. I mean, there are those athletes who are in a position where they’ll be disappointed with anything but gold, but the vast majority of athletes have other goals at the Olympics. So I think it’s important to keep in mind that there are a lot of victories, as far as athletes and the Olympic Games go, outside of winning gold in your sport. For a lot of American athletes who will probably be coming away from these games without a gold medal, they’ve had their own victories to celebrate; and a lack of gold leaving the games doesn’t in any way indicate an unsuccessful Olympic experience for them.

One thing that is still relatively new to figure skating that I think folks outside of the sport haven’t totally understood yet is the team event. In a sport that has historically been very individualized — or in your case a pairing — how do you see the significance of that?

I think the figure skating world is still learning about that. This is only the second Olympic Games that we’ve had the figure skating team event included; so it doesn’t have this storied past that the individual event has. We have these moments of figure skating history that are just sort of etched in all of our hearts and memories and the vast majority of those up until this point are individual events. So I think the sporting world as a whole, Olympic fans, but also people in the figure skating world, are still really learning what it means to be a team competition medalist. I think as we continue to embrace it as a part of our sport and cherish the memories that we see being made from one Olympics to another that it will continue to be more celebrated.

There are a lot of challenges facing the world today, of course, and I think that the Olympic Games are such a beautiful opportunity for the world to come together and celebrate our resilience and the strength of the human spirit. I think figure skating is such a beautiful sport, and that to add a team element — where people from the same country can come together to represent their nation and express patriotism not just individually, not just within a couple, but as a team — is really a beautiful thing. I think the Olympics really are about more than just sport: It’s about more than just what happens on the ice or on the field and so to be able to continue to grow that sense of ‘let’s support each other, let’s be a team, let’s take pride in representing our country,’ I think that’s such a beautiful thing.

Looking a bit beyond the Olympics, you mentioned how you felt afterwards and how you used setbacks to set up future successes. What do you see going forward for the Shibutani siblings, for example, in ice dancing?

I’m incredibly hopeful. I don’t know what their plans are. And I think the time after the Olympic Games is always sort of a time of reflection and planning for people to figure out what’s next. Do we want to keep pushing? Or do we want to find new challenges? In regards to the plans for all of the athletes, I honestly have no idea what any of them are planning. But assuming the Shibutanis decide to keep competing and pushing forward, I think the sky’s the limit for them. I think determination is a great word for them. They don’t take no for an answer. When they see a challenge, when they see a perceived block in the road, they have no problem pushing past it, jumping over it. I’ve seen them do that for the last, oh man, six or seven years. And so whatever it is they set their sights on, I have no doubt they’ll be able to achieve it.

You talked about that personal reflection period after the games. What have been the challenges that you’ve faced since the Olympics, professional or otherwise? How have you been able to apply the lessons learned that you talked about earlier in terms of perseverance and goal setting to those other non-sports challenges?

Charlie and I, after the 2010 Olympics, took, you know, a millisecond to figure out whether or not we wanted to continue competing. The decision to keep going was quite easy for us after Vancouver. After Sochi, I think we felt that moving away from competitive sport was the direction we were leaning, but we took several years to make the decision to officially step away from Olympic competition and away from competitive sport. Because it’s hard.

I think in so many ways as an athlete our identities become somewhat wrapped in our dreams and our careers in the life that we’ve known since we are children. So many of us have been working hard in these sports since we were really small children. For me, personally, stepping away from Olympic competition after Sochi wasn’t an easy decision. I’m confident it was the right decision. But there have been many days where it was very challenging to have this world that you know you excel in, that you have so much experience and success in and that you love; and then, on the other hand, to know you have to push yourself to find new passions and new challenges. Especially in your late 20s or early 30s, it’s a unique challenge that I think a lot of athletes and Olympians have to go through.

In some ways, you almost have to mourn the life and a part of your identity that you’ve come to know and love because, of course, in a lot of ways once you move on life will never be the same. Finding those new challenges and finding those new passions is not an easy thing. And, for me, in the last four years I really had to push myself to go take pride in and remember you know the lessons I’ve learned through competitive sport and try to apply those to future opportunities and new goals and new dreams.

What do you see as the lessons that have been the most frequently applicable in that way?

I think perseverance has got to be just the most important. You know I thoroughly believe, as I said, that those setbacks, those challenges, those falls both literal and figurative in skating and in my sporting career have only made me stronger; and so really being able to learn that and understand firsthand that perceived failures are sometimes the best way to grow and learn and to achieve your goals and dreams, I think is a great way to go into new challenges as well. And it’s not always easy to remember that; it’s easy to get discouraged and easy to get sidetracked; but, for me, my experience in sport I believe and I certainly hope will continue to serve me well.

Has there been any point watching the skating where you really felt the urge to be back out there?

Honestly, not really. Charlie and I officially retired from competition a little over a year ago; and there have certainly been moments in the last year when I wondered to myself how am I going to feel watching the Olympics, whether it’s home or whatever it is I’m doing. While it’s not easy every day to move in a new direction and challenge myself in unfamiliar territory, I have total confidence that it was the right decision for us. And, in watching these games, I feel possibly even more confident that it was the right decision for us. It just was time, and you know it’s hard to put into words. It’s hard to explain. You know we’ve been asked the question many times like, ‘Oh, why did you decide to step away?’ Sometimes you just know; and for us it was time to have some new challenges and move in a new direction. So I’m happy to report that there was no point in watching these games that I felt like I should be out there.

Thats good to hear. What do you see those as your new aspirations and ambitions these days.

I’m sort of all over the place. I have a lot of interests that I’m trying to check off the list. This one: maybe. This one: no. But I feel really fortunate that as a figure skater — unlike a lot of athletes, unfortunately — we are able to continue doing what we love, which is skating as a professional career path. While for a lot of athletes, unfortunately, when they’re not competing their participation in sport is over, we get to travel the world doing what we love and making a great living while doing it. So Charlie and I are really fortunate to be traveling to places like Japan and China Switzerland, and across the U.S. performing for audiences.

The ability to make a great living doing that while exploring other professional options is a real gift that I try not to take for granted. I don’t feel a lot of pressure to make a decision quickly which I know is not an opportunity that a lot of people have. So I’m trying to embrace that and be grateful for that. But I’m in school, so I have a little less than a year left for my degree in anthropology at the University of Michigan. I am just finishing up my first official broadcasting opportunity and role with the local Detroit NBC station doing some figuring skating coverage throughout the Olympics. And then, I think during the last four years, I’ve really begun to see myself as an entrepreneur, whether that entails being a small business owner or getting into the creative side of business. So, yeah, very slowly but surely I’m making my way towards something I know I’ll be very passionate about.

I really found this article interesting.  Thanks for posting it.

Gabriele, I may have missed it....what did you think of the Ladies skating outcome?

Gala intermission/ice resurfacing right now.  Are you having a broadcast, sisters?  

HI ALL!!!!!  I hope things are going good for everybody.  It's been good for me.  

I just wanted to let you all know the problems are solved.  

HAGDE1
 

CEK40 wrote:

HRM2U wrote:

HI ALL!!!!!  I hope things are going good for everybody.  It's been good for me.  

I just wanted to let you all know the problems are solved.  

HAGDE1
 

Thank you so much for the help!!!
It is so good to hear from you HRM...Please stop in and see us we miss you!!!!
HUGS

I agree......we miss you. HUGS

Congratulations to your country......You all did fantastic at the Olympics.