Olympics
Jamie Braidwood, ESPN 5y

Lizzie Yarnold: 'I want my records to be broken' after retirement

Olympic Sports

Lizzy Yarnold has a rather unique problem.

As the only British athlete ever to win more than one Winter Olympic gold medal, she cannot decide which was more special.

"I keep changing my mind," Yarnold told ESPN. Sochi 2014 will always be special as it came first, but Pyeongchang 2018 saw her defend her skeleton title against all the odds after taking a year away from the sport to recover from burnout.

Yarnold, Britain's most decorated Winter Olympian, brought her 10-year career to a close when she announced her retirement Monday. She has been moved by the British public's reaction and enjoyed hearing about the impact her gold medal successes have had.

"People have just wanted to tell me where they were when they watched the races," Yarnold said. "It's been really sweet to hear that people were shouting at the television, or were crying when I won."

Yarnold's journey to becoming a Winter Olympian started in unlikely circumstances when she was identified as a talented athlete at a sporting recruitment drive. She had just finished her first year at Gloucester University where she was competing -- rather unsuccessfully, she added -- in the wrong sport for her, the heptathlon.

A transition to the modern pentathlon was what Yarnold hoped for, but she was shocked to receive a letter informing her she had been selected onto Team GB's Winter Olympic skeleton program.

Swapping athletics for the ice wasn't a natural move but Yarnold was a perfect fit. She won every major trophy there was to win in the skeleton, adding World Championship, World Cup and European Championship titles to her Olympic medals.

But by the end of it all, the sport had taken its toll on Yarnold's body. After months of pain following Pyeongchang, Yarnold was forced to undergo surgery in July to fix two slipped discs in her back and spent the rest of the summer on painkillers and morphine.

The surgery was successful but Yarnold's desire to get back into skeleton did not return. She didn't want to be an athlete who battled their body in order to compete, especially after going out at the top of her game. Yarnold spoke this week of being ready to start a new chapter in her life. She wants to continue working within skeleton -- the sport she loves -- and also plans to make visits to schools to work alongside children. As someone who didn't know what she wanted to do when she left school, Yarnold wants to show what can be achieved -- in or out of sport -- when you find something you are passionate about.

Throughout her career, Yarnold has been a critical voice against any form of cheating or doping. She has been openly scathing of the World Anti-Doping Agency's decision to reinstate Russia, a move which could bring the country back into the Olympic fold.

"It leaves a sour taste," Yarnold said. "It's something that I feel very strongly about. It was sad and frustrating to see RUSADA [Russia's Anti-Doping Agency] reinstated and I feel sorry for anyone who has to compete against a Russian athlete this year."

Yarnold's career has taken her to places she could have never imagined, from carrying the Team GB flag at the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang to receiving an OBE from a member of the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace Wednesday.

And as she reflected again on her groundbreaking career, Yarnold admitted she wants her achievements to be surpassed. "I want British athletes of the future to win more medals," she said. "I've laid the pathway, now I want my records to be broken."

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