scott, get the mini van!

this is about a girl who has been nothing but second best for the past three years. this is about a girl who pushed this sport to a place nobody ever thought possible, a girl who did everything she could and skated lights out the best she has in her career. this is about a girl who cracked when she realized that no matter what she did, it was still not enough and she was still second best. and the ones who were meant to support her decided that they didn’t care because it wasn’t their loss anyways.

this is about a girl who got the one thing she was ever supposed to want and had nobody to celebrate with. a girl who feels nothing but emotionally empty on what was supposed to be the best night of her life - she won everything and has nothing at the exact same time. this is a girl who did everything she was ever meant to do and reached the dream she’s maybe always had, only to know that she took it from her best friend and there was never enough room on the top of the podium for both of them. and all she ever did was try her best but there were so many other girls broken along the way.

and this is about a girl who was at the top of the world, labelled the darling of the olympics, only for anything to come crashing down two days later. only for her to have the worst skate of her life on the biggest stage of her life. and only for her coach to say that she didn’t try hard enough. it’s about a girl who went from loved to hated overnight and it’s about a girl who blinked, lost everything, and has nobody to simply tell her it’s not her fault.

it’s about three girls, three abuse victims, three children - who all made it to the olympics, the one thing they all wanted, only for it to go to hell. we saw tears in practice and we saw tears on the ice, tears on the podium. this is about more than medals and podium spots. this is about more than a quad or two or five.

this is about three children who are victims of an abusive system that continues to go unchecked. this is about three children that deserve better.

“Being able to see my flag at the Beijing Olympics will probably be something really special, because it represents the dream of a young boy who never gave up.”

2022 Olympic Figure Skaters: Kaori Sakamoto 🇯🇵

Kaori Sakamoto is a 21-year-old women’s singles figure skater from Japan. She is a 2-time and reigning Japanese National Champion, the 2018 Four Continents Champion, and a 2-time NHK Trophy Champion.