(EN) ALIVE AND KICKIN'
It’s been some time since I last communicated with the people that follow my skiing career. Friends, fans and haters alike. I haven’t even posted on Facebook and Instagram. Everything has a reason of course, but still it was not fair to you. Today I saw a comment on Facebook asking if I am still competing. That’s when I realized I had to say something.
Let’s begin with a short self-analysis of my last season (17-18).
1.Summer training: I felt confident and everything was going good. Had proper training with the teams I managed to strike deals with, for the first time the Ski Federation sent somebody to assist me at all times. It was a real step forward at that time.
2. Chile: Something I did not have before, proper speed training in the middle of the summer. It was good for me and I was happy with how things were moving on. Some management mistakes from my side made me get sick before the last races in El Colorado which was not ideal. Besides it, overall it was a good trip.
3. Canada + USA: Many firsts this year, such as being able to go to Canada to train a few days before the World Cup debut, in Lake Louise. I was satisfied with the Downhill in both Canada and the US, disappointed with the Super-G. Because if this, I decided that I will not start in another Super-g of the WC circuit until I got some more training under my belt, in order to fix some things. It was not working, plain and simple.
4. Back to Europe (December): Here is where the problems began. I was probably dead tired after all the globetrotting I did, not having a service man or somebody to organize things for me, probably making it more tiresome than I thought. Got sick in Val Gardena and had to withdrawal from the actual race after I did the training. Decided to go back home for a short amount of time in order to relax and to get my strength back. Did that, came back, went straight to Bormio. Horrible skiing on my part. I decided not to celebrate the new year and stayed in Austria for some GS training. Started in the European Cup in Wengen, followed by a FIS race in France. I was doing everything I could think of to try to get back into shape for the big ones: Kitzbuehel and the Olympics.
5. Kitzbuhel: One of my biggest mistakes is starting in this race. But now I can tell you it was the first and the last time in my life I will decide to start a race for other reasons than sport reasons. I got injured in France, my ankle was double, as big as a melon. I could barely walk. But I was lucky enough to have my good friend and doctor, Razvan Melinte, by my side. He helped me to manage the pain, but it was not enough. I started anyway and had my worst performance in the World Cup. I deeply regret it and I know I left down a lot of people that day, starting with myself. I got nothing out of racing there this year. It felt like what Kitz gave to me last year, it took back this year. It was brutal.
6. Olympics: A subject where I said all I can say. At the moment I still don’t understand the final decision.
7. Reminder of the season: I was at home for a while, tried to help out as much as I could with the FIS Children Trophy of which I am a proud ambassador of. After I took the course of Europe, in order to try to finish the season on a good note. Met up and did some races with Ania Caill (who did a great job at the Olympics) and Alexandru Stefanescu. It was nice to be together as a team. I was satisfied with my results and even managed to go down a few rankings.
That’s it for the season. What followed after I got home was more than disappointing and I will share it with you soon. I can tell you today that I was in no mood of posting anything since April, not even to review my own season. That was not right by you but that’s what happens when my heart is guiding my path. In September I will know more about my situation and will share it with everybody (don’t worry, I still have my health).
In the meantime I would like to share some personal feelings. I am pretty sure I am not the man I used to be this time last year. Some things happened in both my professional and personal life. The kinds of things that make you reflect on some of the decisions in your life. I now realize I am a fool. A fool for trusting people I shouldn’t and not trusting people I should. A fool for helping everybody like they are more important than myself (in both skiing and life). A fool for always being nice to people who don’t deserve it and keeping it in when I knew somebody was doing something stupid. I believe there is no action without consequence and that maybe some of the blows I got are probably because of some of my actions. But asides from that, there's also plain stupidity and frustration. I am good, nice and got clubbered. People who are complete assholes get the better of me. I even heard (amongst other things) that some people whom I always helped with all that I could in this sport are now saying that I am using them. Me, of all people! That is just plain wrong and I have only myself to blame. No more mister nice guy, as they say. Good guys finish last. No more. Once again I go back to what the people closest to me always told me: stop being so nice, stop helping everybody and so on. Don’t worry, I won’t anymore. No more compromises. As I am writing this article I can tell you I am not having the best of times, nor in my personal life or my professional one. I got some big slaps (big for me at least) from life. But I can tell you I will not stop skiing. The only difference is that I am not sure about the next 4 years. I will find out soon enough If I will definitely ski for the next 4 years or if that plan starts to be shaky. I hope for the best but am ready for the worst, which, who knows, maybe is the way to go.
I would like to thank all the people who supported me in the 2017-2018 season. My family is always there, bad times or good. Thanks to the sponsors: HUSQVARNA, AZOMURES, ALIAT AUTO, ORTOPROFIL, INDFLOOR Group. Thanks to all the partners: Hotel PENZINGHOF, FIZIONOVA Tg. Mures, BLIZZARD Skis, TECNICA Boots. Thanks to my club CORONA BRASOV for your support. Thank you FRSB for financing a part of the season. Last but not least, thanks to my personal friend and doctor Razvan Melinte.
Always a pleasure.
Yours, Ioan.
