Athletes Retirements Thread

[heywoodu 15,351]

  On 9/13/2024 at 11:45 AM, phelps said:

 Caterina Banchelli (women's waterpolo) retires at only 24 years of age because of study/job ambitions  

 

https://www.oasport.it/2024/09/pallanuoto-femminile-caterina-banchelli-annuncia-il-ritiro-agonistico-a-soli-24-anni/

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What's so  about wanting to make sure you can still have a life after your sports career (other than the default 'I was a good athlete so I will be a good coach' train of thought)?  

[phelps 7,812]

  On 9/13/2024 at 11:52 AM, heywoodu said:

What's so  about wanting to make sure you can still have a life after your sports career (other than the default 'I was a good athlete so I will be a good coach' train of thought)?  

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the fact that she has to retire so early to reach her goals outside waterpolo at the highest possible level makes me disappointed

 

nothing against her choice (actually, full respect...I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision), but if a star of the game can't find economical safety and professional motivation to have a long career, that's sad, imho

[copravolley 323]

  On 9/13/2024 at 6:43 PM, phelps said:

the fact that she has to retire so early to reach her goals outside waterpolo at the highest possible level makes me disappointed

 

nothing against her choice (actually, full respect...I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision), but if a star of the game can't find economical safety and professional motivation to have a long career, that's sad, imho

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It saddens me that Federnuoto cares so little about women's water polo. We are clearly lagging behind, not only the men's team, but also other countries that used to be much weaker than us: Spain, Greece. I don't understand where is the problem? Federnuoto cares about the development of all the disciplines under its aegis, except for women's water polo, which is folding year after year.

Edited September 14, 2024 by copravolley

[Josh 11,101]

 Yui Ohashi (swimming)

[Makedonas 2,197]

  On 9/1/2024 at 1:25 PM, Makedonas said:

 Nikoleta Eleftheriadou (water polo, 26 yo)

 

 Chrysoula Diamantopoulou (water polo, 28 yo)

 

A bit surprised by these as both just made their Olympic debuts. Eleftheriadou is in a long-term relationship with a famous basketball player (Vezenkov), so she probably is planning to start a family with him and is set financially. However, he just left the NBA to move back to Greece so I thought that was partially to be with her more, but now if she's retired from water polo it really doesn't matter.

 

Diamantopoulou I guess isn't a huge loss because she split being the main goalkeeper with Stamatopoulou, so now I'm sure Stamatopoulou will be the main goalkeeper.

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I also thought this would give  Eleni Sotireli (26 yo) a solid spot in the team, as she is our third-best goalkeeper, but now she also announced her retirement! 

[Makedonas 2,197]

 Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou (pole vault, 38 yo)

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_Z4beYMIKX/

 

Not at all a surprise, especially since she did not qualify for Paris which is where she likely wanted to end her career. Still, she went to 4 Olympics (best result being 8th in Tokyo), won bronze at the 2015 World Championships, also two medals at the European Championships plus another at the European Indoor Championships 

 

Had a baby in 2017, and then had probably the most memorable moment of her career in 2018, at the European Championships where she got silver behind Stefanidi in a historic Greek 1-2, while there were devastating wildfires in Greece and it became a big story how well we did at the European Athletics Championships during those dark days...

[intoronto 5,881]

Maggie MacNeil

 

She was an Olympic, World (LC and SC) Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games Champion. Highly decorated career. 

[Josh 11,101]

  On 9/26/2024 at 3:43 PM, intoronto said:

Maggie MacNeil

 

She was an Olympic, World (LC and SC) Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games Champion. Highly decorated career. 

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She had already announced that she was retiring post Paris, prior to the Olympics (if you go back a page or two I believe it has already been reported about?)

[intoronto 5,881]

  On 9/26/2024 at 7:25 PM, Josh said:

She had already announced that she was retiring post Paris, prior to the Olympics (if you go back a page or two I believe it has already been reported about?)

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She said she wouldn't go for another quad

[NearPup 3,220]

  On 9/26/2024 at 3:43 PM, intoronto said:

Maggie MacNeil

 

She was an Olympic, World (LC and SC) Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games Champion. Highly decorated career. 

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Two time Olympian Kelsey Wog also retired.