Tokyo 2020 kayak four 500m gold medallist Dora Hadvina has announced her retirement in an emotional podcast with the Hungarian Canoe Federation.
The 31-year-old shared that she has been struggling with mental health issues, which started when her father passed away in September 2020.
Hadvina was part of the title-winning K4 crew led by the sensational Danuta Kozak in Tokyo along with Anna Karasz and Tamara Csipes before teaming up with Kozak again for a kayak double 500m bronze.
The five-time world champion and six-time European champion was part of the Olympic quota-winning four in 2023 but could not secure a spot in the team for Paris 2024.
“It's no secret that the last two years didn't go the way I wanted. I could say that after a long struggle, I decided to quit kayaking,” Hadvina told the Csónakház Kayak-Canoe podcast.
In 2022, Hadvina gave birth to her daughter Holli and resumed training just six weeks later. However, she was experiencing postpartum depression and could not approach the races in the right mental state.
“I knew that I was performing quite well during training. But when the competition came, I couldn’t bring that same performance. I remember everyone coming up to me, saying, ‘Dori, don’t be nervous, you’re already an Olympic champion, just let it go, don’t overthink it, the problem must be in your head.’ And then I realised that it wasn’t that I was nervous; it was that I felt nothing. That was the point when I asked for help,” she said.
“The worst part was that I couldn’t sleep, and it had reached a chronic level. I already had a newborn daughter who woke up once a night, but I couldn’t sleep at all through the night. I was very irritable.
“If I was at training, I felt bad for not being with my child; when I was with my child, I felt bad for not staying longer to stretch. So, I couldn’t handle any of it properly. It was like I had lost myself; I had no self-confidence.”
Hadvina started kayaking at the Szarvas Kayak-Canoe Club in 2001, under the guidance of Attila Nyerges.
Her first major medal was at the U23 World Championships in 2015, where she won kayak single 500m gold before teaming up with Aliz Sarudi to win K2 1000m bronze at the senior World Championships in Milan.
While Hadvina did not qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and almost considered leaving the sport, a change in coaching with Gergely Hadvina, now her husband, was the beginning of a glorious career.
Hadvina was also part of the K4 crew that won gold at the 2018 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal, where Hungary and a Lisa Carrington-led New Zealand were involved in a fierce battle, with the former edging the title by 0.010.
For the full Hungarian podcast with Hadvina, click here.
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