"I would love the national anthem to be played for the 10th time. Ten is a nice number," she said. "I would also like to say that I dedicate this win to my motherland - Ukraine."
"Honestly speaking, this tournament wasn’t much fun for me," the 34-year-old wrestler said after her final. "But the most important is the result. After the [Tokyo] Olympics, I had a little break. I was thinking if I should keep wrestling or retire because of age. I didn’t know if my physical shape would be okay or not. But as you can see I am still wrestling. I started training in January, so I am not in my best shape."
With the exception of a short appearance at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Türkiye last year, Stadnik did not compete after the Tokyo Games. However, she made a comeback in February of this year at the Zagreb Open Ranking Series, where she won two matches before withdrawing.
The European Championships was her first top-level competition in a while and there is no denying that age has caught up. Even she agrees with the fact.
"When I was 18 years old, I had more excitement and motivation," she said. "Now it’s all kind of habitual to me, but I still don’t wanna lose."
Stadnik has had her share of heartbreaks as well. She lost two Olympics finals and is still trying to find a way to beat the world and Olympic champion Yui Susaki (Japan) who has a 4-0 record against her.
"I still have one year to think how to wrestle her. I’ll make it up," she said.
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