Sofia Goggia Speaks Candidly About the Value of Sacrifice
In an interview with Elle, Sofia Goggia spoke about her career and her life: “Which medal was the hardest to win, and which was the easiest? All medals are hard-earned to some extent, but perhaps the one from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: I gave it everything I had. The Olympic gold, on the other hand, was bound to happen: it was my childhood dream; it was right there, and I just had to go get it.”
The Italian athlete explained where she draws her strength to do what she does: “From the well of resources we all have inside us, but of which we aren’t always aware. Everyone grows up with their own family influences and insecurities: it’s as if we all have this potential inside us, but we don’t know how to access it. Sometimes we hand the key over to others; sometimes we don’t even know it exists. But being aware of it always makes us more self-confident.”
“Sometimes I forget it too, but I always come back to where it all began: in my family, both my grandparents fought in the Russian campaign; I belong to the second generation of people who did everything they could to survive. So being a fighter is in my DNA.”
The value of sacrifice: “People often speak of sacrifice in a negative sense, as a loss. For me, however, the meaning is the etymologically purest one: ‘sacrifice’ comes from the Latin *sacrum facere*—to make sacred, to perform with sacredness what you’ve chosen to do. And the moment you choose one thing, you know you’ll be leaving other things behind. I’ve never viewed my career as a sacrifice, but rather as a series of conscious choices toward what I love doing most in life: skiing.”
The champion from Bergamo explained that she hates gossip: “If you feed your private life to others—who already know far too much about you despite your discretion—in the end, you’re left with nothing. Which is very different from simply saying, ‘Okay, I’m with this person.’” More generally, I strongly believe I need to protect the moments I share with my friends: what I do outside of work is my business alone.”
