NJ ice skater returns to Olympics after struggling in Sochi

<p>A Montclair State University student will complete in the Winter Olympics in South Korea next week after nearly quitting her sport.</p>

News 12 Staff

Feb 13, 2018, 10:06 PM

Updated 2,263 days ago

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A Montclair State University student will complete in the Winter Olympics in South Korea next week after nearly quitting her sport.
Isadora Williams is the first Brazilian figure skater to make the Winter Olympics. She first competed in the Sochi games four years ago when she was 18 years old, but was quickly knocked out of the running.
“Just to have that dream crushed in that three minutes was just … it was heart-breaking,” Williams says.
Williams says that she quit the sport after losing in Russia and that it took her five months to come to terms with what happened.
“I was kind of in a depressed state and I missed it,” she says. “I’m still at an age where I can do it again, this isn’t it for me. So I decided to get back to it and it was the best decision I made.”
Williams says that she had been dreaming of competing in the Olympics since she was 3 years old, even when others mocked her dream.
“I was not very good at other sports,” she says.
Two-time Olympian Kristen Fraser coaches Williams.
"She wouldn’t have qualified if she wasn’t capable and didn’t deserve to be there,” Fraser says. “She’s got what it takes.”
No athlete from Brazil has ever won a medal at the Winter Olympics.  Williams says that she is hoping to be the first. 
Williams was born in the United States but spent some of her childhood in Brazil. She came to Montclair State to skate and to study nutrition.


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