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ENG3U Photo Essay Works Cited- Alex Short

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Along with her decision to stay on the competition circuit, Gracie decided to open her own training camps and become a coach. Gracie's story has allowed other people to seek out the professional help they need,and she continues to inspire others everyday.

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Gracie decided to see the rest of the season through, and ended up staying in competition. As of the beginning of 2022, Gracie has some beautiful performances. After multiple years of struggling, Gracie finally found her passion for skating again.

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Through the pandemic, Gracie has stayed strong and become more determined than ever. Gracie had her best short program skate since 2016 at the 2021 U.S. Championships. After a disappointing long program, Gracie was considering retirement.

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Gracie spoke up about her struggles, and began having interview after interview. Everyone was shocked when they found out what she had been through, and soon enough the news was showing up all around the world. Gracie stated in an interview that the reason people loved hearing her story, was because people love the story of an underdog, the fall of a hero, and the comeback story. She believes she is all three.

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At the 2020 U.S. Championships, Gracie's skate was far from perfect, but it was her comeback. Shortly after the Championships, she was finally ready to tell her story.

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Gracie Gold returned to competition in the fall of 2018. Unfortunately, she had a disastrous short program and did not go back to compete in the long. After her competition, she decided recovery was more important than competing, and stepped away from the competition scene again, but this time it was just over a year.

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In fall of 2017, Gracie announced that she was stepping back from competition. At this point people thought she just quit, nobody knew that she was in a treatment facility for an eating disorder, anxiety, and depression.

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While she was at the elite training camp, she decided to tell the female team doctor about her struggles. Gracie said she wanted to tell someone what was really going on before it was over. This led to Gracie immediately getting help at an inpatient treatment center in Arizona.

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In August of 2017, Gracie attended an elite training camp. This was the check in point for athletes before the Olympic season.

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Gracie had been struggling for a while, but she didn't tell anyone. She felt as if she was a fraud because everyone saw her as the 'golden girl' of America, but she was struggling. Negative thoughts were starting to cloud her judgement, and she was trying to find reasons why seeing 2018 would be beneficial.

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In the fall of 2016, a few months after her fourth place finish at World's, her depression had reached a new level. She covered all of the mirrors in her apartment, only left for training, and slept for the remainder of her day after training. She admitted to being "borderline agoraphobic" in an interview with the news channel Today.

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Gracie had a career best and was leading after the short program at World's. Unfortunately, Gracie's long did not go as planned, and she ended up fourth overall. At this point, almost everyone knew about her use of laxatives and her struggle with an eating disorder.

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It took Gracie time, but she got everything together just in time for the 2015/2016 season, also known as her 'fire bird' season. Gracie ended up winning nationals, and was going on to compete at the 2016 World Championships in Boston.

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When Gracie went back home, she was suffering from post-Olympic depression. She felt as though she had peaked at eighteen, and now she didn't know what to do.

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Even with all the pressure on Gracie, she performed an excellent program ending up fourth in the women's event. Gracie's performance helped Team USA capture the bronze team event medal.

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For months leading up to the Olympics, Gracie was surviving only on coffee and apples. It was also documented at competitions that she had been using laxatives. People felt her actions were justifiable because it was the Olympics, and it would have been a bad time to intervene.

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The same day she was told she had gained weight, she started counting her calories. When researching how long she could go without eating, she discovered Anorexia and Bulimia forums. This put Gracie on a dangerous path of an eating disorder.

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Gracie went on tour for a few months after her competition, and when she came back her coach said that her butt looked heavier. What she took from that comment was that she had been on her own, and then came back fat.

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At the 2013 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Gracie had an astonishing skate and ended up capturing silver. From this moment on, all eyes were on Gracie for the upcoming 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

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Gracie Gold started skating when she was eight years old. When she started skating, her mother was told by coaches that Gracie had a special talent.