https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/japanese-figure-skater-mao-asada-says-she-is-retiring/2017/04/10/aba81d4a-1e06-11e7-bb59-a74ccaf1d02f_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.dbd1b8a9b06b <br /> <br />TOKYO <br />Japanese figure skater Mao Asada is retiring. <br />The 26-year-old Asada, the three-time world champion, says she lost her motivation after underperforming last season. <br />She noted her best performances were in 2014, when she won her third world title and finished sixth at the Sochi Olympics. <br />“If I had ended my career then, I might still have had a desire to return to skating today,” she wrote in her blog. “After returning to compete, however, I wasn’t able to perform or achieve results the way I had hoped, and I was often distressed.” <br />After Sochi, she took a year off and returned to competition in 2015. She finished a career-low 12th at a national championship last December. <br />“After that the goal that had driven me had disappeared, and I lost my motivation to continue as a skater,” Asada wrote.
