Ukrainian track and field athlete Natalia Besidovska retired at the age of 21
Ukrainian runner Natalia Besidovska announced the end of her athletic career at the age of 21. According to the athlete, this decision was one of the hardest of her life. She cited health issues, emotional exhaustion, and the constant struggle to remain in elite sports as the reasons for her decision.
The track and field athlete admitted that, lately, sports had brought her more pain than joy. She also explained that she had been juggling training with work to pay for her own training and competition fees.
Ukrainian track and field athlete Natalia Besidovska announced that she is ending her professional athletic career. The athlete admitted that she never thought she would retire from sports so early. “At almost 22 years old, I’ve devoted half my life to track and field, and I never thought I’d say this so soon. It was very painful, but I’ve decided to end my athletic career,” Besidovska wrote.
She cited the loss of the emotions that had originally inspired her to take up track and field as one of the main reasons for her decision. “Sometimes, the thing you love starts to bring more pain and suffering than joy, and perhaps that’s exactly when it’s time to walk away,” the athlete noted.
Besidovska also spoke candidly about a difficult period marked by health issues. According to her, what hurt her most wasn’t the treatment itself, but the thought of missed training sessions and the lost season. “Lying in the hospital, I cried for days on end, not over my condition, but over the missed training sessions and the lost season. I wasn’t thinking about myself; I was thinking only about the result,” the track and field athlete wrote.
She explained that her athletic career required not only daily training but also constant work to provide for herself. “To be able to train, I had to start working early. While others were sleeping between training sessions, I was working, sometimes late into the night,” Besidovska shared.
According to the athlete, recent years have been a constant struggle for her—not only on the track but also to secure the opportunity to continue competing. “I’m tired of the never-ending struggle for a place in the sun; I’m tired of living in anxiety because even when you do everything you can, you still don’t know if your efforts will pay off,” she admitted.
Summing up her athletic career, Besidovska thanked track and field for the experience she gained, but at the same time acknowledged that the price of this journey turned out to be too high. “Sports gave me something that nothing else can, but it also took away more than I can imagine,” the athlete wrote.
Natalia Besidovska specialized in the 400-meter dash and relay events. In 2025, she won the 400-meter race at the Ukrainian Junior Team Championships and also won multiple medals at national championships in relay events. That same year, she was selected for Ukraine’s U23 national team to compete in the European U23 Championships, held in Bergen, Norway.
In closing her statement, the athlete did not reveal her future plans but made it clear that this chapter of her life has come to an end and that a new path outside of professional sports lies ahead. She wrote about her decision on her Instagram page.
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