CBC
Why a Canadian legend walked away on the verge of her Olympic dream
Missing the certainty of yesterday but emboldened by the potential of tomorrow, Krystina Alogbo is embracing a new challenge. At her teammate’s house in Verona, Italy for the sake of better internet — a site known most famously as the setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet — Alogbo is relaxed and seated with a Monet-like setting behind her, a sailboat calmly floating along the river. Her playing career heading off into the sunset, with many dreams accomplished and injuries having taken their toll, a normal life and financial security in the afterlife of an athlete is top of mind. Now acting as a player-coach for CSS Verona in the twilight of her playing days, Alogbo’s glittery 16-year international career at water polo’s highest level ends without an Olympic appearance. After guiding the Canadian women’s national team to a spot in the Tokyo Olympics as captain in 2019, health and COVID-19 emerged victorious as the postponement due to the global pandemic saw Alogbo suddenly announce her retirement in August, a month after she was supposed to achieve that dream. “It wasn’t a relief because it was still a shock,” Alogbo said after revealing she spent months debating the decision. “It is 15 years of my life, it took a couple months to even come to that decision and actually realizing it was another thing because I was here [in Verona], the relief — it didn’t happen for a while. I can’t even tell…
