"I hope that people realize that as athletes and Olympians, we face a lot of pressure. It's important to slow down, take a step back, and validate your emotions. Respecting yourself is so important"
About this Quote
The subtext is a quiet refusal of the athlete-as-robot script. “Slow down, take a step back” is the language of boundaries, not laziness. It counters a sports economy that rewards constant output: train through it, smile through it, medal through it. By naming “validate your emotions”, she also shifts authority. Feelings don’t need outside permission, not from judges, coaches, or comment sections. That’s a cultural pivot from grit as suppression to grit as self-knowledge.
Context matters: Kim’s career has unfolded in an era when high-profile athletes have begun speaking openly about anxiety, burnout, and the psychic cost of being watched. The Olympics, with their compressed timelines and global scrutiny, are basically a pressure cooker with a soundtrack. “Respecting yourself” lands as both personal practice and systemic critique: if the spectacle depends on athletes ignoring their inner lives, maybe the spectacle is the problem. The message isn’t fragile; it’s insurgent, delivered in calm, accessible language precisely because it’s meant to travel.
Quote Details
| Topic | Mental Health |
|---|---|
| Source | Yahoo Entertainment, Snowboarder Chloe Kim on Overcoming Pressure to 'Be Perfect,' Taking 'Better Care of Myself' (Nov 8, 2021), quoting Kim’s SHAPE interview. |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Kim, Chloe. (2026, February 23). I hope that people realize that as athletes and Olympians, we face a lot of pressure. It's important to slow down, take a step back, and validate your emotions. Respecting yourself is so important. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-hope-that-people-realize-that-as-athletes-and-185661/
Chicago Style
Kim, Chloe. "I hope that people realize that as athletes and Olympians, we face a lot of pressure. It's important to slow down, take a step back, and validate your emotions. Respecting yourself is so important." FixQuotes. February 23, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-hope-that-people-realize-that-as-athletes-and-185661/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I hope that people realize that as athletes and Olympians, we face a lot of pressure. It's important to slow down, take a step back, and validate your emotions. Respecting yourself is so important." FixQuotes, 23 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-hope-that-people-realize-that-as-athletes-and-185661/. Accessed 23 Feb. 2026.











