GANGNEUNG, South Korea — What must it be like to be 18 and crowned Olympic champion in all the predictions, only to find that someone younger may be better? And what if that someone is a friend and partner you train with every day?
Last fall, Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia was a consensus pick to win the women’s figure skating competition at the Winter Games. She was already a two-time world champion, undefeated in two years, increasingly graceful as an artist and technically savvy in her jumping. But skating can be a ruthless sport. And now Medvedeva’s time may have gone before it arrived.