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🇪🇪 Estonia /Sports

Former Manager of Andrus Värnik: “They Say Andrus Isn’t Normal, But a Top Athlete Can’t Be Completely Normal”

From Postimees · () Estonian

Translated from Estonian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Interview Named sources Context piece
  • Former manager Aivar Karotamm said Andrus Värnik won world championship silver in 2003 and gold in 2005.
  • Karotamm told Iltalehti that Värnik struggled with alcoholism in 2005 and 2006 after developing panic attacks.
  • He said Värnik began treating the panic attacks with shots of vodka, starting a vicious cycle.

Former manager Aivar Karotamm recalled how Estonia’s javelin hero Andrus Värnik fell into a deep low and spoke about his life now.

Värnik won two world championship medals, taking silver in Paris in 2003 and gold in Helsinki two years later. Karotamm described the decline in an interview with the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti.

He said Värnik became caught up in alcoholism in 2005 and 2006. “He developed panic attacks and started treating them with shots of vodka. That’s how the vicious cycle began,” Karotamm said.

He developed panic attacks and started treating them with shots of vodka. That’s how the vicious cycle began.

· Aivar KarotammVärnik’s former manager described the athlete’s struggle with panic attacks and alcoholism.
About this summary

Originally published by Postimees in Estonian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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