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A Worlds beater?
Youngest Canadian figure skating champion a shooting staras 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics loom in the not-to-distant future
| Source: |
Edmonton Sun |
| Date: |
March 22, 2009 |
| Author: |
Terry Jones |
LOS ANGELES -- So much has happened so soon. And so much more could
happen soon enough.
It's only 11 months until Patrick Chan will skate in the Olympic
Winter Games and if he does what many think he might do here at the
Staples Centre this week at the World figure skating championships, he
might go to Vancouver 2010 favoured to win Canada's first Olympic gold
medal in singles skating since Barbara Ann Scott in 1948.
The Ottawa-born, Toronto-raised, still-in-high-school son of
born-in-China-but-met-at-a-Montreal-table- tennis-tournament parents
Karen and Lewis, has made himself a figure skating shooting star for
Canada to follow as the Olympic countdown continues.
Flashback. Fourteen months ago.
Chan solved a sports columnist's scheduling conflict with his practice
session at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver by having himself dropped
off at the scribe's hotel to be interviewed for an hour, where he also
delivered the following remarkable statement:
"My goal is to make skating rise again in Canada. I'm hoping I'm the
beginning of a new era. I'm hoping I'm the one who will bring skating
back to where it was when I was a kid watching on TV. I know people
are waiting on their couches for the next Kurt Browning."
The kid had just turned 17 on New Year's Eve.
Flashback. Same Vancouver hotel lobby two hours later.
Four-time world champion Browning listens to what the kid, who won a
silver medal at the world junior championships a year earlier, had
just told the scribe and didn't laugh.
He not only said Chan could indeed become the next Kurt Browning, he
was predicting it.
"That's just unbelievable that a 17-year-old kid says that. That's why
I like him so much. There's something about him. You're drawn to this
guy. Some people just have that ability to make you want to care about
them. He has the attitude if he does the work he's going to get
better. When I train at the Granite in Toronto with him we have double
Axel competitions. That's all I can do anymore.
"I thought he was special two years ago. It's not just watching him
skating, it's training with him. He has such an irresistible
combination of innocence and joy. He has a constant smile. You never
see him get too angry or too frustrated. I love his attitude.
"He's very, very low key. It's not so different than I used to
approach it. His personality is untroubled. I'd be surprised if he
didn't win the Canadian crown someday soon. It could even be this
year."
Surprise, surprise
Flashback. Two days later.
Chan became the youngest to ever win the Canadian figure skating
championship. And he had no idea of that.
Didn't have a clue. Nobody had told him.
"Holy @#$%&!" he said.
Sorry. What was that again?
"Holy sh-moly!" he laughed.
"Oh my God," he added.
"This whole season has been like a dream. I've learned to set my goals
high. There's no reason I shouldn't, but I didn't know that. The way
I've been setting records ... At the junior worlds I became the first
Canadian in 23 years to get a medal. But this ... this is great. I go
to bed every night thinking about the Olympics in Vancouver "
Fast forward. Today.
"It does seem like a long time ago. I watch the video of that and it
seems like so much has changed. But I'm also so much the same. I'm the
same person, the same kid going to high school I was then.
"When I look back, it doesn't surprise me that I said all those things
to you then, even though I wasn't even Canadian champion yet when I
said them. It's how I've felt for a long time. I was hoping to some
day be able to skate like Kurt did and bring it back to the way it was
when he was skating. I've been trying my best to do that since, to
turn this around and bring people back and put it in front of
Canadians, in their (consciousness) again and really make a
change. And to have Kurt Browning means a lot, especially knowing he
wants the best for me. He helps motivate me."
Looking back, Chan remembers his mindset going in to those Canadians
only 14 months ago.
"Looking toward 2010, I knew that was a must, that it was the most
important competition of my life. I knew it was very important that I
make it to Worlds. I didn't want to go just once, to this one in Los
Angeles, before going to the Olympics."
Flashback. Goteborg, Sweden. Twelve months ago. Chan finishing ninth
is a mere sidebar to teammate Jeffrey Buttle's stunning upset gold
medal at Worlds.
Climbing the ladder
"It was pretty nerve-wracking. My goal is to belong with these
guys. My goal was to end up in single digits. I didn't want to be 10th
or lower. I wanted to make my place."
Chan was informed that Browning had been 15th at his first Worlds and
Elvis Stojko ninth.
"I was wondering how they did."
Fast forward. Today.
Chan says if he had those Worlds to do over again, he would.
"Maybe last year I blew the world championships out of
proportion. This year I'm planning to treat it just like any other
event. Looking back, the Worlds didn't turn out the way I wanted and
expected. I wanted to be in the last group," he said of the final six
skaters. "I think I was a bit too anxious to get what I wanted instead
of just letting it happen. I tried to force it to happen."
Flashback. Saskatoon. Two months ago.
After a season in which he went to the Grand Prix final as the
top-ranked skater but failed on his triple Axel in both the short and
long programs, Chan came home as the marquee man at the Canadian
figure skating championships.
"I can't believe it. Last year he was just Patrick Chan. Now I'm
reading the Globe & Mail and he's one of the 30 most influential
people in Canadian sport," said ice dancer Scott Moir.
"It happened pretty quick," Chan said.
"I grew up wanting to be famous. Everybody dreams of having this much
attention. But it's not like I'm walking around saying 'Oh my God I'm
getting famous.' One of the things Kurt has taught me is not to get
too big an ego and to keep close friends close to you."
The biggest compliment paid to Chan was by Buttle. It's unheard of,
two years before the Olympics, for the world champion to retire
because there's a kid coming along who he's not going to be able to
compete against.
"It was was quite a compliment," Chan said. "It was definitely a
surprise. I guess he figured it was as good as it was going to
get."
It was good for Chan in terms of timing.
"It made me face the international scene instead of the national
scene. Instead of asking: 'What is Jeff doing?' I'm asking: 'What is
Brian Joubert doing?' "
A year before, going into Canadians, the big question was if Chan had
time to develop enough to be a contender for Vancouver 2010.
"Right now I think I'm on time," he said and went out and nailed
everything. Fast forward. Today.
"Saskatoon was real important for me because of what had happened at
the Grand Prix final. I'd won two Grand Prix events but fell off those
Axels at the final and didn't make the podium.
"To be honest I think it was my attitude after leaving the Grand Prix
final and my attitude when I got to the competition. In my long
program I fell on both my triple Axels, but I kept going doing the
whole program and I didn't leave anything out. I did everything that
was planned. The only thing, I was missing was the Axel. When I got to
nationals I said to myself 'Hey, you know what? All I have to do are
the triple Axels. Everything else is there for you.
"Everything else is on the table already so you don't really have to
worry about anything else.' "
With the best
Flashback. Vancouver. One month ago.
The Four Continents test event. Chan put an exclamation mark on what
he did in Vancouver to win gold coming within a mere nine points of
Evgeny Plushenko's world best points total from the Torino 2006
Olympic Winter Games, a point total which would put him on the podium,
if not the top of the podium, at this year's Worlds in Los
Angeles. This time he not only knows he belongs with the top skaters,
he's been able to beat them all.
Fast forward. Today.
"It means I can be world champion and Olympic champion," he said.
There was only a slight pause, however, before he continued.
"But it doesn't matter because all of us are capable of being the
world champion or Olympic champion. It's who can perform on that
day. It's really hard to predict anything and think I'm on top of the
world because we're really all on top of the world. We're all up
there."
---
JOANNIE ROCHETTE
NOTES: A five-time Canadian champion from Ile Dupas, Que., Rochette
was the silver medal winner at the recent Four Continents Vancouver
2010 test event. She'd been second at the event in 2008 and third in
2007. Fifth at the Torino 2006 Olympics, she finished 17th, eighth,
11th, seventh, 10th and sixth in her first six World Figure Skating
Championships.
QUOTES: "I just so bad want to make it to the podium at these
Worlds. I want to make it happen. This is the seventh time I'm going
to Worlds but the first year I'm going believing I belong there with
the top skaters. It feels different.
"I've improved a lot. I'm proving I'm a competitor. The most important
thing is how much confidence I'm taking to Worlds this year. I'm 23
and I'm still improving and I know I can get better. I've proven to
myself that I can step it up and I've shown the judges I can do
it. I'm so motivated to go and so excited to show that I can do it now
at Worlds and then at the Olympics."
TESSA VIRTUE & SCOTT MOIR
NOTES: Silver medal winners in dance at last year's Worlds in
Goteborg, Sweden, after placing sixth in their debut the previous
year, Virtue and Moir followed it up with a silver at Four Continents
Olympic test event in Vancouver. Former world junior champions, the
London/Ilderton, Ont., duo went from fourth to third to second to
winning the last two Canadian championships.
QUOTES: "The Worlds at any time are huge. It's extra special when the
Worlds are the last ones before the Olympic Winter Games in
Vancouver. This can really set the stage for next season. We feel
we're able to stand on top of the podium when we're at our best,
whether it be this coming week in Los Angeles or next year in
Vancouver. We don't think we're competing with ourselves from last
year." (Moir).
"Being out with injury this year and coming back it's tough to figure
where we fit. And the Olympics next year adds a little more pressure,
but it's good to learn how to deal with it." (Virtue.)
JESSICA DUBE & BRYCE DAVISON
NOTES: Until they won bronze at last year's Worlds in Goteborg,
Sweden, they were best known for their horrific accident two years ago
when Davison's skate sliced Dube's face for 83 stitches. The
Drummondville, Que./Cambridge, Ont., pair had twice finished seventh
at Worlds and 10th at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games. They are
two-time Canadian champions.
QUOTES: "Winning the bronze medal last year at Worlds inspired us for
sure. We want to do that podium again. It also puts pressure on to be
as good or better. We know we can do it. We also know there's a lot of
competition in pairs. We know we can have two clean skates and finish
fourth. That's how close it is. We love competition like that. We have
really strong competition in our own nation." (Davison)
"We had two great skates at Four Continents and it gave us a lot of
confidence to take to the world championships. We tried to live up to
the expectations at Four Continents and were able to do that, so it
should be pretty good." (Dube).
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