olympic content – blog 12 by pj kwong
There is nothing like being in the rink during an event when the hometown favourites take the ice. My colleagues here have been waiting for two weeks to catch a glimpse of the 2018 Olympic Silver medallists and Chinese pair champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han. They did not disappoint. They were dazzling and sit in first place.
For Ontario’s Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro the short program proved to be challenging. As they started the preparation for their throw, he caught his blade which caused him to fall and for her to not be in a perfectly upright aerial position which meant a fall on the landing edge. It was costly as the scores reflected a two-point deduction and those two points would have meant qualifying in the top 10 in the event.
Not to worry. These Canadian champions are seasoned competitors and are more likely to rise to the challenge of the free program than fade away from it.
Three-time World champion and two-time Olympic silver medallist (and fellow Ontarian) Elvis Stojko sees it this way:
“We’ve all been there and all I can tell you is that there are several stages that an athlete has to go through,” Elvis told me in conversation last night. “The first is shock. You can’t quite believe that this just happened. Next comes beating yourself up and feeling sad about what happened. Then comes feeling totally pissed off. The good news about that feeling is that if you can settle in, you can use that to fuel your free program.”
When you may be thinking: Now What? You should be saying: Hold On Tight.
Elvis maintains that you have to get out of your own head and allow for your training to unfold. That letting go of the past and being in the present and not worrying about what will happen in the future is the key to moving past disappointment – any kind of disappointment.
Today is a new day. The future is now.
We are #SkateOntarioProud #figureskating #Beijing2022
Make sure you check out my exclusive blog for Skate Ontario on our page dedicated to the Games. We will also be continuing with our live YouTube and Facebook Live show every Friday at 10am ET called #3Turn3. We are also posting fresh videos every day of the Games on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. If you want to get caught up with the Olympians from the Skate Ontario family who will be found in every discipline in Beijing – subscribe to our Skate Ontario YouTube channel , and check out these links:
KIRSTEN MOORE-TOWERS & MICHAEL MARINARO
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