Meagan Duhamel wraps up the Olympic Games 2010
By Meagan Duhamel
Photos © Absolute
Skating & Ageha & Megi
Meagan kicked off our series "Skaters comment on the OG" so by passing her the keyboard one more time, she completes the circle.
So
the Olympics have ended! I have struggled this week to find interesting
things on TV. It seems like nothing captures my attention because
it’s not the excitement of the Olympics! The passion, pride and
determination shown by every single athlete competing in Vancouver
was remarkable and regardless of medals won they are all winners.
Each of them won a battle within themselves, whether for a personal
best, or the battle to overcome all adversities and compete on the
World’s biggest sporting stage. As much as I loved watching countless
hours of TV coverage from Vancouver, in 2014 I’d much rather experience
the Games from Russia! So as the Olympics has come to an end, many
skaters and athletes world-wide have now started a countdown to
Russia and these next 4 years mark a new chapter in the sport of
figure skating and the lives of skaters around the globe.
First
and foremost I send my sympathy to Joannie
and the Rochette family. What a horrible thing to occur at what
was promising to be the highlight of Joannie’s career. But life
can be cruel sometimes and Joannie was thrown into the most difficult
situation of her life. I have the great opportunity to skate almost
every day alongside Joannie and share her coach, Manon. Now, I have
to admit that I think I’m pretty tough. I can handle a lot and be
stronger because of it, but Joannie and Manon prove to me every
day how I’m not tough enough. These two women are the strongest,
most determined, passionate and TOUGH ladies I have ever had the
pleasure of meeting and they make an unstoppable match together.
When Joannie stated she would continue with the competition and
skate in honor of her mother I know she’d do well, there was no
doubt in my mind. With Manon in her corner they’d dig deep and use
their strength to pull themselves through this difficult time. Joannie
stepped on the grandest stage of all, feeling lost, exhausted and
for the first time without her mom but managed to put together a
remarkable performance. Beautiful, confident, precise and passionate.
I’m
sure many wondered “How did she do it?”, but I think the close knit
skating community knows how. She just went into auto-pilot and let
her skating take over without interfering it with her thoughts.
That’s the hardest thing to do for an athlete, to go into a competition
and stop thinking. But it’s always the goal, let your skating take
over and don’t overthink or analyze, just be. When you are well
trained this is very easy to do, because your body has done it day
after day after day. Joannie is one well trained athlete. Even though
she had never trained for a situation anything like this one, once
her music started and she took her first step her body just knew
what to do, because it had done this program every single day for
months. Joannie has now become a Canadian hero and she will no doubt
be remembered by Olympic fans and Olympians for many years to come.
The
Quad. What a debate that caused! Plushenko
has probably gone back to Russia to further discuss his quad with
anyone who cares to listen and stashed Elvis in his backpack. But
I love Plushenko. Anyone who has that much confidence and longevity
in a sport deserves respect, in my opinion. Sure he doesn’t do fancy
footwork, or difficult transitions, or effortless spins, but he
does a quad and he does it well! Patrick
Chan (below) does all the fancy footwork,
difficult transitions and effortless spins, but he doesn’t do a
quad, so we love him for what he brings to the table. Everyone is
different. If the men’s event had 24 Plushenkos, I think we would
have been bored before the first flight had finished. Same goes
if it had 24 Takahashi’s. We need different skating styles, different
personalities and different perspectives to make our sport interesting.
The new judging system has brought out so many different aspects
to a skating program. Spins, transitions, jump lay-out and choreography
to name a few. I can do a great triple Lutz, but if I do my triple
Lutz and no transitions, level one lifts and little passion, 
I
understand that I will not win. That’s not how skating works and
everyone within the sport knows this and for the most part understands
it. You find very, VERY few “all round skaters” whom excel in the
quad, transitions and choreography, and when you do find that skater
they are a real gem. Few and far between. Until the skating world
is littered with gems we appreciate every skater and what they brought
to the table. So the quad discussion…. well…. to each his own! Plushenko
and Joubert
think the quad is very important and that is what they practice
the most. Good for them, they are pushing the technical side of
our sport. Patrick and Evan
find the footwork and choreography exciting and by showcasing this
within their programs they are pushing that side of our sport. One
day we’ll find a little boy that does a quad. Has great Lori Nichol
choreography. And spins like a top. When he comes along everyone
will sit up and notice, and no one will complain about the quad
or choreography anymore.
One
last thing I want to mention was the GREAT judging in the ice-dance
event. I’m not saying this as a biased Canadian, because I actually
prefer Davis and White over Virtue and Moir usually, but on that
night in Vancouver, Virtue and Moir were better than they ever were,
and Davis and White were not far behind. Beautiful, beautiful skating
and I was so proud for our sport that the judging was correct. In
2002 I sat in the stands at a Junior Grand Prix 
event
with my coach Lee Barkell watching the ice dance event. He pointed
to the team on the ice and said “They will be Olympic Champions
in 2010”. He was pointing at Domnina
and Shabalin. I questioned his statement and he
explained they are Russia’s greatest junior dance team at the moment
and they will be experienced enough by 2010 that the Russian Federation
would be priming them for the Gold. I always remembered this statement
and watching the dance event at World’s last year that seemed correct.
The Russian Skating Federation did everything in their power to
ensure this team would be at the top in Vancouver. That’s how skating
works sometimes - unfortunately. Politics! It’s there, we all know
it, but there’s not much the skaters themselves can do. We skate,
regardless, because we love it but it is always sad to see these
things happen when there may be more deserving skaters sitting in
4th place. That’s why I was so proud of figure skating after the
dance event finished. The judges didn’t judge in political favor
of anyone. They judged what they saw and that’s how it should be.
Good for figure skating!
Thus ended another chapter of Olympic figure skating history. See you all in Russia!
Thank you Meagan, David, Leonie, Oscar, Ashley, Tamar & Kutay for making these series such a huge success!! Did you miss out on any of these?? Check them out by following the links:
The Olympic Games 2010 - Kutay
Eryoldas reports about Men LP by Kutay Eryoldas
The Olympic Games 2010 - Tamar
Katz comments on the ladies long program by Tamar Katz
The Olympic Games 2010 -
Tamar Katz comments on the ladies short program by Tamar Katz
The
Olympic Games 2010
- The Olympic Games 2010 - Krail & Peter about the FDs
by Leonie Krail and Oscar Peter
OG 2010 Extra - retired
ice dancer Ashley Foy comments on ice dance
by Ashley Foy
The
Olympic Games 2010
- The Olympic Games 2010 - Krail & Peter about the ODs
by Leonie Krail and Oscar Peter
The
Olympic Games 2010
- The Olympic Games 2010 - Krail & Peter about the CDs
by Leonie Krail and Oscar Peter
The
Olympic Games 2010 - David Richardson reports about Men SP by
David Richardson
The
Olympic Games 2010 - Meagan Duhamel comments on Pairs Free by
Meagan Duhamel
The
Olympic Games 2010 - Meagan Duhamel comments on Pairs SP
by Meagan Duhamel
