Apologies for the sap-filled headline, but there's really no way to talk about the performance of Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette on Tuesday night without delving into emotive prose. If you have a heart, Rochette's performance surely tugged its strings. The back story: Rochette, Canada's best hope for a medal in Vancouver and runner up at the World Championships last year, not only came to the Olympics with the pressure of the host nation on her shoulders, but went out there last night just two days after her mother died of a heart attack. Obviously an extremely emotional time – Scott Hamilton mentioned on NBC's coverage how close Rochette was to her mother – but the 24-year old skater decided to continue with the competition, falling into what is certainly the emotional safety net of "routine" in an effort to parse the emotions of the situation.
And parse she did. Holding back tears before her short program, Rochette gave an inspired performance, skating herself into third place heading into Thursday's free skate. Emotions overwhelmed her after the skate as well, as she doubled over in tears as soon as her program came to a close.
No comments:
Post a Comment