If we asked 100 Quebecers to identify an athlete currently a member of the Canadian figure skating team, there is a good chance that the answer would be incorrect or that a big red .
And we would undoubtedly obtain the same kind of result if we extended the questionnaire to international skaters.
Just a few years ago, the names Joannie Rochette, Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir and Patrick Chan were among the most prestigious in Canadian Olympic sport. They meant something and were synonymous with success. Even neophytes were at least aware of their existence.
The World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal began on Wednesday, and the lack of recognition for skaters from here and elsewhere is marked.
“It’s hard to explain, but it’s sure that when I was young, I remember Elvis Stojko, Kurt Browning, Elizabeth Manley, Brian Orser and it’s true that they weren’t just known in the world of skating. At school where my grandparents talked about them and knew them,” admits Joannie Rochette, in discussion in the corridors of the Bell Center just before the presentation of the women’s short program.
In his opinion, this downturn can be explained by the multitude of sports offered to spectators and the transformation in the way of consuming sport which made it famous: “Young people can do lots of sports, there are fewer of them at home. television. There is a cultural change. But I was impressed today. The popularity of the sport is still there. I think it’s just different in terms of the vehicle to push it. »
Madeline Schizas, Wesley Chiu and Roman Sadovsky are the only Canadians registered for the Worlds in the individual events. Respectively aged 21, 19 and 24, they do not yet enjoy fame equivalent to that of Rochette and his most famous predecessors.
Canadian skating is in the midst of a transformation, Rochette believes, and it must be admitted that the current low point contrasts with the flourishing period during which the 38-year-old skater was still active.
Canada’s last individual medal won at the Worlds dates back to 2018, when Kaetlyn Osmond won gold in Milan.
“There are cycles,” Rochette also explains. Depth and international talent also have something to do with it, she believes. “It makes it really difficult. Our skaters are good, they have all the elements, but just a small mistake of nothing at all will make the difference between a first and an eighth position, it’s so close. I don’t think it’s lack of talent. There is more depth than before. »
Win to exist?
Rochette is one of those rare athletes who had the virtuosity necessary to climb onto the Olympic podium. His male equivalent, Patrick Chan, is as decorated as a Christmas tree. In this sport as in any other, you have to win to exist in the public eye.
Is this even more true in figure skating, a more marginal discipline that reappears on our screens once every four years?
“I don’t think so, but we are in a performance sport in a World Championship context, so we put a lot of emphasis on medals,” confirms Rochette.
It would take a surprisingly extraordinary performance for a Canadian skater to climb onto the individual podium this weekend in Montreal. However, the repercussions of this prestigious competition will perhaps be felt more in the long term. And that could become the real legacy of these Worlds for Canada.
I think having them in Montreal will motivate a new generation to register. Sometimes it just takes that little spark. Seeing it in real life is a game changer and it’s not the same as on television.
Joannie Rochette
A new world
Rochette stopped following competitions with the same assiduity as before.
In the last few weeks, due to her role as ambassador for the event, she was forced to reconnect with her first love.
His first observation: “Sport is no longer the same thing as when I left it in 2010! »
She focused on the technical aspect of the routines to detail her thinking. “I didn’t think women were going to do competitive quadruple jumps like that or triple Axels. In my day, there were only a few who tried them in training, but today it has become the norm. The good thing is that the artistic side did not suffer. They mix the technical and the artistic side very well, and it gives a good show at the end. »
The way of judging, the criteria for success and the standards have changed a lot since her retirement was announced in 2010. But, she thinks, it’s better this way. Because it is thanks to this demand for excellence that a new audience will be able to join their sport. “The girls and guys are doing really more difficult jumps than what I used to do. […] Since I’ve been watching it a little less for four, five years, I see the evolution and I’m impressed. »