Coming off the thrill of a Canadian gold in ice dancing last night, all eyes will be on Canadian Joannie Rochette as she performs in the ladies' figure skating free skate after the sudden death of her mother
EMAIL
| PRINT
| REPORT TYPO
| SEND YOUR FEEDBACK
|
Will grief help or hinder Rochette?
- February 23, 2010 2:58 PM |
- By Erin Valois
Story provided by
By Mary Vallis, National Post
Coming off the thrill of a Canadian gold in ice dancing last night, all eyes will be on Canadian Joannie Rochette as she performs in the ladies' figure skating free skate after the sudden death of her mother.
Rochette's mother, Therese, died Monday of a heart attack on Sunday. Fifty five years old, she had just arrived in Vancouver to watch her daughter compete at the Olympic Games.
Rochette's mother was said to be the 24-year-old skater's No. 1 fan. The French Canadian skater's teammates are lauding her courageous decision to go on with the competition. Will her grief be so overpowering that it leaves her unsteady, unable to perform at her usual level of greatness? Or will it be the skate of her life, dedicated to her mother's memory and bringing her an Olympic medal?
Experts in grief say the performance could go either way.
"What scares me for her is following a loss, we have a reduced ability to concentrate," said Eric Cline, a former funeral director and executive director Grief Recovery Institute of Canada. "It will be impossible for her to put Mom out of her mind while practicing and performing."
So soon after her mother's death, Rochette is likely still moving on autopilot, said Dawn Cruchet, a certified grief educator and counsellor in Montreal.
Skating is naturally what Rochette would want to do, Cruchet explained.
"The skating helps define her and what she is, and you reach into that. That's why it's probably quite logical for her to feel that she wants to skate," she said. "There are just no rules in grief. It might be the best skate of her life. It might be the worst, or anywhere in between."
This was never going to be an easy skate. Rochette is competing against Kim Yu-Na, a South Korean contender who travels with bodyguards because she has so many fans ready to mob her. Sports Illustrated's E.M. Swift says she among the best female skaters of all time: "I don't say that lightly, but Kim is the complete package: elegant, athletic, fast, beautiful, charismatic."
Rochette is likely living minute by minute -- it is too soon yet to even think about getting through day by day, Cruchet said.
Without a doubt, Canadians will not rail against Rochette if she does not skate to the best of her ability. It's simply not in our nature; most of us can imagine the pain she is feeling. And that is exactly the way it should be.
"The best thing that the public can do, the gift they can give her, is to love her and support her with no judgment," Cruchet said. "Just be there with her."
About the Author
- Bruce Arthur Bruce Arthur is the National Post's national sports columnist. A Vancouver native, he has been with the Post since 2001, and a columnist since 2005. He is covering his second Olympics, after the 2008 Games in Beijing. He expects these Games to be slightly less propagandistic, and for China to win slightly fewer medals.
- Joe O'Connor Joe O'Connor is a roving sports feature writer with an open-ended beat. He joined the National Post in 2002, and has spent the past seven years bouncing from sport to sport, offering fresh perspectives and delivering unique stories wherever he goes. Whether it has been getting Don Cherry to open up about his love life; George Chuvalo to talk about heartbreaking loss; or racing down the side of a mountain with former Crazy Canuck, Dave Irwin, the veteran Postie chases a story wherever it leads. Before joining the newspaper he was a two-time silver medalist at the National Magazine Awards. Vancouver will be his first Olympics.
Recent Entries
- To Iginla, Crosby's call sounded like gold
- "Iggy!" It's a scream Jarome Iginla has heard many times in his career. But never this loudly, never with so much urgency.... Continue reading this post
- Olympic Memories: Heartbreak and triumph
- For all the moments that made you so damned happy you wanted to cry -- the triumph of Alex Bilodeau and his brother Frederic, the delirium of Marianne St-Gelais as she watched her boyfriend Charles Hamelin win gold, the pure... Continue reading this post
- Olympic Memories: The strength of a lion
- It happened in a blink. A skier was skittering down a steep and icy slope at Whistler Olympic Park and disappeared into the woods.... Continue reading this post
