Figure skaters focus on final touches
Virtue and Moir, Rochette have sights set on 2010 podium
Last Updated: Friday, February 5, 2010 | 11:27 PM ET
By Lindsey Craig, CBC Sports
Joannie Rochette begins her quest for a gold medal on Feb. 23. (Getty Images)No matter how much she trains and prepares, there is one moment when Joannie Rochette can't help but get nervous.
"When they call my name and I get into my starting pose, it's the most stressful moment," said the 24-year-old.
To be as prepared as possible, the Olympic medal contender has been watching video replay of Michelle Kwan at the 1998 Nagano Games. Not of her routine — but the seconds before the American began.
Before executing her silver-medal performance, the native of Ile Dupas, Que., says Kwan looked anything but nervous.
"She really tried to enjoy it," Rochette said. "She was pumping her arms in the air, cheering for herself. She was enjoying the intensity of the competition."
Rochette, Canada's 2010 national champion, will vie for the podium beginning Feb. 23.
That's when she's slated to perform her short program. Two days later, she'll compete in the ladies' free skate.
With one week remaining before the opening ceremony, Rochette is focused on not only staying calm before her name is called, but ironing out a few final wrinkles in her routines.
"I'm working to be more on the music," she said of her short program. "[The changes are] something that maybe only I will feel."
Another important detail is her costume — which is undergoing more than a touch-up. Rochette is in the process of changing it entirely.
"Not that I wasn't happy, I just wanted to try something different that goes with the music more," she said. "I will feel more comfortable."
Training with her in Montreal is former Olympic bronze medallist and world champion Jeffrey Buttle.
The chance to work together in the final days before the Games, she says, is a good omen.
"It feels like I'm back to four years ago right before Torino," she said, referring to their pre-Olympic training days in Montreal in 2006.
"He pushes me even more, and it's great I have someone I can talk to who's lived the Olympics before," she said. "It was lucky for both of us last time too."
But this time, one advantage for Rochette, which will help her relax, is the chance to compete amid a sea of Canadian flags.
'I want to embrace the pressure'
"Having a home Olympics, you feel like you're welcoming the world in your playground. I want to embrace the pressure. It's good to have people cheering for you a little bit more," she said.
Also looking to embrace that pressure is Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, ice dancers of London, Ont.
They, too, are feeling confident in their final stage of preparation.
"We're just tweaking a couple of things," Moir said. "We're making sure everything is exactly right."
The duo wowed their home crowd at the national championships mid-January, held at the John Labatt Centre in London.
If any bet's a safe one, it's that the two will not only reach the podium in Vancouver, but climb to the very top.
Moir is nearly willing to make that bet himself.
"We want that medal more than anyone else, and we've put ourselves in the position to do that," he said.
When asked about other European teams, or even if they'd seen a video of Russian competitors on YouTube, the duo said they weren't concerned with their opponents.
"I think the big focus for Tessa and I … is just to focus on ourselves. We believe in the product we have, we're not concerned about other European or North American teams," he said.
While they don't appear to need it, Virtue said she's taking extra measures to bring them luck in Vancouver.
"I'm quite superstitious," she said. "I'm always putting my left skate on before the right, [and having a] safety pin in my dresses, things like that."
Virtue and Moir will take Olympic stage when ice dance competition begins Feb. 19.
