Orser finally gets his gold
Last Updated: Friday, February 26, 2010 | 3:36 AM ET
The Canadian Press
South Korea's Kim Yu-Na reacts with coach Brian Orser after her free program in the figure skating competition at the Vancouver Olympics. (David J. Phillip/Associated Press)Twenty-two years after losing the Battle of the Brians at the Calgary Games, Brian Orser has finally hit Olympic gold.
Sure, he did it vicariously, as the coach who guided South Korean phenom Kim Yu-Na to the gold-medal podium Thursday at the Vancouver Olympics.
But the man who had to settle for silver as a competitor admitted there was for him a sense of long overdue redemption in his student's stunning victory.
"OK, yes it is," he said, breaking into uproarious laughter.
"It's here, it's in Canada, it's the Olympics. I'm wearing a different hat, but it feels great."
Orser, now 48, has been coaching Kim for four years. When the lithe South Korean star skates, he compulsively mirrors her movements on the rink's sidelines. It looks as if he's trying to skate the performance with her.
"Every day, I skate the programs with her. I know all the steps. And I can't help myself," he explained, clutching Kim's bouquet for her while she was being interviewed by a crush of reporters.
"I try to send energy and it also helps me pass the time."
He admitted feeling enormous relief when Kim landed a triple flip, a jump that has caused her problems in the past. It's also the jump that cost him a gold medal at the Calgary Olympics in 1988.
Won 2 silver medals
Orser, from Penetanguishene, Ont., also won silver at the 1984 Winter Games, behind American Scott Hamilton.
As the flag-bearer during the 1988 opening ceremonies, he bore the weight of the country's expectations on his slim shoulders. But he was in a tough and highly publicized skate-off with American Brian Boitano.
Boitano won the compulsory figures (no longer a component of Olympic competition). Orser won the short program. In the long program, Boitano was flawless. But Orser stepped out of a triple flip.
Orser, from Penetanguishene, Ont., had also won silver at the 1984 Winter Games, behind American Scott Hamilton.
Orser the coach said he wouldn't have been able to take it if the same jump had derailed Kim's gold-medal journey.
"When she got through that triple flip, I did have a secret sigh of relief. Because I thought — I didn't want to have this ironic moment that she would not win the Olympic Games because of a bloody triple flip," he said.
"I just wouldn't be able to live with that, to be honest with you."
While evidently jubilant after Kim completed her flawless program, an hour later Orser had the air of a man at peace.
"I never really tried to think about it too much as far as completing my Olympic journey, but I guess it has in a sense." he admitted.
"There is a sense of closure."
