We recently had breakfast with a great Canadian sporting family, Lewis and Karen Chan, parents of Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan. As we sat and talked, we had a great discussion with a very knowledgeable, friendly and supportive Olympic family.

All In The Family

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Patrick has had the kind of success that he’s experienced when you talk to his parents and learn about their sporting lineage. His father Lewis, who grew up in Montreal, played table tennis competitively at a high level, winning the Junior Championship in Quebec and representing that province on the national stage. After retiring from Table Tennis, Lewis moved on to new pursuits such as weight lifting, tennis and skiing.

Patrick’s mother, Karen, has her own strong sporting background. Karen won the city championship in both Singles and Mixed-Doubles Tennis when she was younger. While telling us about her tennis background, she corrected Lewis when he mistakenly said ‘doubles’ as he was describing her sports experience.

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Photos Courtesy of Gerard Chataigneau

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Final Leg of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games! and we got a Gold from Scott and Tessa!

I would like to point out that when I first watched Scott and Tessa perform their free dance at Thornhill back in August 2009, I did mention that the routine was potentially the gold-medal winning performance!

Prior to leaving Vancouver on Saturday I was able to have lunch with the Chan’s and catch up a little. Patrick’s mom Karen and I have a mutual love for crabs, especially fried crabs cooked in garlic.  The both of us can sit for hours and literally just pick at the crabs until they’re clean.  Anyways, so we all met up at this restaurant downtown called Tropika for their crab selection.  It’s also been a while since Patty ate anything remotely “bad” for him so I guess we can splurge a little.

It was cool just catching up.  He told me about the athlete village and how massive his space is! (He’s rooming with Bryce, Scott, and Vaughn, can anyone hear DANGER?) LOL The bathrooms are huge apparently and they have waterfall showers which is really cool.  I told him to take a video of his space so hopefully he does that soon! He also showed me his accreditation and the coolest thing about it is this tiny coke id that basically allows the athletes to swipe at any vending machine in the city and get free pop!

The star athletes and notable figures he’s met so far include Alex Bilodeau, Sidney Crosby and Michael Buble.  I can’t remember the story of meeting Crosby exactly although I remember an elevator somewhere. I’ll ask again.  What was refreshing though was that even after all that hype and celebrity status that Patty has now acquired, deep down he’s still the same guy.  We still talk about the same things we always have and eat the same stuff.  He still struggles with eating his crabs and loves his rice. Getting him through Robson street though was an experience and a half.  That’s when he gets swarmed although he really does take the time out to smile for everyone and take photos.

I’m going to work on getting Patrick a form.spring account so that he can answer your questions directly when he has a chance.  He’s still in Vancouver this week enjoying the rest of the Olympics before he starts training again!

Side Note: Best of Luck to Joannie Tonight! Your mom would be proud!

- Aivory

Patrick made the National Post’s Worthy 30 of Toronto:

Patrick Chan Age 19. Sign Capricorn. Gig Olympic figure skater. Drink of choice Ginger ale. Celebrity twin Keanu Reeves. Dream date Taylor Swift. Guilty pleasure “Video games.” Fun fact “I can be a goof ball.” Words to live by “Be a good person.” Why Shinan picked me “I am a fresh face in figure skating.”

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Lewis Chan has sat in the stands watching his son’s figure-skating practices for 13 years, but this morning’s practice might just be the most memorable.

Patrick, 19, will take to the ice to warm up for the men’s figure-skating short program in which he will be representing Canada this afternoon.

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For his first Olympic debut he comes fifth? I’m definitely happy! He can proudly boast that he is fifth in the WORLD!

I was definitely nervous walking into the rink yesterday.  A lot more subdued than when I first went in during the short.  Arriving an hour early, there was a lot of time to build up anticipation and nerves. I was more focused on watching skating, (and neglected twitter).  It was cool though, I sat next to the girls from General Mills, one of which created the Cheerios cereal box with Patty’s face.  Pretty cool to give them a running commentary of the event as well as answer any questions they might have about skating and scoring.

The first axel Patrick did was amazing! I was feeling good and really his Phantom routine is ridiculously hard! If anyone else were to skate that program they would be out of breath by the middle, without jumps! That’s how hard it is! I’m sure I don’t need to recap the routine since it will probably be on youtube but I can definitely tell you that I could finally breathe after he skated.  I’m incredibly pleased with his skate.

I had a good chat with his mom after the event.  We both came to an agreement that Patrick should now realize what he is capable of.  Even with flaws in his routine he managed to come fifth which shows that he does have the capability for greatness.  He isn’t far at all from winning gold and with a little more training and focus for another four years, he is well positioned to really achieve his dream! (I’m also extremely happy that Evan won btw, he’s my second favorite).  A little more hard work and more experience and Patty will get there, I’m sure! What an Olympic Experience!

Off again to explore the city! I’ll be hanging out with the Chan’s tomorrow so hopefully I’ll be able to get inside Patty’s head and fill you in with more details about his experience.  Till then!

-Aivory

Hey Chiddy Fans!

What a day! (Eh? Because we are in Canada after all) This has been quite a day so I’ll recap what Vancouver is like right now.  Arriving at the airport you see so much Olympic Pride sprawled out on every wall and every corner.  The accreditation station is located inside the airport itself which is pretty cool! I really have to commend VANOC and Translink for the ease of transportation moving in and around Vancouver.  The trains are straight forward and get you everywhere and the buses are also very convenient.  From where I’m staying in Burnaby to Downtown or the Pacific Coliseum it has been a breeze, accessibility wise.  I’ll follow this up with some pictures.

Walking around downtown Burrard is walking in a sea of red and white.  Never have I seen such Canadian pride before, it really is an amazing experience! (Plus, Vancouver really is the home of food.  I found a restaurant I wanted to eat at on every corner! I settled with Guu on Thurlow though, which was a fantastic choice!) Anyways, getting back to the point at hand.

First day of the Men’s competition.  I was so nervous walking into the PNE (could also be because there were policemen just walking around everywhere!) It’s funny, walking downtown, all you see is red and white but walking into the Pacific Coliseum all you see is sky blue! All the volunteers and anyone from VANOC is wearing that light blue color.

I’ve been in skating for a long time and never have I been that interested in the first group of a competition.  However, this competition was so different.  I am actually in awe of how amazing today’s skating was.  I have never seen that many clean programs at an international competition before! Notable mentions go to Florent Amodio who started off the competition on a high note.  Denis Ten was also another crowd favorite as was Daisuke Takahashi and Evan Lysacek.  I am very aware that there have been several other amazing skates but for me, those ones were my favorite.  Now about Patrick’s skate.  Yes he has definitely skated better days and even his axel during the warm up was a lot more spectacular than the one he did in competition.  However, he is sitting in seventh place which isn’t that far from the podium at all! I still have a lot of hope in him and I’m resting on the fact that he usually delivers when he has too.  I have so much faith in this kid, not only because he is my best friend but also because I know how much this means to him as well.  So I’m not worried and really I am so so proud of him for getting here to Vancouver as well!  It really is his dream come true to be able to skate on Olympic Ice!! Let’s keep cheering him on Canada! #Chancan!

I’ll keep updating from Vancouver as the week progresses with all the exciting events and news! Till tomorrow!

- Aivory

Finally en route to Vancouver to see Patty skate tomorrow! It is still unbelievable that he’s at the Olympics, and he’s going to have the skate of his life in T-1 day! Okay maybe not unbelievable but more surreal since its something we’ve all expected to happen but never really realized how fast this day would come.  Following Patrick’s twitter is really interesting, apparently he had a much larger standing ovation after his practice than most people do at other events! imagine the roar of the crowd tomorrow night!

Story of the day, of course since I’m leaving for Vancouver, I’m decked out head to toe in either Olympic gear or something red.  Crossing security, my bag was inspected and the lady then chatted up with me about the Olympics and Patrick.  She saw that I had my multitude of gadgets in my bag and asked if I was a photographer (which I’m not.) We then launched into a five minute conversation about how she saw this figure skater on tv and was rooting for him.  Naturally it was Patrick and of course I did express how proud I was about my best friend.  It’s funny how he’s a local celebrity (or national) since he’s always just been that goofy kid that eats my food and is somehow amazing at all sports (he plays golf, soccer, tennis, skiing, and others as well!).  Hopefully it doesn’t get to his head. LOL

Anyways, I’ll try to document what my Vancouver experience is like.  I’ll talk about the transportation, the energy levels, quotes from Patrick’s mom, etc.  I’m not sure how much access I will get to Patrick before he skates but hopefully I do get to see him after.  Stay tuned for more!

-Aivory