Turin, Italy — Refreshing.
That’s the way Patrick Chan is – refreshingly honest. And he discusses matters in such a way that he separates himself from most other elite athletes out there.
“It stinks,” he said of his fifth-place finish at the Vancouver Olympics. “Then it settles in and you understand that you’re not the only star here Patrick. You’re not the only one working his butt off to get somewhere.”
That qualifies as an epiphany.
TURIN, Italy – With the pressure of the Vancouver Olympics off his shoulders, Canada’s Patrick Chan finds himself in the hunt for a medal at the world figure skating championships.
The 19-year-old from Toronto finished second in the short program, scoring 87.80 points with a virtually flawless performance.
Hey Everyone!
If there’s anyone out there like me who was obsessed with the Olympics, the red mittens, and all the hype that surrounded it than you’ll all feel like life has gotten way too monotonous since then. Regular tv just doesn’t cut it anymore and even my favorite tv shows have lost its luster compared to the reality and the raw emotion that the Olympics had. Another four years! Don’t steal my idea but I intend to search for hotel rooms and flight tickets sometime soon for SOCHI 2014!
Anyways, Patrick is off to Italy today. Talked to him last night and he said that he’s been training really well and has been feeling really good about his skating. Aside from some “silly” mistakes that he made in Vancouver he said that he has overcome them and is looking forward to Italy. If your from Canada, don’t forget to watch him next Wednesday live on either CBCSports.ca or CBC Bold. You can even judge the event yourself at Skatebuzz! Patrick will be taking his camera along so hopefully he will give us some behind the scenes stuff again like he did for Vancouver (which by the way there are more to come).
Just in case you haven’t seen the video yet, we have launched a new (yet small) contest for all of Patrick’s fans. Basically, he has read several questions over the past month and promises to respond to them. However please send in your questions through fan mail or commenting and try to be extremely unique! The most interesting question will win a signed box of Cheerios! (and yes you will get the cereal inside it as well)
Side Note: Yesterday was St. Patty’s day and I received this awesome fan mail for Patrick. Such a cute story that I thought I had to share it.
Yesterday, when our 5 yr old woke up I told him it was St. Patrick’s Day – that it was a “holiday” and we would wear green…he went along with it all. Later in the day he asked me when we were going to see Patrick Chan skate, confused I said I didn’t know. (Our kids both recently met Patrick at the Olympics) Throughout the day he would ask the question repeatedly. In the evening, we were shopping and he saw all the green gear for St. Patrick’s Day – he was so excited and wanted to buy some for “St. Patrick Chan Day”!! He was convinced that we were going to see Patrick skate and that we were to celebrate all day!! March 17th will be Patrick Chan day in our house!
Thanks Kristy for sharing your story! Anyways, stayed tuned for more updates and keep sending in your questions!
- Aivory
Patrick Chan says Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek helped him “feel better and move on” after a disappointing fifth-place finish at his first Games last month.
It’s not what the 25-year-old American figure skater said or did. Quite the opposite, in fact.
First, there is Lysacek’s gold – not the one around his neck in Vancouver, but the one he didn’t win four years ago at his rookie Games in Turin. If Lysacek could rebound after a fourth-place finish, 20-year-old Chan figures he could trade fifth for a podium in four years, too.
Patrick Chan may not need a quadruple jump in his routine to win at future global events or the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, but he definitely wants one.
It just won’t be next week in Turin, Italy, at the 2010 world figure skating championships.
The three-time national champion, who finished fifth at the Olympic Games in Vancouver, told a conference call on Wednesday the big jump is on the to-do list.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/figureskating/story/2010/03/17/spf-chan-worlds-quad.html#ixzz0iXVW3xhy
Hey PChiddy Fans!
Patrick is offering one signed box of Cheerios to the fan who sends in the most unique and interesting question. He also answers some questions in this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq1qPIuKMxk
Check it out and send in your questions here! We will be monitoring them over the next couple weeks.
Aivory
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.
Photos Courtesy of Gerard Chataigneau
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
