My mom passed away two days before my short program at the Olympics
She had just arrived in Vancouver. I was supposed to have dinner with her that
night when i was pretty tired so I pushed it back to the next night
no matter how much we planned
for those Olympics I could never have planned at my mom would pass away
it was a heart attack
so it was a surprise to all of us
I kind of told
my coach and
the skating Federation that I would
do the competition probably 10 minutes after I heard the news that my mom had
passed away
that was probably a little bit quick and to be honest when I said it I didn''t even
know if I could do it if I had it in
but i knew that i wanted to try before the first short program
I felt like I was on the automatic pilot
anything when i took my starting position I had no more legs and i think the
last thought that went through my mind was oh my god how am I going to do this
it's like I don't feel great at all. But the music started and that's great about
finger skating. It's a sport where it's easier to focus when we have the music
to relate to so I think my body knew every note of that music and just did
the program by itself because I have no memory of skating that short program
I start to cry right away but I think it was just the stress, the emotions and I was
just so happy that I skated, but I didn't really remember how I skated
that was the best that I could have done that program and I was in third place
and it was my my hardest program
I knew my long program was a stronger program for me so after that I realized
Wow! I really still do have a chance to be in the podium.
That last one program really felt like the last three kilometres of a marathon,
because I had nothing left in me and I felt it towards the last minute and a half of my
program i have no more legs but I think I really gave everything I had
I had visualized that moment for a long time but with the people in there it
felt so different
the energy that was in that building was just amazing
it felt like home
Holding that medal, I felt like the little kid in kindergarten that would
draw herself on the Olympic podium
with medal around her neck and it was great but then when I got out the ice
it was just a little bit weird that
the person who shared that dream with me who had been along the way for all those
years
supporting me in the ups and downs that's what the person that I wanted to share
that medal with to show it to her and just felt
really weird that she wasn't there but I knew she was somewhere watching
In the gala
I had dropped another program there.
I was skating to James Bond's "Die Another Day"
and I thought that was really inappropriate so actually what I did is
I reused another routine that I had made up for a friend that passed away after
the 2006 Olympics, a song by Céline Dion called "Vole" which means "to fly".
🎜 Fly, fly little wing🎜
🎜 My sweet, my swallow🎜
🎜 Go off far, go off serenely🎜
🎜 There is nothing to hold you here🎜
🎜 Change worlds🎜
🎜 Fly, fly little sister🎜
It was great to skate that program for my mom because it's actually my mom who
helped me think that music back in 2006 and she loved that program and it meant a
lot to us really emotional, but it in a positive way