Every four years there is a juxtaposition, when a country defined by winter heads to the Summer Olympics, which Canada will do in less than three months with nearly 50 Island-based athletes in tow.
Even the official Canadian Olympic Committee advertising campaign for Rio 2016 is called Ice In Our Veins and features javelins thrown, shuttlecocks smashed and batons passed amid a snowy and icy landscape.
We get the point. Winter pursuits are never far from mind in Canada, and the top figure-skaters gave a preview Saturday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre of what to expect at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Closely watched will be two-time defending world pairs champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, who skated to Believe by Mumford and Sons, and Piano Man by Billy Joel, before an appreciative audience of 4,355 on Blanshard.
“Winning our second world championship [last month in Boston] was beyond a dream come true because we had struggled in the season and a lot of people counted us out,” said Radford.
Added Duhamel: “We never allowed ourselves to get frustrated during our struggles, but instead asked ourselves: ‘How do we learn from this?’”
Learn they did, all the way to a second successive world pairs title.
Also giving a preview of Pyeongchang 2018 were Olympic silver-medallist and three-time world champion Patrick Chan, Olympic gold- and silver-medallist ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, and Kaetlyn Osmond along with Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje.
“You can become overwhelmed thinking about the Olympics,” Duhamel said.
“We are focused on next season. We will worry about the Pyeongchang Olympics when they get here.”
Adding an international element on Blanshard was the elegant two-time world champion Javier Fernandez of Spain, who skated to Danny Boy by John McDermott, and Luck Be a Lady Tonight by Frank Sinatra.
The past was ably represented by Olympic bronze-medallist Jeffrey Buttle and three-time world champion and two-time Olympic silver-medallist Elvis Stojko, the 44-year-old who made a popular return to the show with his famous muscular brand of skating.
“Elvis is a legend of the sport and it is a thrill to be able to skate with him,” said Fernandez.
“We have built around Elvis and his strengths and I’m honoured to be a part of it,” said Chan, whose first memory of Stojko was as a kid watching Elvis on TV from Nagano 1998.
Saturday’s currently-active competitive performers still have a lot of skating ahead before their big Winter Games moment in two years at Pyeongchang.
With several of Canada’s summer Olympians training in Greater Victoria in final preparation for Rio — at Elk Lake, Saanich Commonwealth Place Pool, Westhills Stadium, Bear Mountain trails and the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence on the Camosun College Interurban campus — the figure skaters with Sochi 2014 experience were asked if they had any words of advice for their summer brethren, especially those heading to Rio as Olympic first-timers.
“People gave me so much advice going into Sochi,” said Duhamel, almost with a sigh.
“I would advise the upcoming Summer Olympians to treat it [Rio] as just another competition.”
Chan — who skated to Esqualo by Astor Piazzolla, and Mack the Knife by Michael Bublé, on Saturday — is a veteran of Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 and plans on challenging Fernandez at Pyeongchang 2018.
“Embrace the pressures and challenges of the Olympics,” responded Chan, when asked about words for Canadian summer athletes preparing for Rio.
“Remember the hours and days you are there and enjoy the overall experience. It is fleeting. And most of all, remember: You deserve to be there.”
