It’s hard enough to compete at the Olympics with the hopes of a nation riding on your efforts. But how do you do it when you’re carrying a heavy heart as well? Figure skater Joannie Rochette of Canada learned two days before the ladies’ short program that her mother, Therese, always an ardent supporter of her skating career, had passed away from a heart attack the day she arrived in Vancouver to watch her daughter skate. Rochette decided to compete, explaining that “Ten years from now, when the pain has gone away a little bit, I would have wished I skated here. I know it’s what my mom would have wanted me to do.”
While most figure-skating fans were focused on the Far East rivalry between Kim Yu Na of Korea and Mao Asada of Japan, Rochette’s tragedy lured in just about anyone else who empathized with her loss and hoped to support her courageous attempt to continue with her Olympic dream. As all of Canada held its breath, she executed two solid programs to earn a bronze medal, the country’s first in the ladies’ event since 1988, behind Kim’s gold and Asada’s silver. Afterward, Rochette seemed relieved to finally be able to talk about her loss and the hands-on role her mother played in her skating, even joking that “even though she is not here any more, I’m not afraid to say it, sometimes she was a pain in the ass.”