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Finnish and US flags, so Maurizio Margaglio and ? who in the US? Massimo Scali? Igor?

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Grimm/Savitskiy split 💔

I was rooting for them. I am sad about it.

Just saw them at Junior Worlds and was at the JGPF last season (and they always shared my photos on their Instastories) and this annoucement came out of nowhere for me 😢

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So it seems like the Shibs are already working that PR machine in their favor. I have to wonder who's their agent because they sure are effective in getting them media attention.

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So apparently no Russian ice dance or pairs teams were approved by the ISU for the 2026 Olympics. Not sure if this is completely final, but if it is only the men and women disciplines will have Russian skaters trying to qualify a spot for the Olympics at Chinese Nebelhorn (aka the Olympics qualifier event).

Given Petrosian is almost a lock for a spot, I will say that it makes me sick to my stomach that Eteri will actually have a competitor at the event and will get to attend it in an official capacity after what happened in 2022. Shameful that she was never penalized for her part, which is perhaps the biggest part of all involved.

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“but calling figure skating sterile and saying she hated it is a strange thing to say in the middle of a speech sharing her expertise about high performance,”

Why is that strange? She’s talking to a bunch a people who probably hate their corporate jobs, and want to know how to make as much money as fast possible so they can get the heck out. She’s telling everyone exactly how to win even when you hate what you do. That’s worth more than $50k, because most people don’t know how to do that.

OK anons, I'm gonna need y'all to stop projecting your own opinions on people you don't know. I work in one of the biggest corporates in the world and rest assured, unlike what you see in popular media of corporate workers having no soul and just waiting to go paint/perform/any other "artistic" profession, many of us are very happy with our jobs, we love what we do and the people we work with, and while making good money is deinetly one of the objectives it's not the only one.

Tessa was sharing her story, there's no reason to scrutinize her wording if it, just like no one scrutinized Gabi P. or any other skater who shares their complicated experience with the sport.

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The only people still confused by VM are the ones who make it confusing. VM’s hypothetical romantic relationship has a stranglehold on some fans. They can’t let it go. I blame the rpf lmao.

I actually don't blame RPF, but it sure didn't help matters. At the end of the day the level of obsession people developed for TS was beyond healthy (stalking, harraasment, bullying, etc) and we see the same in other fandom that don't have RPF as a big influence (to my knowledge).

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i competed in my sport (not skating) for almost 10 years and decided to quit 2 years ago, i was not even remotely close to the level tessa was and only did regional junior competitions, but anyway i hated it, the environment, some of the coaches behaviour and the mental aspect. there were a few times when i geniuinely love the sport itself but for the most part i was in it for my teammates, i honestly think that the friendships you make in sport are the best because those people are the ones who know what you've been through, and i love and will always love every one of my teammates but the relationships are so complicated to the point i speak to most of them once a month or so, and most of them are still competing or involved in the sport.

i don't want to compare myself to tessa and my relationships with my teammates to the one tessa and scott had/have, but i see some similarities, that is why tessa has been a big rolemodel to me at the time i was distancing myself from my sport. i think some people can't see how complicated the world of sport is from the outside. imo tessa saying she hates skating can't have been easy for her, she may have exagerrated for effect to better engage the audience and things are surely not so black and white. as a people pleaser myself i can't even fathom saying i hate my sport out loud, let alone saying it to an audience knowing it may get back to the people who were in it with me. tessa speaking somewhat openly about her feelings toward skating is really inspiring to me and i really don't understand the criticism she gets and has always got whenever she speaks her mind given that people also criticise her for being rehearsed and not spontaneus.

for me i think it's easy to look back on my experience now with rose coloured glasses on and see only the good side, but with a little perspective i can see that the bad parts outweigh the good. tessa surely has some good memories during the first 18 years of her career, but i think we have to remember she was giving a speech for a corporate conference, so she probably was aiming to keep the audience engaged and interested in what she had to say and exagerated her feelings a little, also from what i understand she was not the only speaker at that conference so i assume she had a limited amount of time in which she couldn't elaborate her feelings to the full extent

Thank you for sharing your story anon. I have never been part of organized sport like you have, but I have other experiences in my life that I feel give me a similar perspective to yours.

I truly feel that at least to some extent, some of the differences come from a lack of real-life experience with a lot of the skating fans on social media. Many of them are in their early 20s, have lived through very little hardship and challenges, and they just don't know how to connect or understand true hardship unless it's all very performative and written in a way that appeals to Gen Z.

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This anon wants to rewrite history because Scott was more slandered by this awful fandom for his private life since november 2018 than Tessa .Some trolls even wished his wife have a miscarriage

I don't get the ask? Both Tessa and Scott were heavily abused by a big portion of their fandom and the skating fandom in general. It's not a competition of who suffered more, both of them should have never experienced what they did (and unfortunately, as we see, still do to some extent).

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The big 2025 and vm and their relationship still have everyone in a chokehold nice to see some things never change especially with that podcast with scott and tessas recent talk everyone is till in confusion and honestly me too

I have to be honest and say that I have zero confusion regarding their partnership, they've been mostly consistent with their words if you actually listen to what they have to say and don't try to make it fit fans' narratives IMO.

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It's not like Tessa is seeing any of this discussion. She has a right to her feelings and opinions, but calling figure skating sterile and saying she hated it is a strange thing to say in the middle of a speech sharing her expertise about high performance, and her vibe is not that doing it her way in the comeback made her more empowered, so what is the aim of this speech that she's charging $50K for

Tessa seeing or not seeing these discussions is irrelevant, we are entitled to voice our opinion, especially when people are being their usual toxic selves.

Nothing weird about what she said or where she said it, if she's making 50K per public appearance than all the power to her for being worth that price, not sure why it obviously bothers you. And regarding her "calling figure skating sterile and saying she hated it is a strange thing to say in the middle of a speech sharing her expertise about high performance" - if that's her experience, then that's 100% what she should be saying, arguing with it is legit wild.

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you mentioned Cizeron having no range and it got me thinking: how important do you think versatility is for a skater to be an all time great? should they be able to do several types of programs well or really excel in one specific style?

i think one of the best things about Tessa and Scott is that they could really do so many types of programs and it showed adaptability (ex: Moulin Rouge and Mahler), which is something i never felt like P/C had

Are you asking for my opinion or how the judges judge? IMO, versatility is a MUST, if you can only do one genre well and can not emote or perform any others, you can not be considered a GOAT. Judges don't seem to think that considering how P/C's career went.

V/M were the most versatile team of all time IMO, there isn't a genre they didn't do, and do well. P/C are one of the least versatile top teams of all times, F/G are also one tricky pony for example.

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Motherhood has likely given her perspective too. It’s allowed her to be more honest about what she went through. Having a child makes you more compassionate towards your younger self

Yes, I mentioned it as well. She's a 36-year-old woman with the life experience of a much older woman who lived through many challenges (health, family, toxic environment, etc). She's often referred to as spoiled and privileged, but she didn't have it easy in many ways, and as she matures, life gives her more and more perspective. It should be encouraged and embraced, not criticized.

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No literally, I've always wondered this - for years - what *is* it about Tessa that makes people criticize her for things so many other skaters are applauded for?! As you say, Gabi says very similar things - Yuna Kim, Sasha Trusova - so many other women have either wanted little to do with the sport after retiring and/or have publicly spoken about how they would never let their kids do it and how harmful the sport can be, hundreds of people on Twitter (fans of figure skating may I add) talk daily about how the sport is rotten to its core, go crazy about anyone with an injury continuing to try to compete, or discuss the practically weekly allegations of sexual assault and/or the fact that judging can be a complete farce and/or the ridiculous expectations and degradations of women yet when Tessa says it, speaking from her own experience, somehow she's being rude or stepping out of line?

Don't even get me started on every other figure skater being applauded for getting sponsorships, something every successful athlete does or aims to do, yet from the beginning and to this day, for some reason Tessa doing the exact same thing and being good at it makes her money hungry.

It's just really bizarre to me.

I'm right there with you on feeling it's beyond bizarre. She's heavily criticized for being rehearsed and ingenuine since people struggle to understand just how hard it is to be in the spotlight in the way she had to be. But when she's telling it like it is? People goes crazy when it doesn't align with what they want her to say.

Tessa has always been the target of hate for the way she talks, what she says, her endorsements and sponsorship and what not. There are very specific typecasts for female skaters that are "accepted" by the skating fandom, and if you don't fall into one of those categories you will face a lot of hate, but honestly we are not ready for that discussion yet.

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People want honesty from Tessa but only if it aligns with the vision they have in their head of her/her relationship with skating. It’s like they’re waiting for her to have some big revelation about skating that will bring her back to the sport

I also don't necessarily think her views are qhat's keeping her from the sport, she genuinely seem to love the buisness world for many years, it doesn't have to be more deep than her choosing a career path she's passionate about...

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There are “fans” of VM that will forever be pissed that Tessa “dumped/didn’t want Scott.” They believe every little story they and others created in their fantasy world and T is an evil witch in their eyes.

The fact that the people tearing her down for talking about her own experiences are other women is sad. Then add to it that they are negating her feelings and trashing because of a MAN they don’t know personally is even sadder.

This time I don't think it's related to Scott. Maybe some people's views on Tessa are related to how they viewed Tessa and Scott's relationship but for the most part I didn't see him mentioned aside from from people saying that while Tessa hated skating she likely love skating with Scott which was partially what kept her going which I tend to agree with.

Regardless the people tearing her down being women - that's unfortunately has always been the case, the skating fandom is highly misogynistic, and the V/M fandom have been notorious for their part in it.

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Why did it make some people clutch their pearls? It seems like a lovely speech she gave!

People didn't like that she said she basically hated skating until 2016 and loved it beyond anything else 2016-2018. It's deemed disrespectful or whatever. Go figure.

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Performance Under Pressure: Unlocking Potential and Sustaining Excellence with Tessa Virtue

May 8, 2025

The most decorated figure skater in Olympic history, Tessa Virtue spent 20 years pushing the boundaries of her sport, collecting five Olympic medals — including three golds — alongside her on-ice partner, Scott Moir. Now, as an executive advisor at Deloitte, with an MBA and a Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology, she translates the lessons learned from her experience as an elite athlete into actionable strategies to help leaders and their teams unlock and empower high performance.

Tessa was the closing speaker at Showcase 2025 — Speakers Spotlight’s annual, client-exclusive, TED-style event. This year’s theme was “Meeting the Moment” with each featured expert offering clarity and guidance to better navigate the challenges ahead on a national, organizational, leadership, and individual level.

In her captivating presentation, Tessa took us on an intimate journey through her Olympic experience, sharing her tried and tested strategies for sustaining individual excellence and performance under intense pressure.

The Vancouver Era: Naïve Ambition

Breaking down her presentation into three chapters, representing each of her Olympic games, Tessa defined her Vancouver era as a period of “naïve ambition”.

After narrowly missing the 2006 Torino Games, Tessa and Scott vowed to never be on the cusp of qualifying again. They were pushing for gold at the 2010 Olympic Games despite daunting odds — no North American team had ever won, no team had ever won at such young ages, and no team had won without first winning a World Championship or attending an Olympic Games, Tessa said.

They doubled down on training, often spending 12-14 hours at the rink. While this “more is more” approach earned praise from their coaches, it also earned Tessa a debilitating injury requiring surgery just one year before the 2010 Games.

Tessa spent her first Olympics in a massage chair, receiving eight hours of physiotherapy every day. Surrounded by the best athletes in the world, she felt ashamed as she counted the 282 steps to the cafeteria knowing if she took that journey, she wouldn’t be able to practice that day.

During competition, something came over them. “We took the ice at the coliseum and squeezed each other’s hands; we were just 7 and 9 years old again… We found flow together for the first time ever,” Tessa said. While we earned gold, we were not yet masters of our craft, she continued.

The Sochi Era: Win at All Costs

Ten months later, Tessa underwent surgery again. No longer the underdogs, they were reigning champions, and it was a heavy weight to carry. Anything less than gold at Sochi felt like failure, Tessa said. They lost themselves trying to meet others’ expectation while simultaneously losing faith in their coaches.

Before a crucial practice at Sochi that would determine their medal colour, Tessa told her coach exactly what she needed to hear to perform her best. When they announce our names, she said, tell me to focus on Scott. Instead, her coach pointed to the stands and said, “see every single one of those people out there, every judge, every official, every spectator, they are just waiting for you to make a mistake.”

Tessa and Scott left those games with two silver medals and completely disillusioned. With nothing left to give and completely void of joy, they decided to retire.

Pyeongchang Era: Excellence Over Perfection

Post-Olympics, Tessa and Scott toured the world, performing their routines. It didn’t take long for them to miss the competition though. To miss the energy of waking up with a clear purpose every day, Tessa said. They started asking, what if? What if we skated with coaches who believed in us? What if we tried a different style of skating? What if we could do things differently?

That list of “what ifs” was so compelling, we had to try again, Tessa said. With the mandate to do things differently, they relocated to Montreal and assembled a team of 20-25 experts across disciplines. They positioned themselves as “CEOs of their business,” rallying these specialists around a shared vision.

The Winning Formula: Three Mindset Shifts That Changed Everything

In that comeback period, Tessa and Scott made three key mindset shifts:

Excellence over perfection: They stopped chasing perfection and instead pursued excellence. Excellence felt doable and sustainable. We could be 8/10 every day, Tessa said. This is what wins medals.

Recovery as competitive advantage: Their greatest edge was being more rested than their competitors. We skated three hours a day, Tessa said, and worked harder than we ever had before.

Getting comfortable with discomfort: For two years, Tessa and Scott meticulously simulated Olympic conditions — playing crowd noise, skating on rough ice, and deliberately practicing falls to neutralize their greatest fear. In turn, they gained more confidence in their ability to perform under pressure.

“I hated skating for 18 years,” Tessa said. “Those last two years ahead of the Pyeongchang Olympics, I loved every single second.”

What changed was her sense of agency, autonomy, and purpose. During their final Olympic performance, when the music ended, Tessa realized nine judges wouldn’t determine her worth or success. It was that moment that mattered — not because the skate was technically perfect, but because they found joy in the process.

The Power of Purpose: Elevate Your Performance

As Tessa ended her powerful story of transformation, she asked two questions: “Are you finding moments of meaning in your everyday that connect to your purpose, your why?” and “Are you chasing perfection or excellence?” These questions lie at the heart of sustainable high performance, whether on the world stage or in a corporate boardroom.

Bring this Olympic mindset to your organization. As a keynote speaker, Tessa shares her performance strategies, combining her elite athletic and professional experience with her academic background. Her insights help organizations build resilience, harness purpose, and maintain excellence under pressure.

—Speakers Spotlight