justlookingvm

[justlookingvm]

[justlookingvm]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/ChxPQeUPP8_/?igshid=NmNmNjAwNzg=

[justlookingvm]

Tessa Virtue’s leap from Figure Skating Olympic Champion to Executive MBA | Kneading Dough Canada

https://youtu.be/JAAkEDRFJ1A

Host: Vinay Virmani

T: If you’re going to build something, you need options in your life. I’ll say this especially as females, it’s important to be independent. To feel like you can be self-reliant and to take care of yourself.

[Intro presented by Tangerine]

V: Tessa, welcome to Kneading Dough Canada.

T: Thank you so much for having me.

V: It’s a pleasure. Kneading Dough Canada is a financial empowerment platform as you know, where we talk money, we talk mindset, we talk about financial lessons that you’ve learned along the way to hopefully inspire the next generation.

T: Well I’m so grateful to be on, I really appreciate it. I think it’s always refreshing to hopefully lend that female lens but also maybe that perspective from the amateur sport world too.

V: Yeah, you know Tessa you’ve accomplished so much, both in your personal and in your professional life. As an athlete you have achieved so many incredible honours, you’ve represented us, this country of Canada at the highest of international levels, but what I’m really excited about is you’re about to add another accomplishment in the form of three very special letters, MBA behind your name. Talk to me about that decision.

T: It’s been you know lingering in my mind for a long time. Education was always a priority in my household growing up in my family, and I thought about law school for quite some time and then I retired at 28 or 29 and thought maybe that’s too long (giggle) and realized also I wanted to flex a bit of a creative muscle. So this MBA program has been a dream of mine for quite some time. I want to be a student again in every sense of the word and I’m eager to learn the ins and outs of the business realm and that corporate sphere that I’ve had a unique perspective of, you know for 10 15 years, but if I’m going to take on a new role whatever that may be then I really want to feel like I’ve adopted that rookie mindset once again, and earned my stripes, I’ve gotten the credibility to to deserve a place there.

V: I want to take it to the world of figure skating though, because the world of figure skating is so glamorous as a sport. You know

T: I wasn’t sure where that sentence was going to land. It could have gone so many directions.

V: I I’m so like fascinated by the world of figure skating because the glamour, the imagination, the costumes, the drama, the whole production value. It looks so beautiful and elegant, but behind it there’s also rigorous routine, training and it’s not cheap.

T: Uh huh

V: So growing up, dd you have those conversations with your family and did you understand the investment that it was taking to sort of put you through the highest levels of figure skating.

T: The 2 things that my parents were always wiling to invest in or prioritize were education and sport. And it was important to them that we were exposed to as much as we could be. I’m the youngest of four. You know I’m of two minds because on one hand I do believe they tried to shield me from the burden of that sacrifice, that they made for all kids and for you know all of these adventures. But I was also keenly aware of it. I knew the the toll and I knew the cost and um you know I felt that responsibility…

V: Was there anything that you remember early on where there was an incident or a moment where you were like, I recognize like you talked about the toll.

T: My parents were so conscious to ensure that I wasn’t carrying that weight, and yet I moved away from home  when I was 13 and I was kind of budgeting at that age for groceries and 7-eleven runs (laughs), whatever it is that a 13 year old needs. Taking taxis everywhere and I made a decision when I was 15 um to be able to do it on my own. My mom was always quick to say you know you have to look after yourself and you always have to make your own way and she was all about sort of creating that sense of security and freedom, so that I had options.

To be honest I had a tumultuous relationship with my father when I was a teen and I think it was just a decision, at that point. I didn’t feel right.

V: Yeah

T: I didn’t feel right accepting that kind of support anymore um and maybe it was a bit of pride you know, not wanting to

V: You don’t want to be dependent on anybody.

T: Totally. Yeah, and that’s not to say that I’m not aware of the privilege that I had growing up to have those opportunities. It was just a real marker of OK, if this is the path I’m choosing, um and I really need to make sure that I can I can do it on my own or in a way that really isn’t such a burden.

V: You know talking to you today has reinforced independence. You know being independent, not being dependent and and just being self-sufficient. And how gratifying that is, you know I think a lot of people, especially as you said, I hope a lot of young women watch this show and and really listen to your advice. And the fact that you took that decision at such an early age.

T: You know it’s interesting I found old journals not too long ago, and there was a page in one and I don’t know, judging by my handwriting I might have been 12? 11 or 12? And I had written my goals and that were, you know the to win the Olympics, be on Oprah, which I’ll settle for uninterrupted and Kneading Dough, uh buy a cottage, like buy a family cottage

V: Right

T: And at 12 that was on my mind and the feeling of walking into this cottage that my mom and I were able to dream of and then buy together, is so visceral and it’s it’s so much about, like I think back to being young and maybe not having, especially for her like that sense of security and and just really feeling like that can be a safe place now. Um so again it’s more of the representation of that.

V: I’ve heard you say something that has really resonated with me always because it’s something that I believe in. That the highs are so much better when you’ve experienced the lows. And obviously Scott Moir and yourself accomplished so many great things together. Something that I always try to tell the younger generation is, sometimes you have to just sit back celebrate your failures.

T: Well we learned to embrace it by making it part of our process, in that, not only did we anticipate failure and expect it and embrace it, well, we practiced it. So we learned to fall on demand, get back up, refocus, and

V: OK

T: be back into our program still trying to amalgamate as many points as possible.

V: You know I remember once um I must have been in grade school and I and I failed a few subjects. I was never a good student.

T: OK

V: And you know we didn’t have a lot of money at the time and I remember my my dad, I was really afraid to tell him that you know I’ve failed these courses and blah blah blah, but he said to the family, he said, alright everybody get ready we’re going for dinner. And we went to this restaurant that was only saved for like birthdays or anniversaries. And so we get there and he’s ordering all these great things on the menu and I’m like “dad, I don’t think you heard me like I failed, like I failed and here you are taking it t the restaurant.” And I remember he looked at me and he said “You know I want you to celebrate this failure. I want you to take it in because if you’re winning all the time, you’re not going to learn anything.”

T: Wow, and obviously that stayed with you

V: Oh yeah, you’re always going to learn so much more from the losses.

This next set of questions is called the two cents round, so you can’t overthink these things.

Tessa, we all know about your discipline but what do you splurge on?

T: Clothes

V: Clothes, OK, all right. What part of your budget are you working on lowering?

T: Clothes (big laugh). Actually not really because I will say, it’s more what it represents like part of that is like my I love it and it’s become also intertwined with my career and my brand if you will. Um

V: Its an investment in yourself.

T: I think so, that’s how I twist it

V: So, what is us the best financial decision you’ve made so far?

T: Hire the right people

V: Building the right team around you.

T: Yeah absolutely.

V: Describe your financial persona in just one word.

T: I want to say careful?

V: Careful.

T: Careful in that I’m strategic

V: I like that, OK

T: But I’m willing to have some fun.

V: OK, all right. Tessa if you could run any business, what would it be?

T:  My own.

V: Your own. OK. All right I’m not going to push you more. [Tessa laughs]. They say patience is a virtue, how long did your first paycheck last?

T: I mean I spent my whole career basically operating at a deficit, so everything went back into training. I worked towards certain things and the you know I was really fortunate to get some funding and bursary grants, and then eventually sponsors and um was able to build this little nest egg, but mostly  it went right back into training.

V: Tessa, this year we’ve been having such important and meaningful conversations about women in sport. And you know of course there’s such a long way to go for those conversations really to achieve equality, but as somebody who’s such a big advocate for women’s empowerment in sport, how do you feel that you want to lend your voice to those conversations?

T: I think, currently the biggest impact I feel I can have is really connecting with those young female athletes at that precipice of maybe dropping out um for all the heart breaking reasons that we’re learning about through research. Whether that is you know body image, or lack of self-confidence, lack of self-worth, it’s just not good enough. Like the access to resources, there are opportunities, um I think those conversations are really important and that’s where I’ve been feeling most fulfilled, when I’m able to connect with those athletes and you know I’ve been able to benefit from all of the lessons and the opportunities that sport has lended it uh to my life. And I just so want that for other female athletes. And you know we’re seeing that there are more mentors, more representation, more access to viewing these formidable female athletes, and I hope that resonates.

V: Tessa, we’ve uh had the opportunity to work on a few branded campaigns together. There’s this Tessa grace, and there’s this element of everything being held to a certain standard. In everything that you do, especially things that are public facing. Talk to me a bit about that.

T: I hate the word brand but I’m going to say it, my brand has been

V: I mean you definitely have a very strong brand

T: Well it’s been built on the very foundation of me and my personality and if those values aren’t upheld in every sense of you know the word, then I’m I’m not useful to anyone. Then I’m then no brand would want to hire me, um because it if it gets diluted, then I then I just think um it’s losing the very essence of what resonates with people. And I’m really careful about that like I only partner and pair with brands that I would authentically stand behind and feel really good about promoting.  

V: I love that

T: And I’m conscious of where I lend my voice and my likeness, a very clear mission statement, and you know I love to be hands on but that’s where like the creative fulfilment comes in

V: Right

T: And honestly that’s where the most successful engagement also comes. If I’m involved and it’s a collaborative process, um it’s much more successful for the brand too.

V: You know, over this past year, there’s been such a strong connection to mental health and financial wellness. Many Canadians have a very high debt to income ratio, which can be very stressful. For you, how do you protect not only your mental health, but when it comes to financial wellness. How do you really protect your sanity?

T: As an amateur athlete I grappled with that um day after day. I think it’s important to find purpose in saving and planning. So, you know my mom started those conversations with me when I was young but that was all to sort of plant the seed of like you need to plan for this. And if you’re going to build something you need options in your life. For me you know it’s helped having a corporation for example, because a lot of my money is tied up there and it it’s great um but, it’s also made me very careful and strategic in how I spend it.

V: What is your one big piece of financial advice to all young women out there?

T: Surround yourself with the right people and set yourself up for independence.

V: I love that. Financial freedom.

T: Financial freedom.

[justlookingvm]

WE Well-being podcast - May 2

Overcoming the Negative and Achieving Self-Love 

S (Intro): Before we get started, let's reflect on how much our lives have changed in recent weeks. I'm Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, host of the WE Well-being Podcast, and I like all of you, am practicing physical distancing and doing my part to help flatten the curve. I know it's not easy to be apart, we're all social beings, myself included and being physically distant doesn't mean we need to be disconnected. Whether it's phone calls, FaceTime, emails, are all excellent ways that we can remain connected through this challenging time. And taking care of our well being, of our mental health is important now more than ever. Although we recorded these episodes before COVID-19, all the lessons and advice remain applicable and incredibly useful during these difficult times.

OK, where should we begin. Well maybe with the fact that in all of our lives there’s always room for greater self-awareness and self love. And we all know that doesn’t come easy. I'm Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau and as an ally of WE Well-being and WE Well-being’s reason for being to empower everyone to support their own mental health. And through this podcast my mission is to expand the way we think, the way we talk and feel about our own health and our own mental well being. I’ve spoken openly and candidly about my own struggles with eating disorders and when we share our stories we can break down stigma and we can help heal ourselves along the way. So, be prepared to be moved and inspired by some big hearted and soul lifting people in conversations. None other than Olympic Champion Tessa Virtue, helps to start things off by letting us into her world.

T: The sooner we can wake up in the morning and say this is what I’m working with today, this is worthy of love and affection and you’re enough, exactly how you are, every curve, every hair, every freckly, it’s perfect because it’s you.

S: Tessa opens up about how she stays committed to her ideals of health and strength on her path to becoming the best in the world. And in upcoming episodes we will hear from some incredible men and women who have taken all that life can throw at them, and who found ways to not only survive but to thrive. People like Silken Laumann, Esera Tuaolo, and my incredible mother-in-law Margaret Trudeau. And with each conversation we will and grow and marvel, because we know that things can make a huge difference. So we’ve recruited leading experts to share easy to understand and hands on advise that will give us the tools and strategies to foster well being in all corners of our lives. Today, getting comfortable with the uncomfortable life coach and mom Meg Popovic, is here to talk about the upside of having awkward conversations with our kids.

WE Well-being is not about standing on your head meditating for hours or adding anything more to your to-do list. It’s about finding your feet, celebrating your strength and taking care of yourself and others, as you step up and into the world.

I want to say that I’m in company of an authentic, open hearted, wise, magical soul, I’m with Tessa Virtue.

T: Hello

S: Thank you for being here.

T: What an introduction, thank you so much.

S: You know what? We’ve said this before between women we need to tell each other you know and to lift each other up. And this is part of the conversation also on mental health is to know how to lift ourselves and lift each other up as well.

T: And no one is better at that than you. It’s a joy to be in your studio and I don’t want to do that ping pong match of compliments that (laughs). But it’s true we do have to tell each other how we feel and that sense of support and sense of community and sisterhood is so important and I think by sharing how others can affect our well being and just that open dialogue, that’s so important isn’t it.

S: And I wish that everybody right now who’s listening could look into your eyes because the minute I met you I saw the glitter in your eye. And I think it’s something that people have seen you know because they’ve seen you on ice, they’ve seen you screen. What does that glitter mean to you because you have it.

T: Oh that’s so nice. I think… it must come from a place of just feeling comfortable in my skin. And with who I am. Because I’m now at a place where I can present myself to the world unapologetically. I know what I stand for, I know what I value, I know the people I want to surround myself with, and they’re like-minded people who are also ambitious and wanting to do big things in the world, but in a collaborative way.

S: People know you from the ice, they know you from the screen. Do you think they know the real Tessa?

T: It’s a great question. I think they know a part of me and I have to say I’m private enough that I do keep a portion of myself and my life totally to myself. And to those people that are in my inner sphere. I think that’s only healthy and natural. But the part that the world does know is genuine and of course how would they know that (laugh) because everyone has a persona that they present to the world. But I do think that people, people know me and I think that’s through the power or art and movement, and being able to express yourself and be vulnerable and come from a place of sharing emotion and I can do that in movement. And not just with my voice and views but with my body on the ice.

S: What touches your soul the most?

T: Dance. And movement.

S: Why?

T: Oh there’s such freedom in it, I feel when I dance I feel uninhibited and just like I can get lost in a moment. You have to be present when you’re dancing and I feel that when I’m dancing but also when I watch others. I mean there’s nothing that I feel connects with the creative side of my soul more than dance.

S: And in figure skating we must be honest and say that looks are important. How much pressure have you felt growing into that industry on your own looks?

T: There’s an immense amount of pressure and it’s interesting because I can compare can parallel that directly with a male counterpart. Everything I’ve done is alongside Scott. Every single training session for the most part, every competition, every show, we do together and it’s so clear to see the emphasis on female appearance even more so than the male’s. It’s been tough you know I think there’s a bit of stubborn Taurus in me because every time I sort of received feedback or comments or there was a negative narrative surrounding the way I looked, I sort of worked harder to be healthier but stronger, to prove to myself and to others that you can achieve success. And you can sort of reach the pinnacle while not depriving your body of nutrients, while not being unhealthy and it was sort of my personal mission statement and whether I realized it early on or not, it certainly came to me later that I was out to prove to young girls they you could do it, you could stand on top of the podium and be kind to your body.

S: That’s such an amazing positive message to share, it doesn’t come without struggles, so when you did have a bad day, what was that little voice saying because we all do.

T: Oh yeah I mean I’m quite muscular naturally and in skating it’s you want the long, lean, balletic lines and there’s not a huge size discrepancy between Scott and me. And so you know always the emphasis on getting smaller and taking up less space. And isn’t that the common theme with young girls in general and that was certainly magnified and if whether that’s with you know costumes being unflattering or focusing on this or you know even little details around hair and makeup. It’s kind of alarming when you put yourself out there and of course you’re open to criticism but sometimes it’s overwhelming when it’s coming 360 degrees from all angles and from a place of not necessarily wanting to help my career but just wanting to bring me down.

S: So what would you say to the girls who are struggling. And you don’t have to be an Olympic you know figure skater to be struggling with this, because we all do in our own ways. What would you tell them as an advice right now.

T: I would say that you’re enough exactly how you are, every curve, every hair, every freckle you know, every muscle, it’s perfect because it’s you and the sooner we can wake up in the morning and this is what I’m working with today, this is good enough, this is worthy of love and affection, and this is the instrument that’s going to head out into the world and take on anything that comes our way.

S: And we live so quickly, and the social media comments come in at such a torrential pace and we feel overwhelmed. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all that?

T: Absolutely. Yeah I think it’s funny to note you know you pick up a magazine and you scroll through Instagram and it’s you start with this enthusiasm or passion for whether it’s fashion or beauty, whatever it may be, and so quickly that turns to comparing ourselves. You know instantly almost you suddenly it’s oh how do I compare to that body, how do I compare to that lifestyle and I’m trying to retrain my brain to identify those messages, whether it’s in the media, if it’s seeing a model on Instagram or in a magazine, to understand you know the lighting, the makeup, the photoshopping. Everything that goes into the construct of that beauty ideal. That is really non-existent like that it’s changed so much from it’s original shape and it’s evolved to really just make us feel bad about ourselves. So the sooner we can start retraining our brains to change those pathways and switch the messaging, the better.

S: So you just used the term retraining our brain because in a culture that teaches us self-hate from the get go, how does one retrain her or his brain. What do you have to do in your daily life to actually help yourself. Do you have to make wiser decisions on what you consume? Do we become what we consume in a way?

T: It’s a process that I’m still going through and I’m so conscious of that because when I have the chance to meet young girls at events, or I think about my niece who’s just about to turn 5, already at 5 years old she’s worried about her appearance. And I think just as an overall narrative we have to change the conversation and to focus on our accomplishments or things outside of the realm of body image and looks. So tasks that we can work to achieve intellect and for me because it’s just so close to what I’ve done in my life, I think the arts and whether that’s music

S: So expression

T: Theatre, everything that’s expression because that takes us away from that aesthetic based learning and being and into a world where we can express ourselves and have an outlet. And you’re right I mean just the way we consume things and whether that’s being more conscious of the time we spend on social media or maybe it’s prioritizing the people we choose to follow or you know engage with online. And one of my favourite quotes is that we compare our behind the scenes to everyone else’s highlight reel. And sometimes we just need that reminder right, you never know what’s going on behind the scenes.

S: And I’ve heard and it struck me, I’ve heard you say that there’s no such thing as a well balanced athlete. So what do you mean by that because people think oh my god the athletes they have it all. They’re healthy, they’re leading a healthy life, they’re training, they’re working hard, they have it all.

T: Well I used to sort of pride myself on being multi-dimensional in the way that I would say my identity is not a figure skater, that’s not how I define myself.

S: How do you define yourself?

T: Well I wanted to be sort of more well rounded. I wanted to have other avenues that I was pursuing. I wanted to have a strong sort of social network of like minded people that you know I find inspiring and wanted to be in school, I wanted to have business in my life. I want to do all these things but really when you get to a certain level, it is all encompassing, all consuming, and it can become obsessive. I mean every single part of my day was filtered through the lens of will this help me win the Olympics. Will this cup of coffee help me win the Olympics. Will having sushi for lunch help me win the Olympics. And I mean it just goes on and on and on so I think

S: What do you think about now when you

(laugher)

T: I wish I was training like I was before the Olympics but

S: So does that come back, that little voice you know I’m never going to have the Olympic body I used to have

T: But I was so conscious of that at the time, it’s funny because I remember a week before we went to the Olympics, Scott and I were doing a powerwalk cycling class and I turned to him and I said “this right here right now this is the best shape we’ll be in in our entire lives”. And he looked at me and he said “I’m going to be in better shape after the Olympics” he said “I’m in great skating shape but I’m going to be in different kind of shape after the games”. And I thought to myself oh you know that’s there’s something beautiful to that but I feel like I’ve come to terms with that because with being in that physical condition came so much stress and pressure and then this weight that I welcomed, that I loved for that period of my life, but I can’t stay there forever.

S: Now you’re welcoming the other type of weight.

(laughter)

T: Exactly, yeah not so much on my shoulders but I feel it’s a tangible release of just thinking OK this body isn’t going to get me on the Olympic podium but it is going to embrace the next chapter of my life and

S: Which is?

T: Which is I think something in business. I’m so anxious to I already am sort of pursuing and actually in the projects I’m taking on and hopefully my MBA next year at Smith’s School of Business.

S: Aren’t you still doing an undergraduate degree in psychology?

T: Psychology. Yes.

S: And why psychology?

T: I was always drawn to how people operate and their coping mechanisms and what motivates them and I mean it’s so applicable to any and every field but it was natural for me to be drawn in and particularly then later in my studies and to positive psychology, which is really just living a fulfilled content life.

S: When it’s tough for you, how do you lift yourself up? What do you tell yourself?

T: I say I’m unstoppable. I have a little mantra and for me yeah I will share things. So I’ll call my mom and I’ll open up and I’ll share things. I tend to keep things close

S: And people don’t know that would you say you’re an introvert?

T: Yes I’m very much an introvert.

S: Yeah

T: Yeah, so it’s hard for me to do that but I do know that I feel better when, how do you sort of?

S: For me it’s about reaching out, it’s about saying I’ve been there before and I don’t have to do this alone.

T: Hm so recognizing a pattern.

S: Yes. So what is our pattern? What is our little voice, negative little voice saying when it comes up, recognizing it and saying hey you little one, you showed up but I know how to tame you.

T: Right

S: So to know yourself better, to know you know because the negative emotions they’ll always be there, it’s part of life.

T: But it’s almost that as you’re saying that it sounds like that intuition that we’re taught to sort of ignore for such a part of our lives right. And then I think that when you come into your own and you start to trust that, that gut reaction. That’s a really powerful (can’t understand what she says because Sophie talks)

S: I love it, I love that you’re bringing this up and because you’ve lived the feeling of elation, of magnificence, of what it is to be a high level athlete and winning the Olympics and all that, have you had to redefine success for yourself?

T: Yes. Yes and I’m working through that now to be honest. Because… forever the benchmark was being legitimately the best in the world. And that was the target and anything less than that just was unacceptable. And

S: And that’s heavy to live with.

T: It’s heavy but you know what’s a really neat thing and both Scott and I have commented and reflected on this. It’s that the medals sitting at home in my sock drawer is not really indicative of the success that I’ve had

S: OK wait

T: as a person or an athlete.

S: Tessa Virtue is keeping her Olympic medals in her sock drawer?

T: I think it’s in a sock right now, I don’t have the case.

S: That says a lot!

T: Yeah but that’s not what it’s about, even the moment on the podium yes it’s brilliant and beautiful, singing Oh Canada is the best feeling ever and there is that you know pride, but it’s so fleeting and if the process leading up to that is tumultuous and rocky and full of angst and you know if there was ever that real trouble within the partnership, I mean none of that would have been worth it, just for the gold. So if I’ve learned anything it’s just to be process based, and that’s where the fulfilment comes and the harder you work the more joy, you know the bigger the obstacle the more reward in it so I’m trying to think about that as I step into the next phase of my life.

S: Now that you’re retired since the 2018 Olympics, have you slowed down?

T: No not at all. I think I’m so much busier and

S: ‘Cause you’re touring

T: We’re touring and actually as I was looking at my calendar and I’m old school I can’t do anything digitally. I don’t have one on my phone, I have this pencil in my schedule day to day and it’s like it’s a game to me, it’s a puzzle, to see how many things can I fit into my schedule. And once I move these pieces around and I’m sort of disconnected from the process until I’m the one that has to live it out and execute all of these things that I’ve jam packed into my schedule. What is that, I think that it’s a sense of being busy and equating that with success or happiness.

S: Oh I have chills. Thank you for bringing this up because I’m sure that we’re not the only ones feeling this way. I think we tend to overbook ourselves and feel that if we’re busy we are accomplishing. But at the same time when it goes too fast you kind of step outside of yourself, you’re not even living it.

T: No, so how do you slow down?

S: I physically slow down. I try to just take time to breathe and even if it’s 5 minutes, I really try at one point in the day to have the time for myself where I’m not moving. And when I’m trying to see everything that’s going on in my mind as just thoughts, they’re not mine, they’re just like passing clouds. And it gives my brain and my body a break. We all need breaks.

T: Yes that’s a strong visual, the clouds are floating along.

S: I’ve learned that in meditation and it really helps. By the way we have to talk about FitSpirit. Because Tessa and I work together because FitSpirit which is a non-profit organization which really encourages young Canadian girls to move because 1 out of 2 Canadian girls will stop sports going into puberty. And that’s a huge problem and it has a huge impact on our physical and mental health as young women and women. So what do you think your truest role is with that organization. What message do you want to get across?

T: I think it’s easy for me to speak from a place of fully being able to articulate the impact that sports has on my life. And that’s to a bit of an extreme, I mean I think at the fundamental level it’s just about getting moving, getting active in any sort of capacity. And it’s so clear I mean there’s definitive research of course but it’s also just so clear to see in these girls the impact that it has on their lives. And talking about self-esteem when that focus shifts from do the boys like me to how is my serve in volleyball, or what do my teammates think of me, or how do I feel about myself when I’m running, you know I just think that shift into being present, into feeling connected with our bodies, into you know all of those chemical things that actually happen in our brain when we’re moving. I think the important thing is to ensure that people have access to that. That’s what we forget. We are so privileged, especially in Canada and we assume that everyone has access to these teams and knows how to work out, or knows you know wants to be active, but the truth is that that has changed and

S: A simple walk can help… uphill is better.

T: A simple walk and it’s free. Schools and just having those resources it’s so powerful to see the girls and just to understand fully how that can change the way they see themselves.

S: I always try to tell them you have no idea how much better you feel after exercising, than before. Even if in the middle of it you’re like oh my god I want to die, you always feel better.

T: Yes, and actually the more you don’t want to do it, the better you feel right? So it’s so liberating and I think that this drop off of girls stepping away from sport and activity it just breaks my heart for whatever reason, whether that’s self-esteem, whether that’s accessibility, you know

S: Sometimes you’ll even hear like oh it’s too masculine. Because culturally that’s going around. But girls we got to stick together and we got to move these magnificent bodies that we have and know them. Because sports also allows you to know your mental capabilities.

T: So true, yes and then you start to gain in that confidence and feeling like OK I can tackle this and oh what’s next for me and it just opens up a world of options and

S: Should be enjoyable too, it’s not about the competition.

T: It should be. No not at all.

S: Right Tessa!

T: Right, it’s not.

S: How did you feel when Mattel came out with a Barbie in your image for the Shero series?

T: It’s

S: That’s quite something.

T: It is. It still hasn’t quite sunk in yet, even though I’ve seen the doll. And that’s what’s interesting because

S: Does she look like you?

T: Exactly. They were so collaborative with that process and I think that’s what the first time in my whole career where I could tangibly see something 3D in front of me that was like a little me and I could kind of see my success in a different way. You know what I mean? I can’t watch a video of my performance or feel it in the same kind of sense. And so it was this way that I could disconnect but also engage with what it was that I’ve done on the ice. And more importantly I can’t tell you how emotional I was seeing the 20 dolls standing next to each other. From all around the world from scientists, to a truck drive, to a model, to an athlete, to you know an activist, it’s so neat to see that representation of visibility for young girls.

S: And we should say that the Shero series was meant to celebrate women who are breaking barriers.

T: Yes.

S: Which barrier do you think you broke?

T: Oh good question. I think there were barriers in like legitimate ones, so like being the first North Americans to win the Olympics, being the youngest, being the first dance team to win at their first games, so things like that where it just, when people see that can be done then maybe they think differently about their own path. And but what also struck me is that it’s in line with Barbie is also trying to close this dream gap, and when girls are 5 years old the research shows that they start doubting their abilities and their capabilities. And 5 year old boys don’t experience this.

S: That’s culturally a message that we send out.

T: Yes and I mentioned my niece, she’s about to turn 5, and just the other day she looked in the mirror and said “Am I beautiful?”

S: Not am I courageous, not am I strong.

T: Yes and that’s where this narrative has to shift. And I’m conscious of that even now. We’ll do meet and greets and Scott and I are trying to, you know you want to connect with the young kid when they come through the line. And the instinct is to say “Oh look how beautifully oh look at that dress” or “I love that headband” and you just want to create a connection. But now it has to be “You look like you’re full of confidence” or “Look at that spirit or energy” and I think little things like that to making the shift and it’s so strange to see like my niece was 5 and she’s so pure and I think in what context do you even know that appearance is important. And she has smart parents who are you know gender equal and they’re very conscious of how they talk to her, and yet still. And there could be boys at school saying that she’s chubby.

S: Because peer pressure and what we consume has a huge impact on the way that we construct, the esteem that we think we share with our own self. And words are important, language is important. So if you did have to write a letter to like your 10 year old self, what would be the core message?

T: The core message would be that the things that you feel insecure about are actually the things that will lead you to accomplish your dreams.

S: And exhale. Tessa you’re just wonderful. Thank you for your vulnerability, thank you for this gift that you’re sharing, thank you for being here with us.

T: Pleasure. Thank you. Thank you for being you.

WE Well-being poscast

[justlookingvm]

[justlookingvm]

[justlookingvm]

[justlookingvm]

Tessa’s Speech WoF London Aug 7, 2019.

Thank-you so much for being here. I truly appreciate you taking the time.

I had the privilege of attending Col. Chris Hadfield’s ceremony yesterday in Sarnia. And not only is he brilliant and articulate, the man can also sing. He sand a great rendition of Space Oditty and I thought, I mean I don’t know if we have to do an interpretive dance (Scott does a hoe-down) but I don’t know where we go and at Scott’s ceremony today he spoke so eloquently about the influence and the impact that Ilderton has had on his career and on his life. And it was an honour to witness that and I’m absolutely thrilled to be here with each and every one of you to celebrate this hometown star that has such meaning and significance. Thank-you Jeffrey and to the Walk of Fame for hosting us here.

If I’m honest, when we started planning this event, a huge part of me wanted to hire some actors to pretend to be my friends and family and community members because I felt so guilty asking anyone to spend their cherished time or energy celebrating us. I mean you guys have spent 22 years doing just that. The guilt was so real that I have to say that now as I look around this room and I see so many familiar faces. I’m glad. I’m glad you’re real. I’m glad you’re my friends. I’m glad that you are community members who are contributing in such relevant ways to London.

Chris mentioned yesterday that, he quoted the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy saying “there’s no place like home”. And it’s true, London is home. This is where my dreams began. Every part of my aspirations and my career, well that’s imbedded in the fabric that is London. And it’s everything that London stands for. It’s inclusivity and acceptance and unconditional love, it’s fairness. It’s everything that makes me so proud to hear, representing Ilderton, representing London, representing Canada. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and that’s never been lost on us.

I’d like to take a moment and thank Scott personally, I mean we can do this on our own time but (he does a body laugh), also would be a very very long speech. But, thank-you for making it so easy to be your skating partner, your friend, and your number one fan. I was inspired by you every single day. As an athlete, and Marie France and Patch can attest to this, I’ve never met someone so dedicated, so driven, so committed to the process, so passionate, and as a human, I’ve never come across anyone so thoughtful, so compassionate, so generous. And it’s easy to see how you captivate audiences, and it’s so easy to understand how everyone in this room, everyone in these communities has grown to love and adore you.

Giving back to the London Women’s Abuse Centre here is London is so necessary, yet so needed. You are on the front lines of making a difference in the lives of so many people. Thank-you for your contributions to this community. Thank-you for being the safe place for so many women and children in need. We all applaud you.

I still get congratulatory cards from some of my public school teachers from here in London. I get emails and phone calls and text messages from people who have made their mark on my career over the years. And that’s everyone from my first dance teacher, my neighbour on the street growing up, it’s my brother’s friend who helped me as a baby and gave me his beer after we finished competing in Pyeongchang. This room is full of so many people who have really made it easy to be thankful. Made it easy to take centre ice and not feel alone.

(Tearing up and voice breaking) Thank-you to my family, you guys are the best and I can’t wait to celebrate with you and like we always do with a dance party probably. But it’s your sacrifice, your love and your patience and understanding and generosity and I’ll continue on later at home.

Thank-you everyone for being here. I hope this symbolizes the journey of hard work and something we’ve been talking about a lot lately, just the fulfillment in that, in the process, not just the medals and the success but what it takes to get there. And I hope this sets an example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=-3cXTG0y6As

[justlookingvm]

Scott Moir Ilderton WoF Speech Aug 7, 2019

(Jeffrey giving a speech about Scott and Tessa at the beginning of the video.)

You inspire hope in a in a world that seems hopeless. You shine a light where there is so much dark. And you continue to give so much of yourself to the communities and the people around this great country. And you always do it with a smile and such kindness. And now you will continue to do this with your new fiancée Jackie, who is here with us today.

(About 10 minutes later.)

"Come on Scott, now let's do this unveiling and bring that lady with you that hangs out with you all the time."

Tessa" Which one", Scott does a little gesture pointing back and forth between her and Jackie.

Scott:

"OK Perfect. Well good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank-you so much for coming to the Ilderton arena.

We seem to have a history of coming to the arena in August for some reason, but it works out well for us. First person I have to thank of course is my business partner, my skating partner, uh, kiddo can you believe this? Can you believe that we're, that was our career and we got to share it together it's more special now more than ever has been, to reflect on just how in sync we were through our career and  how we, how proud I am of us that we battled through adversity and obstacles and injuries, um to realize our ultimate goal of winning the Olympic champions a couple of times. So thank-you Tessa.

 I'm so happy, I was worried that it was just going to be my name on the plaque and then people in Ilderton would have been there at night etching in Tessa's name as well because everything that we did, we did together. That's the way it's supposed to be.

 In such a special group of people in the room today it's almost impossible to go through everybody individually, so I'll speak a bit more generally and then I'll individually thank you all over a glass of champagne.

Um, fame is an interesting word for me. I don't uh, I never cared about being famous. I still don't really think I am famous and it took me a long time to wrap my head around why it's me. I always know why Tessa deserves to have a star on the Walk of Fame, I don't truly understand or realize why I should. I look at my friends, you know dairy farmers, electricians, very hard working people who work just as hard as I do doing what they do and contribute just as much to this community

It really bothered me until recently when I that this star isn't for me, it's not for me at all. It's about the accomplishments that Tessa and I had together, but what it's about is the people that supported us to get where we needed to be. Where we wanted to be. Where no one, if you ask Alma and Joe, could convince us otherwise. Where we were going to go. And it takes a village to raise a champion. But for Tessa and I, Ilderton was that village. Shh don't tell the people in London this afternoon. (I didn't catch the next sentence, something about this is special?)

The people in this village and in this township are second to none in my opinion of around the world. It's unbelievable the amount of support and I can't ever imagine a community being more supportive of a little boy with a crazy dream. And I am so fortunate for that. When you walk, when you drive into this town from all four corners, ya you see our names. But the thing that I am most proud of is that it's both of our names 'cause Ilderton always understood that. How it was important to my heart and I never forgot that.

It's a big reason why Lion's Club is the recipient of today of the $10,000 dollars. It had to stay in Ilderton, I'm very proud of what the Lion's Club does. A group of people that get together and enjoy being a community together and also make the money go to a great cause. That's amazing for me.

Hum. When we grew up, Tessa and I wanting to be figure skaters, there was so many big parts of our lives. But it all started here, the Ilderton Skating Club. With the same coach both Tessa and I had, my Aunt Carol.

She's pretty good at picking partners. I will say that. This one seemed to last a little bit longer and the first one that she gave me is now my fiancée. So that works alright. Um so, and I'm always inspired by the passion that my aunt, and my mother, and my family members, cousins, brothers, father and uncle still have for the Ilderton Skating Club. And what you do for young people in this community to be able to put on skates for the first time and enjoy their experience on the ice, which is uniquely Canadian in my opinion and it just makes me so proud to be in the family and, mom and dad I just, it should be you up there with what you guys have given me. Always so supportive, never stepping in, we always felt we were the luckiest kids to have those parents who would remortgage their house a couple times so we could go skate in Detroit, or whatever it was. But never ask why. And to me that was so huge in our career.

I wasn’t expecting to see Patrice and Marie France here today, let’s go there for a couple minutes because they’re truly the most inspirational story in Canadian figure skating in my opinion. They were Canadian champions, honestly everyone in this community knows they were the Canadian champions before us. They were always looking out for us. Even as competitors. Even when I was the annoying 16 year old coming into the change room and all my buddies know what my attitude was like when I was 16. The whole community knows I was a little bit cocky.

But Patrice always looked out for me, Marie France also was there for Tessa. They taught us how to be adults, they taught us how to be professionals. On the competition ice and the show ice. Many lessons that we still take with us today. And then when we walked into their skating school and the way that they accepted us, this is a Canadian story that I don’t think gets told as much as it should be. Patrice and Marie France have the best figure skating school in the world hands down, in Montreal, where they are making, I won’t speak for you but, they have opportunities elsewhere in the world and they choose to bring it here to Canada. Bring the world to Canada in order to have the most successful ice dance school, and I am so proud of you guys for that. No one deserves it more.

(Applause and camera pans to MF and Patch).

Why do we do this apart from each other? This is awful. (Tessa says something unintelligible). Thank-you. Patch um, something about you brother. I don’t know what it is, you’ve been able to control that fire in me and still let it burn bright and make me into the person that I am today. And I can’t think of any other person who has had quite the impact that you’ve had on me. And any time that you call me, my phone will always be on for you. I love you so much man, thank-you so much for everything you’ve done for me.

(Scott emotional).

Everybody else, how do I do that, yeah now everybody else. I could go on all day. And I might still so sit tight but this community is so special, I know that I’ve touched on that already, but every time in our life that we’ve accomplished something, we’ve always come home to banners on the door, to signs on the arena, to celebrations here at the arena that I don’t know were going to happen. Like today. And that support urged us on more that you can ever imagine. Being an athlete, especially being figure skaters, we found it quite lonely and dark at times. And I think we had one of the best journeys that you could possibly have. We relied on this community and you were there for us and you were there for me. I will never forget that so the reason why I am the most excited about this star, because even though it says our names, it stands for what we accomplished as a community. And the support that everybody gave me, Paul MacIntosh, Suzanne Killingwood, our coaches, Western Ontario (he named a couple more people) lovely people in this community, step up and make a difference in young people’s lives. Like us. And many of the stories that you don’t hear, that don’t get stars on the Walk of Fame. They’re doing the same, and that’s what this star stands for. It stands for the next generation. I look down at my beautiful niece and nephews down here and I just can’t wait for them to go and chase their dreams. Any kid in this country should have limitless opportunities. That’s what Canada’s all about. And I can say that I’m very proud of this community because I think that they’re doing a great job of living out their Canadian promise. Thank-you so much everybody. I love you very much. Hope you have a fantastic day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1DhHJfTF8A

[justlookingvm]

Tessa Virtue's ever-changing career

Player’s Own Voice – Anastasia Bucsis & Tessa Virtue – Released June 12, 2019 32:42 https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1535583299556

Intro:

A: She’s half of Canada’s greatest Ice Dancing Duo. The most decorated figure skaters in Olympic history. And now, Tessa Virtue has sashayed from amateur glory to a dazzling professional career. When she and Scotty Moir in the cream of figure skating aren’t performing to packed houses, Tessa has advocacy work and endorsements and campaign partnerships, almost too many to name. She is simply everywhere. Put on the earbuds, it’s time for a cozy chat with the one and only Tessa Virtue.

(Music Break)

A: It’s Player’s Own Voice, I’m Anastasia Bucsis.

Are you more athletic or artistic? Because it seems like incredible success in figure skating but you also have this other side, fashion, media, everything like where does your passion lie now?

T: Hm, I think it’s still in the balance between the two and that’s what I always loved about skating. You know it was so technically demanding uh and yet the artistry and the art that accompanied that allowing people and hopefully connecting with people so that they feel something was always a driving force for both Scott and me. And now I think the balance is more about you know business and art, which is not so different really but I’m learning so much, it’s been a steep learning curve and in fact I’ve been studying a bit and I hope to pursue that a little more even next year but you know sort of learning on the fly. I get so much joy out of negotiating a contract as I do designing a new pair of eyewear for Bon Look. You know I think it’s all of that sort of the marriage between the two, and I feel so lucky that I get to do both.

A: I love the artistry and the athleticism of figure skating. I said that to Jo Rochette, she was on the podcast and she was like “What, like I didn’t know that you were such a figure skating fan” and I that is what I love about figure skating, is that it’s so physically demanding but so artistic. I remember watching Oxana Bayul win in ’94 and I was like I want to be a figure skater. My parents didn’t allow me to do it. I was going to be too tall.

T: Well and in your world you had to do the same motion (garbled as Anastasia is talking over Tessa) repeatedly

A: It’s not very artistic.

T: So did you have to find an outlet to sort of feed that creative part of your soul?

A: Yes and talking about the balance and getting pleasure out of having a business deal or creative glasses. I had a little astigmatism that I might need some of those glasses. How do you find that now going from preparing for the Olympics to seemingly a million projects.

T: It’s strange and no matter how prepared you are I don’t think you can fully anticipate the feelings and emotions that come with a post Olympic sort of crash or transition if you will. I mean I ticked all the boxes, I had school, I had a great support network, I had success that we you know stepped away from competition whether temporarily or permanently on our own terms, I mean I was so so fortunate and privileged to be in that position. And also I had opportunities and yet still there’s that inherent just void. I think when you’ve, you know, worked for something with such singular focus and you invest everything, every moment of your day is filled with moments of will this help me win the Olympics and then you’re sort of thrust into this world where you are trying to do a hundred different things and maybe not all that will and there’s no chance to sort of insulate yourself into that protected bubble in order to pursue a dream. There were a lot of shifts and challenges in the last year but also really surprising highlights because it’s also refreshing and liberating to sort of feel that pressure come off and slowly. I can almost feel it tangibly as the days go by that I’m feeling less of that stress and I didn’t realize what a heavy weight that was to carry. That Olympic you know pressure.

A: Olympic pressure, fame, how lonely is that?

T: It can be isolating, it can be. I feel so lucky because you know people always ask what changes when you win the Olympics, are you a different, what changes in your life. Do you feel different and the reality is that nothing really does so um we/I have a great group of friends, my family has always been supportive and I mean I’m so sort of caught up in work that there aren’t many opportunities to even face that in fact I think that when I am on my own then I’m very comfortable so I kind of embrace it. It can be isolating only because sometimes I just feel caught in this balancing act of wanting to be vulnerable and honest and then also not wanting to sound ungrateful or complain right and as a private person also just managing you know how much of yourself do you give to others and how much do you keep for yourself? And in wanting to share my story and have some kind of impact on others, specifically young girls and athletes, you know you have to put yourself out there a little bit and that sort of just comes with the territory.

A: And that’s exhausting though too, I mean when I was struggling with my mental health that was really what you just summarized, that it’s like I’m skating around in a circle for a living I mean making good money, I get to see the world, all my college is paid for you know, what do I have to complain about. So I completely identify when you say you know I don’t want to come across as being ungrateful because you have had a lot of opportunities.

T: What was the impetus for you to come out and speak openly about your mental health?

A: I never want anyone to feel like they’re alone and I don’t want anyone to feel that way because I have felt so incredibly alone. I felt that when I was in the closet too. Really struggling and I think vulnerability in human connection is really one of the only things that never will go out of style.

T: Right, and we’re all craving that now. You know the ability to really connect on a deeper level and you I think that’s something that’s so empowering and you’ve impacted so many people just by using your voice. I think that’s admirable.

A: Thank-you.

T: Course.

A: What do you not do in public now that. Like what can you now do in public?

T: Ooh,      that’s a good question. It’s I’ve never been really much of a partier so that was always something I was cognizant of and not being photographed with an alcoholic beverage or something.

A: I’ve tried to get you drunk so many times.

T: (Giggling) I’m sure it’s worked on occasion but you know that’s not really been a sacrifice for me, I think what don’t I do in public. That’s a good question?

A: This is like one question I don’t even know where it fits in but I’m like what kind of toothpaste does Tessa Virtue use? Do you use, I mean do you

T: Colgate.

A: Ya, big wink. Like what are you cheap about? When you go to a supermarket and you’re like oh toilet paper is on sale, are you getting that sale?

T: I don’t find myself in a grocery store that often because I’m not at home a ton. I don’t even know I…ok well I’m going to flip that because one thing that I will indulge in I’ll always have fresh flowers at home. That would be something that I treat myself to.

A: I like fresh flowers too.

T: Yeah, and certain things when I am on the road whether it’s candles, soap, lotion just things that make me feel like I’m in my comfort of home environment, right.

A: I steal all the lotion from hotels.

T: Do you?

A: I got so many little hotel things and I’m like making money.

T: Do you have a favourite?

A: Ah no, you know I probably just a good old Ramada, whatever they use. That’s my go to.

T: Classic. (laughs)

A: Um so Scotty was of course on the podcast and I pulled a quote he said “at times I didn’t know how to handle my relationship with Tessa.” What do you think he meant by that?

T: (Long pause, then a sigh). I’m not sure I think in any case when you’ve had a partnership that spans over 2 decades across the early childhood years, teenage you know into our twenties now thirties, of course it’s there are complexities that are just hard to comprehend and it’s all we’ve known so it’s also really hard to have any sort of objective perspective on it and until maybe there’s an outsider you trust to weigh in like a sports psychologist or a mental prep coach that we worked with but, I think probably in the pressure to identify what that partnership meant to us and in how it could be labeled or how it could be relatable for others to really understand, maybe that’s where that confusion comes in because it’s something that we’ve valued and cherished and nurtured. We’ve really worked hard at that partnership and that relationship and but when you are so in it I think perhaps we’re the people that understand it the least.

(If you wanted characters you’ve got characters – sounds like Sharon Orbourne – if you wanted feelings well you drowned in it)

A: Very interesting because you guys are quite a bit different too.

T: Oh we’re so different.

A: Like your there’s

T: Yeah talk about balance right that was the beginning. I think that’s what really works for us.

(They are the greatest ice dancers of their generation maybe of all time – announcer – the incomparable Virtue and Moir – different announcer)

T: I mean you know we’re such different people but you put us on the ice together and that’s our safe place, that’s where no matter what is happening we come together and we work towards a common goal, and we really feed off of each other. I mean Scott’s all heart, he’s such a feeler and I’m in my head and you know we can bring out the best in one another and I think with that nurtured level of support that we’ve given each other, we really are our best when we’re on the ice together. And it’s fun, even now to sort of step back into that world and feel that comfort and ease and we had sort of a break of seeing each other and skating together. Recently we got back on the ice and started stroking around together and Scott said ah it’s like a security blanket you know and there’s such comfort with that.

A: You’re differences obviously you just said you can feed off of it, at times did that breed chaos? Like were you too different? How do you keep that manageable.

T: I think the pursuit of something like an Olympic gold breeds chaos because there are so many moving parts and so much expectation on ourselves and from others. But when we really fundamentally started to understand that we process things differently and approach things very differently we were able to sort of separate that and you know always come together and say this is how I’m interpreting your actions right now. True or false (little giggle) oh and give the other person a chance to explain or you know, I think if anything we’re maybe a little too protective of one another because we’re the team that you know if something happens and it doesn’t go very well I’ll say I’m so sorry that was my fault and he’ll say no it was me, and you know so I think we go to great lengths to ensure that we both feel confident and comfortable on the ice.

A: You guys will forever be linked together. Um it’s given you a million opportunities but how difficult and I’m sure you’ve been asked this one millions times, and I apologize here’s one million and one. First date how often are you asked are you dating? I mean when you go on a date is that what everyone asks you?

T: Well I hope I’m not saying yes to any dates then they think that I’m somehow still in a relationship with Scott. I think anyone coming into my life in that capacity knows the situation with Scott because I mean there’s no hiding it and it’s been since I was seven so it would come as no surprise to anyone that I have a meaningful relationship with Scott.

(LONG musical break)

A: Let’s go back. 2010, 2014, 2018 what’s your favourite Olympic moment?

T: As an athlete? Nothing tops being on the ice in Pyoncheang. We were so laser focused and dialed in and so incredibly prepared. And just different athletes we were mature, we had a different approach, a different team with B2 Ten and we were, we really were unstoppable. And that feeling was palpable. That electricity and it almost felt like a home games because there were so many Canadian flags and supporters. I would say as an entire experience, a month long experience, Sochi. Which always surprises people because often people sort of avoid the Sochi subject with us, they think maybe it’s a point of contention but really it was such a beautiful moment in our career, we came together and we were proud of our performances and there was something about the team, it was so tightly knit. The Olympic bubble was easily accessible I mean you could get to so many different events, I don’t know there was just, it was so much fun. I often say it was the best month of my life.

A: Sochi was the best time in my life. I’m the happiest I think I’ve ever been right now but for an actual experience, Sochi like 52 billion dollars, oh my god we can never do that again, like talk about Olympic excess I’m ashamed about that but for just fun and women’s hockey team winning, like the team was a family I don’t even know how to

T: Is that what it was?

A: It was the team.

T: It was special.

A: In Vancouver we were treated like rock stars and it was unbelievable but like there was, the one thing about Vancouver was that we were downtown essentially so you could go on one of those electric bikes and be surrounded by hundreds of thousands of drunk Canadians all being super pumped up but you kind of got lost. The team aspect kind of got lost in that. Because everyone was visiting their families, and in Sochi there was nothing to do.

T: There was only two places. Swiss house really.

A: So when everyone was done like finished competing…Russians like their vodka. Yes that’s ya. Um Sochi being the highlight for party culture, Pyeonchang being the

T: You said party culture

A: Pyeonchang being highlight for the sport, what was your weakest aspect of being a figure skater do you think?

T: Like my weakness as a skater? Oh geez I mean how long do we have here? I feel I could go on and on about all the things I would still like to improve upon in my own skating. Whether that’s posture, power, ability to express specific styles of movement, just so much that I wish that I did better, so much I wish I could do better but that’s what keeps us going. Even in preparing for our upcoming tour this fall it’s the idea that we still have more potential to explore and more in us to give. And I realize that in the Pyeonchang preparation that for my whole career I was striving for that performance where I would feel I had really perfected it and nailed it, and great as Moulin Rouge felt on the ice in Korea, I knew even at the time that I would look back and wish that I had done some things differently because it’s just the nature of the beast in a subjective sport like that. You know I’ll always watch that video and wish that my hands were different or I wish that I you know moved my upper body you know in a better way or something but I’ve just sort of had to come to terms with that and I think that in of itself is kind of beautiful because you just sort of have to accept the moment given all of the factors surrounding a four minute performance, it’s the moment that you could create and that’s sport. That’s what I love about it.

A: How has growing up as a figure skater obviously being judged affected how you live your life?

T: As I approach thirty I think have such a better understanding of who I am and what I stand for and what I think my purpose is and can be and how I see myself and that’s what I place most value now are those closest to me you know it’s affected I think it forced me to do a lot of self reflection and forced me to analyze really what’s important. And so often it’s not what we look like or how we present. It’s about how we make people feel and how we empower others. I feel so much more confident and comfortable in my own skin now and I’m grateful for that. I think probably a part of that was because I was in a judged sport for such a long time and had other people deciding my fate and success, and that was you know sort of the benchmark you aim for but it’s in the hands of others and at some point you just have to think ok it’s not the colour that will dictate the kind of person I am.

A: Do you ever feel pressure to answer questions the way you know people want them answered.

T: Not really. Not really because I’m not sure I know how people want them answered. I was always sort of conscious and careful to not become that robotic sort of you know I gave 110% and we always wanted to give people insight into what was happening but at the same time I mean you can only share what you’ve come to terms with in your own head, and no matter what I it was important for me to be genuine so I’m not sure that I even still know how I should be answering things. But if I’m honest and if it comes from a place of authenticity then I think that that intention, I hope that comes through at least.

A: I sometimes feel pressure when people ask about the Olympics because I feel as though I need to tell then a little nugget about playing ping pong and beer pong with Sydney Crosby, you know what I mean how is it when NHL boys, oh Marc-Andre Fleury’s really nice.

T: You want to give, share your experience but that’s nice and I think that’s something Canadians crave, but also do you feel a bit of pressure when people talk about your success and the accolades or think does that come along with

A: People don’t talk about my success.

T: Well they should, you’re career was formidable but sometimes I think there’s a pressure if anything just to throw in those reminders of just how much work it takes right because if you are going to be a role model people need to understand that it’s not just about the podiums and the sponsorships, it’s about all of the work and the resilience and the sacrifice and the deprivation and everything that goes into it, so if anything sort of shining some light on that end then to ensure that there’s a greater awareness of the holistic approach to their career maybe.

A: I think you must be one of the most hard working athletes I have ever met and I’m celebrating of course every sponsorship and opportunity that you have ever gotten post Olympics. I hope you’re making at least fifteen bucks and hour because you work so hard.

T: Thank-you.

A: Again you have not taken one breath you haven’t taken a breather. Going from competition to shows, amateur to professional, how does it change your goals, does it change your goals? Does it change your relationship with Scott?

T: It changes everything and nothing at the same time. It ah, we’ve had to redefine what it means to entertain and you’re sort of entertaining the masses instead of nine judges. And yet sort of satisfy some creative need in you as an artist. So it’s sort of finding that the precipice of challenging yourself enough so that it’s satisfying and rewarding but also playing to your strengths and playing the hits, so that the audience is getting what they want and what they’ve expected. And I’m not sure we’ve found that yet but we’re playing with it and it’s changed in that and I’m trying to do some self analysis you know even just as I am back on the ice these days, you know how do I feel in this realm and I miss the benchmark of being THE best and I certainly miss being at OUR best. But I think that’s ok if we’re not because the goal has shifted. We never will be at that Olympic peak again and we’re so lucky that we get to do our sport and craft for an extended period of time. I’m sure that every single other sport and athlete wishes they had that chance. I don’t want to waste it but that’s part of why we wanted to do product our own show and tour so that it wasn’t just four minutes that we had to tell a story, it was two hours that we could bring people along with us and control the lights, and the ambiance, and the music, and the flow of things and I think when we can dive in to a project like that that’s and invest ourselves and commit that that is more fulfilling that you know just throwing on a costume doing a one-off.

(Music break).

A: You and Scott have ushered in that renaissance golden age of figure skating, I mean I don’t think it’s been this popular since Tonya Harding.

T: There was something certainly to the Pyeonchang games and I’m not sure maybe it was because the NHL guys weren’t there, the social media had an impact but there’s also been a different focus on dance in general in our culture, it’s become more mainstream with shows like So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars and I think that accessibility to the arts in that realm has certainly been more present and magnified so I’m not sure that we can take all that credit but it’s very nice of you to say.

A: The one skater that I do miss is Joanie Rochette. Sorry to bring up her name again but we/I had one of the best nights of my life with you at her house.

T: That was a great

A: The white wine and oyster night

T: That was so fun. She’s a special well I mean she’s just an incredible woman and she’s such a force but she’s someone who got better and more consistent in her show skating life. Almost after the pressure of competition she really found her rhythm and her style and was constantly pushing herself and was so nonchalant about it. You would see her afterward and say oh the number was ok but then every night I would go out and watch her on tour and she just delivered and was so constant and I saw that and was so inspired and impressed and really awed by her tenacity.

A: You have accomplished everything that there is to accomplish. I’m very proud of you. How do you define success now?

T: I’m working on that. I’m working on that. The new definition and I think it’s, I’m starting to learn what it feels like when I’m doing something that has meaning and relevance and purpose and something that gets beneath the surface and feels substantial and significant and whether that is work with FitSpirit and creating access for young girls and in schools to activities to resources so that they can stay physically fit or partnering with someone who is equally motivated to foster this new narrative of self esteem in young girls, because it does need to change, it needs to shift. I guess it’s really about the fulfillment of a certain process instead of the end result and the end goal and it was Adam van Hoeverden when he retired who said he’ll never be the best at anything again, and you know so that benchmark has to change and that’s ok that’s healthy and it’s also really exciting. So I think it’s just about finding things that spark something or ignite a new passion and fire within me. I’m not sure I’ve totally found it yet but I’m ok with that too.

(Music break)

A: Where do you see yourself in ten years?

T: In ten years, I think running some business I mean I’m hoping to study more seriously next year and I know that that’s where my passion lies, and as an athlete I’ve had to be my own boss for most of my career, all of my career and so maybe something entrepreneurial, not sure what shape that will take exactly but I’m learning so much and I’m surrounded by so many incredible mentors who are helping to guide that and show me what is possible. I’m also really excited you know maybe in that sphere it’s not really about me, it can be about a company but it’s not my face and my likeness and image and personality out at the forefront. I think I’ll be happy to take a back seat.

A: I was just going to say because you are so public facing but you are a very private person.

T: Right.

A: And that has to be exhausting in some capacity.

T: I think I’ve come to terms with really just making the most of the opportunities presented to me and this is where I am right now, this is the work that is available to me, and I love work and the byproduct of that you know there are some sacrifices but that’s the case with any kind of job. So I’m happy to work for that now it’s just I also need to know where it’s leading and there has to be sort of an end goal to it.

A: Do you want kids?

T: I don’t know.

A: Me too! Like I’m almost turning thirty and I don’t know what I want for my own life. Like and it doesn’t freak me out though, I thought I wanted to get married, I wanted to have four kids.

T: Hm, and that’s changing a little bit?

A: Yeah.

T: Yeah, I’m the youngest of four I’ve always been surrounded by adults. When I was nine my best friend was twenty-five and now some of my best friends are in their sixties and seventies and so I’ve never really had that maternal instinct? But it’s also sort of abstract to me and perhaps if I found that partner where I thought I’m going to do this as a team, you know let’s do this together and create a little family unit. But it’s not top of mind.

A: We’re all just trying to figure it out. Thank-you baby girl for taking the time. I really appreciate it.

T: Thank-you. What a pleasure.

A: Tessa Virtue it’s always a pleasure. Come visit more!

T: I will.

A: Come to my birthday.

T: I would love to although it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a rager, not that that’s why I would be signing up.

A: No. We’re gonna (then they start talking over each other).

T: No PJs and

A: Seriously, I’ll probably watch Netflix and go to bed. I won’t even have a glass of wine. I’m tired.

T: Yeah. We’ll have to celebrate that’s for sure.

A: Thank-you.

“Tessa and I recorded that chat in studio three nineteen here in the broadcast centre in downtown Toronto”.

[justlookingvm]

Her Mark Podcast

Kate Beirness @ TSN 

K: We are now joined by the most decorated figure skater in Olympic history. How does that sound by the way?

T: It sounds strange, but I think also there’s an asterisk because we’re/we cheated. I mean there

K: What?

T: was the team event just came in in 2014.

K: OK.

T: So, I feel we have to you know sort of indicate that when we (mumbling) well thank-you.

K: Welcome Tessa Virtue to the Her Mark Podcast and thank-you so much for coming on. Cheryl Pounder would have loved to have been here but she’s so busy.

T: We’re missing Cheryl ya

K: she couldn’t fit it in her schedule. I did ask before she left, I said is there anything you’d want me to ask Tessa and she said “May I have one of her sponsorship deals”. So which one are you going to give up? Are you going to give up The Brick, you going to give up Nivea, what are you giving Poundy?

T: I’m not sure, how about just some product?

K: Some product? See Cheryl, there you go, you’re going to have great skin and you’re going to sleep on a delightful mattress.

T: You’re going to be well rested.

K: I love it.

T: You’ll see well with the BonLook glasses, look stylish.

K: So, Cheryl and I met at the Pyeongchang Olympics and that’s where I think you and I met in person for the very first time as well.

T: Which I was such a fan of yours as well I felt like we had known each other, was it at the airport?

K: It was at the airport.

T: In the lounge yeah

K: And you came up to me and I’m just like oh my you’d just won all this stuff and we had the most delightful conversation and that it… you are exactly I think what people see on TV is what you get in real life.

T: Oh that’s nice, what a compliment thank-you.

K: And I think that’s critically important for people to know, because you are, you guys you’re so accomplished in your sport. Um the Pyeongchang Olympics were/was a whirlwind I think Canada I think it was the highest watched was your skate. You guys haven’t really stopped since. Does it ever get exhausting at this point?

T: You know I think part of that has been a conscious decision to stay busy because there is such a crash after the games. There’s a void. Um we’ve been used to working towards this one singular goal and devoting all of our energy to that one purpose and you know after that high and sort of the fairy tale that was the Olympics, there’s a natural follow up to that that is hard. It’s difficult and it’s hard to sort of redefine what your purpose is and also reconcile what that purpose meant to everyone else. I think what struck me most was that, to me it felt like we shared this really personal private moment on the ice in Korea, and somehow afterwards that was broken into a million different pieces and internalized by different people and commercialized and I didn’t know how to handle that. It was almost violating in a way, I know it sounds strange because that’s the point or art and sport and the Olympic movement. Um but it’s taken me some time to sort of come to grips with that and understand what that meant to other Canadians but um I’m good at keeping my schedule quite full and I’ll look towards a quiet holiday season but this tour has been an ambitious project but very very fulfilling.

K: And I think that’s really neat too that we’re talking about the Thank You Canada Tour that you guys have decided to go to smaller towns and I think that’s kind of the neat part that you sell out these smaller rinks per say other than you know if you go across the country of where the NHL teams and I think that’s really unique to some of these communities and I think that that’s a really cool thing that you guys are doing.

T: Strangely I think maybe that’s been the most surprising factor in this Thank You Canada Tour was we were used to those 20,000 seat arenas and that was the norm for us and stepping into these intimate rinks where it’s 2,500 5,000 6,000 I mean that’s where skating belongs but I also think it’s a different kind of show, it’s a more interactive engaging show and you get a better skate, you get a better performance, um a better connection to the audience and that shift in mindset also happened when it was you know more about trying to entertain thousands of people rather than just appease nine judges and making that mental transition for us has been a neat project and anywhere with such a great cast. There are nine of use we are just so close and we’re such good friends and I mean that dynamic I think is pretty evident when you see us on the ice together.

K: So let’s go back now, and for people who maybe haven’t read your book or researched back on you um I think a lot of people know the story of how you are Scott came together and I think a lot of Canadians watching any documentary leading up to the Olympics would have know that story, but you personally I read, I don’t know if it’s true or not, that you decided to take up skating because you didn’t want to be the only person who didn’t know how to skate,

T: correct, I think it was grade one.

K: I guess Wikipedia was right for once.

T: Yeah a clearly I was competitive early on. Um but my family was very sports oriented and I’m the youngest of four and I’m probably the least athletic of my family.

K: Really?

T: I’m the black sheep of the Virtue family, um perhaps worked just a bit harder I guess, but yeah my parents just wanted to expose us to any and every activity and skating was just one of those, and I can remember and I’ve heard this recounted several times, my grandma who took me to the rink would say to the coaches um Scott’s Aunt Carol and my grandma would say “well this is her activity just to do for fun, you know she’s not competing, there are no tests, this is just her outlet to be creative and enjoy it”, and that didn’t last long obviously.

K: When did you know you were good. When did you start dusting other kids?

T:  Well I moved away from home when I was 13, Scott was 15 at that time and so we made that decision to take things more seriously and commit ourselves to training in a different way, but honestly, I didn’t really believe we had a shot at the Olympic title until a month before the Vancouver Olympics. And you know Scott has a very different story. I think when those Olympics were announced. Maybe 8 years before, he thought you know, that’s our games and that’s what we were working towards. But I was a little later to that party and probably as an athlete you’re always just thinking about how you can improve, and what’s next and you’re constantly criticizing yourself and your abilities and your product, so that’s just kind of comes with the territory.

K: Leaving so early, 13, do you ever look back and think you know in maybe it’s more we talk about child actors this way now but now obviously you’re an adult, do you ever think back that you did miss out on a part of childhood?

T: Absolutely, I think, it’s strange to look back on now because I’m not sure that I would let 13 year old Tessa move away and I realize looking back what those sacrifices really meant, um I mean, you deprive yourself of so many of those sort of coming of age moments and sleepovers and parties and proms and I think just...

K: That stuff’s not that good.

T: Ah but it clearly was, I’m not sure there would have been any stopping me, there was just this internal drive and it wasn’t about winning the Olympics when I moved away it was about being the best in Novice, and then in Junior, and just sort of working our way up the ranks, but you know you do you make a lot of sacrifices and I think that’s probably what people don’t see, I mean we’re it’s the glamour of it from the outside right, the podiums and the sequins and the smiles but um there are so many things and so many years that go into that and not just for me but from our families and our teams and the people around us.

K: And how were your parents [without it] that point when you were gone.

T: They were great, it helps that I was the youngest of four, so by that time I mean, they’d been through a lot.

K: (Talks over her, hard to understand because they are so fast)

T: Exactly, yeah um and when I was in grade one my oldest brother was off at university, so there was such an age gap between us but um, skating was always my thing, we never talked about it at home, it was never dinner table conversation, it was very much my responsibility, and my mom, even leading into the Pyeongchang Olympics was always giving me the out. You know you don’t have to do this, so she was quick to…

K: We know the country wants you to but I as your mother will be totally fine with you not going.

T: Right so she always wanted to have that balance and I think they were very clear from an early age to ensure that I was, somewhat well rounded, as balanced as you can be as an athlete, a high performance athlete. They never wanted me to be Tessa the skater, you know I was the student, the daughter, the friend, there were so many other roles that came first, and skating was just something that was a hobby and then became more of a profession.

K: And then you just became the best in the world which worked out alright.

T: Well lucky for me they didn’t push me and you know I received support and in such a loving way.

K: Um you spoke about Vancouver 2010 and when it came out after the fact that you were not at 100%, um the injury so you’d had surgery before that.

T: Correct.

K: And then had surgery the fall after. Correct?

T: Yup.

K: What, like when you were in Van, how much was that affecting you and did you, was it ever in the back of your mind at that point.

T: Oh it was in the front of my mind the entire time.

K: And what was the injury for those who don’t understand.

T: I had chronic exertional compartmental syndrome, so before Vancouver it was just in my shins, front of my legs and um the tissue around my muscles basically was strangulating the muscle so, I could skate for maybe 20 or 30 seconds at a time, and then my legs would go numb and cramp up and I would lose control. Um it was a challenge and the hard part was even after the surgery I was still experiencing that pain and no one could really identify why, or treatment wasn’t much help, although I was getting about 6 to 7 hours a day in Vancouver, um I remember 4 or 5 days before we took the ice for the compulsory dance, we were training off site in Port Moody, and I couldn’t make it through our program. And I was on the boards with my legs up crying and just thinking how will I be able to do this and feeling like I let Scott down and just this immense pain, and also feeling like a fraud because you know there I was at the Olympics representing Canada and I didn’t feel like an athlete because I wasn’t strong enough to even walk to the cafeteria. So I sort of felt like a poser, felt like somehow that veil would be lifted and everyone would find out I wasn’t you know really at my best.

K: How did you push through it?

T: Well we had to learn in a different way so while you know we weren’t able to do a lot of complete run throughs we did a lot of intervals and at that point I guess our base had been set with those programs, we felt confident in our material, it was more of a mental thing and Scott and I really had to come together in a way that we never had before. And there was something about the venue, I remember taking the ice and thinking you know we owned that building. There was just something there was no stopping us and we got into, you know people always talk about flow and that’s where we felt it first and we chased that for 8 years after to finally feel it again in Pyeongchang but we just got in this rhythm and we trusted each other, we trusted the security of our blades on the ice, and it’s easy to look back and romanticize they weren’t perfect skates but I think probably the crux of it was just the strength of our partnership and relying on that and just finding the mental fortitude to push through and if I’m honest, the pain really wasn’t on my mind in those 7 minutes of performances.

K: I still remember that performance. You just said that stepping onto the ice and I literally got goose bumps (missing parts) from afar and it is amazing the reach, you spoke about it a little before you know being on the boards thinking you let Scott down. How hard is that in a partnership. How hard is it to know like if you mess something up, if he messes something up, obviously you’ve been together, how many years have you skated together?

T: 21 years together.

K: 21 years together, you probably know every single thing on the ice about one another but I mean how tough is that knowing that what you do reflects completely on another person.

T: It’s incredibly tough but it’s also powerful I mean you have to be accountable to someone and I think that’s what’s taken us so far is that responsibility to one another and putting your faith in someone else and knowing that you owe that to them as well, but we’re funny because you know if I make a mistake he’s quick to say “Oh that was my fault I’m sorry I’ll do, I’ll fix this arm, I’ll put you in a different place”, and if he makes a mistake I do the same thing so we’re we protect one another in a very interesting way. I didn’t realize how unique and rare that was until we started working with so many other teams and watching other people train on the ice and just realizing what time is wasted when you fight or blame one another but…

K: But you must get on each other’s nerves I mean you spend so much time together.

T: We spend so much time together. I think we’re good at taking our emotional distance when we need to and that sort of ebbs and flows of course depending on the phase or on our feelings and seasons, but we have I think fundamentally just this great amount of respect for one another and we worked with coaches and sports psychologists really early on that helped us form that and you know we may waiver and we may you know separate from one another and come back together at different times but that remains always that respect and trust.

K: Do you ever get sick of being asked if you’re together.

T: [Sigh]

K: Because it is like a, you guys go on Ellen for example, which I think in Canada is just one of the coolest things ever. But it’s like the main topic and I just I feel like sometimes there’s a lot more to you guys than constant, and I get it, it’s a very intimate, you know you guys have an intimate sport, you do, but I just think from an outsider I would get really tired of the question, I would.

T: I understand it. I do. I understand that curiosity, and if anything I just feel bad that we can’t articulate what that bond is and what it means. And I wish, you know, trust me we’ve tried and tried to find a way to label it or explain it, but I think, we probably understand it least. We’re right in it. And it’s all we know. I think what is sometimes missing is just those follow-up questions of, OK beyond the romantic element, what is it that makes your partnership work or what is it that we see, what is it about the chemistry that the bond you’ve formed, the way you work together, like, how have you formed that? I think that there are so many kinds of follow-ups that have more substance, in my opinion, than just those surface level questions.

K: So how does it work? Why does it work? I’ll ask you the follow-up.

T: Thank-you.

K: Now I feel like a good interviewer.

T: Yeah, oh you set the tone early on with me, a good one but it’s a lot of work, you know I think people see the love story we’re telling on the ice and inevitably that is what it no matter what the rhythm of movement, it’s a man and a woman on the ice so it always ends up having you know a component of a love story and you see that, you see the chemistry, you see that tension, but really what’s underlying all that is just a lot of care for one another, and an immense amount of work. I mean we’ve committed almost every single day of the last two decades to working on that partnership and nurturing it, and whether that’s through visualizing or breathing exercises, or you know working on our communication skills, on and off the ice I mean we’ve never wavered from understanding that that is the most important element of our career. And I think yes the final result of that is seeing this really special friendship and partnership but you know there’s just so much that’s been invested into making it that way.

K: Have you ever thought about when you’re when you guys are done? When you retire and I mean I’m sure there’ll be tours and there’ll be you know whatever it may be come back together but not to have you know that partnership anymore.

T: Yeah it’s

K: Is it weird?

T: It’s strange, it’s an odd thing to think about and we’re conscious now to choose projects where we do get to work together and we can continue that and maybe challenge ourselves in different realms. Even off the ice and come together and find that common ground, but we’re such different people. So it’s also healthy you know to have these opportunities to pursue our own individual passions and we support each other fully in those endeavours. But it will be strange. Sometimes I just wonder like if we’ll be 60 and meet up at a diner somewhere and we look across, over coffee and we just think, there was a time when I knew every thought that went through your mind and I could read you like a book. And I wonder how that will evolve and change, you know.

K: I think that’s awesome though. I certainly do. What’s next for you? We talk about time off and then you laugh because you are literally the busiest person I know.

T: Well you’re the same. I love to work and I am I have probably ambitious to a fault in that sense but this tour has been such a great learning experience and being on the production end, you know getting off the ice and learning about the labour, and the loading times and the weight distribution on the trucks, and the merch sales and you know every little facet has been really thrilling and almost a giant case study for my MBA, which hopefully I’ll be starting soon maybe next year. So school I think and I know something in business that’s been really since the 2010 games there was switch flicked of put on your business hat and try and navigate this world, and I’ve really enjoyed that. I’m trying to embrace that. I have so many great mentors around me, I’m trying to just soak up all the information. And we’re already dreaming about another tour, something bigger and better, I think skating is, there’s a place for it in the market, there’s a place to present it differently and we’re trying to think of it more from an entertainment standpoint you know beyond just the exhibition style skating and that’s really that’s a fun thing to dream of.

K: We cannot wait. So we ask every single guest on our podcast this question because it is the Her Mark Podcast. We’re featuring amazing women and some guys, I want to keep putting that out there from across our country. So my last question to you before I let you go do a million other things is “How would you like to leave your mark?”

T: My instinct is to say that I would like to empower others but I realize that

My instinct is to say that I would like to empower others, but I realize that comes sounding a little bit egotistical, but I’ve been grateful enough to have been given this platform and it’s a responsibility I don’t take lightly, and I think I was lucky enough to grow up with this sense of limitlessness, and I truly felt and feel like I can do anything, and I think I attribute that to being raised by a really strong mom and a very independent feminist grandmother and, you know I have an amazing sister that I have such great females around me and I truly feel that. I think but it didn’t hit me until recently that not everyone feels that, not every has that, in them or not everyone has that kind of support. And I think everyone deserves that, so, cliche as it may sound, I just want I want to be able to have some kind of impact on the next generation. And not just of athletes, but of girls and women coming up. Because there are so many incredible things to do and the world needs them.

K: And finally when can Cheryl expect The Brick.

T: Delivered to your doorstep, coming soon Cheryl.

K: Thank-you Tessa for joining us on the Her Mark Podcast.

T: Thank-you Kate.

x

[justlookingvm]

Transcript of Inside Sports with Reid Wilkins, special guest Kaetlyn Osmond Dec 19 Podcast with Scott Moir

RW: but we have a very special guest, checking in, he is the Moir part of Virtue & Moir, 5 time Olympic medalist, Scott Moir. Scott you’re on with Reid and Kaetlyn, how are you doing sir?

SM: I’m doing great, what an honour to be on here, way to go K.O.

KO: Thanks Scott, it’s good to talk to you

SM: ha ha ha, it’s great to be on, those Lightning has a good hockey team, I’m down in Tampa right now, so I’ve watched those guys a couple of nights, so no joke, good luck

KO: haha, that was actually going to be one of my questions, what hockey team are you cheering for?

SM: it’s tough to figure that out but, uh yeah I’m a huge Leafs fan, I think a lot of people know that but, I’m just waiting for Connor McDavid and company to get things going out there

KO: I was going to say better cheer for some Oilers

SM: hahaha

RW: Scott you’ve had the honour to travel and compete across Canada for for most of your adult life, so I’m sure you know we in Edmonton how much listeners love hearing about the Toronto Maple Leafs and how good they’re doing

[everyone laughs]

SM: that’s OK, it’s a long way from the season being over

KO: haha, speaking of seasons being over, what are you up to now?

SM: that’s a good question, my season is over I’m kinda kicking it into holiday gear now which is pretty exciting to be honest it was a, Tessa and I had a really great 2018 and just finished that tour with you Kaetlyn, the Thank You Canada Tour which we had a lot of fun on and now it’ll be time to actually go home and enjoy Christmas with my family, try and become a contributing member of my family again

KO: Christmas without Nationals a week later

SM: yeah exactly, gonna be it’s gonna be a little bit different but uh

KO: more relaxing?

SM: ya but part of me still, it will be but it’s weird, I get part of me will wish that I was still competing, but uh you can’t do it forever you know

KO: [giggle] speaking of not doing things forever, our team, it’s a good team that we have, um, what do you think is the secret is to the success that we actually had and what’s like being on a team with me?

RW: laughs

SM: oh, well I can tell you I saw seen you grow up there Kaetlyn, from your first uh National Championship and it’s always been an honour, we always knew for you um that possibilities were endless, and honestly it felt like, I imagine what it felt like to be on the dream team ah for basketball, like you just can’t believe you’re going to line up beside people like yourself and Patrick Chan, uh you know it’s not that bad of a position to be in, and to be honest when we were in Pyeongchang I think we our team just had a special energy and [unintelligible] it sounds cliché but we had each other’s backs and that really took us a long way and really made us unbeatable to the Russians, which is such a sweet thing to say

KO: [laughs]

RW: that is a sweet thing to say, you know Scott I wanna ask you about the team figure skating competition because it’s relatively new, and you know what it’s like in this country, we talk a lot of hockey, talk a lot of football with baseball and basketball thrown in and people see figure skating as more of an individual or obviously a sport with two people like you and Tessa

SM: right

RW: but for the team competition you know I know a lot of listeners and fans said to me well how do you have a team competition in figure skating ‘cause they’re all sort of doing their own thing. Now everybody was happy Canada got medals, don’t get me wrong, but um

SM: right

RW: when it was introduced how did you see it and how does the team environment work for figure skating where you’re doing a lot of things separately

SM: well it is an interesting concept and we grew up in that same world as many Canadians see skating as an individual sport, it took us at least one cycle to get used to it um and we felt like we kind of bobbled our approach ah in Sochi with the team event, uh you know it’s a great for us as a country, I think Canada has such a rich skating history and it’s a great way for us as a country to kind of measure up against the other countries. Who is the best skating nation, so um you know they’ve created this event and kinda hats off to the ISU ‘cause skating was one of those events where you only had one shot at a medal and we welcomed the chance at another shot ah to compete in the team, um for countries like Canada [unintelligible] to be proud and patriotic, like the curlers, like the hockey players, um this is a medal that I think Canadians aren’t happy unless we bring home the gold, and that was kind of our mindset going in this year, we tried to use that a bit more as motivation instead of pressure, um but it was something that we didn’t take lightly, and I think as a group um it wasn’t a warm up at all, we all wanted this medal just as much as we wanted our individual medals, and uh you know it’s such a different feeling to compete as a team, now, it’s an interesting concept ‘cause we’re never on the ice together, so we do compete as a team and you know how you do directly affects the medal that your teammate’s going to get so, that’s unusual for us, and luckily as Canadians and like I talked to [unitelligable] I saw Kaetlyn grow up right in front of our my eyes and Tessa’s eyes and we competed with Patrick um since we were 12 years old and Meagan Duhamel, Eric Radford even younger than that and, we had a special bond. And I think that was that was our advantage truly and we had that support and instead of it being the pressure of making sure that you hold up your end of the bargain for the team it kinda motivated us forward and we knew that we just had to go out there and give it all we had and then we’d come home with the gold

RW: that’s a great explanation, Scott Moir joining us on Inside Sports, Kaetlyn Osmond is in studio here 630 CHED here in Edmonton. Scott, you mentioned the age that some of you started competing, uh Kaetlyn referenced the Olympic Champion 15, in women’s we had a caller calling in and asking about that and and uh you know these young women in figure skating they sometimes the careers don’t go past 24 25, I think you’re 31 now but you can almost see what happens with your future, it’s an interesting sport and it’s, I don’t know if now, do you look at the generation younger generation and say like oh my god like how did I do that, why are we putting the pressure on these kids, how do you looks at that now as a more veteran skater

SM: that, I mean I’m happy you set that up for me because it’s different, I mean when I look at some young talented skaters um in my event, the ice dance event there’s a French dance team um they’re quite spectacular, they actually train in Montreal, um and they’re like 21 22 uh well they were at the last games anyways and they’re a special talent, I mean it’s similar to what you see when the first time Connor McDavid was in the NHL you can just tell that, this talent comes around once in a hundred years, and I’m excited to see what they can do. On the flip side of things actually I think in when we look at the ladies, and in Kaetlyn’s circumstance, I think especially the way we need to look out with the sport with the 15 year old with the 17 year olds that are jumping but uh not doing much else. And I think you really need to be there live to see Kaetlyn Osmond and how she skates, that’s what we love about Kaetlyn. She goes out there, she skates as fast as the men do, she attacks as the men do, she attacks every step, uh she jumps high and she goes for it. I mean and that’s sport what a great role model for women and girls across the country to look up to in Kaetlyn, that’s why we’re so so proud of her. Um Patrick Chan we kind of felt the same way and that’s our sport, it’s a complete package and we want to find a way that we’re rewarding the jumps but you’re also you know um rewarding that full skating package and as Canadians we do that very well, and our role models like Kaetlyn and Patrick, you have to be there live to see it. When your hair blows past up over your uh head because Kaetlyn just skated by you, you feel a difference in that and the 15 year old present Olympic Champion but that that’s figure skating and that’s opinion and there’s always going to be opinion in a judged sport but that’s kind of my answer to that I guess

KO: that’s amazing and thank-you so much for all that and

S&KO: [laughing]

SM: you’ve heard me say that before you’ve had to listen to me going on and on about that for years

KO: it’s a great confidence boost for me [laughs] but we’re talking about all and speaking about seeing skating live, we just finished that Thank You Canada Tour that you guys started, um thank-you so much for that, that was something really special to be a part of

SM: thank-you for coming [chuckling from both S & K] it would be nothing without you girl

KO: and that was actually one of the top comments that we heard numerous times from fans was that watching the tour live was something completely different than watching us over the TV, um the power, the speed, not many people can see that over the TV and something that I noticed in hockey too. You see the speed a lot more

SM: yes

KO: in person but it what was your most memorable city on the Thank You Canada Tour

RW: ooh good one

SM: most memorable skate?

KO: city

SM: oh city, oh boy that’s hard, I mean ‘cause I’m on the radio in Edmonton right now should I say it?

KO: we weren’t in Edmonton

SM: yeah but

KO: so therefore

SM: yeah but we did stop so you saved me there thank-you um actually that’s a good question, I think, well there was two moments that were pretty cool, Tessa and I were, and Patrick as well actually were able to produce this tour and have a hand in kind of the route and all these different places we want to be in some that never had skating before, the Grande Prairies, the Red Deers, I mean obviously they’ve had skating shows before but they don’t get it as often as they should though. My two favourite memories are very clear. One was in Sudbury which was Meagan Duhamel’s hometown uh because that city just came alive for her um and it was such a special homecoming energy and then equally to that, that one was bit unexpected I guess but when we went to Newfoundland with you K.O. it was pretty unbelievable to see how much that province loves you, um and how much they love skating. It was pretty cool to see two standing ovations in 1 night just for coming out and singing Oh Canada. Those are memories that we’ll never forget and we’re very lucky to be Canadians and have the support of the Canadian public and it kind of happened, there’s a special connection with Canadian Olympics, uh with Olympics and Canadian people and we felt very fortunate to always have that support our whole career and that’s really why we wanted to do this tour.

RW: Scott Moir from Virtue & Moir joining us Inside Sports tonight. Scott a couple more for ya, thanks for being so generous with your time, this was a blast to have you on the show.

SM: my pleasure

RW: I throw this one out there um, usually to figure skaters and curlers. I think you’ll understand why when I ask the question. What’s the one thing that people say about figure skating that you’re just sick of people saying about figure skating

SM: [chuckling] uh well I can be honest and tell you that I’m sick of people asking if Tessa and I are dating

KO: [ah ha ha ha]

SM: and that’s more particular to just me but um yeah I think the biggest thing is the costumes and we’re an artistic sport, I’ve actually grown to love that, but when I was younger I used to hate that. All my buddies when I played hockey would go would joke that I forgot my sequins and that I had the wrong pair of skates on and um see that’s what I always got sick of hearing but I kinda grew out of that and you know what I don’t want to tell too many people this but uh now I kinda like wearing the tight pants every once and a while

RW: [laughter]

KO: they’re great, they look good

SM: [laughing]

RW: well you’ve got the physique for it, most of us don’t so all the hours in the gym and training for sure, speaking of which

SM: well it’s crazy how quick that physique can go in 8 months, it’s been a long time since I was on the TV in Pyeonchang, after this Christmas season I’ll have to get back into that gym

RW: well OK so I gotta ask you about that, you gained even more fame and attention for your willingness to let loose at a women’s hockey game, did you enjoy that part of it, that people saw that you’re, and I think that people got a sense of your personality just through your skating and your interviews, but you know the ref heckling and the beer drinking, you’re like I don’t care I was out there doing it, or were you kinda like maybe get the camera off me at that point. How did you feel about all that?

SM: a bit of both. This was a very special Olympics for Tessa and I because we felt like we were more ourselves than we’ve ever been. I think we’re a little bit older now, um we, in our earlier Olympics it’s not that we had a façade or anything but we just felt like we had to try our best not to let Canada down, and we were nervous to do anything, and now we’re a little bit older, and I felt like I was able to be more myself and, you know me at the hockey game having a beer, I don’t look great in a toque, oh I guess I always look a little bit drunker than I actually am in a toque, that was only my second beer believe it or not but, I ah I do heckle the refs a lot and it’s because I love those girls on that team and they [sigh] they really are the cornerstone of our Olympic team. The Olympic hockey for [unintelligible] for women’s hockey is so important and that rivalry so heated um and I just love to support them and I know how much it means to them. So yeah, I was a little into the game, we kinda circled that on the calendar for a long long time, and the only thing about that is that’s their Olympic moment and I’m happy to share and be there and support them but I don’t want to be on TV. That became a bit too much for me. They were showing me after every play, show me in the men’s game, and showing me on curling and um I kinda became a bit of a mascot but haven’t had to buy too many beers since I got home, which has been nice so I have to, I got a lot of IOUs out there now.

RW: well that’s a great advantage. Scott, thank-you so much for doing this and thanks to Kaetlyn for booking a guest of this magnitude for Inside Sports ‘cause I don’t know if I would have wrangled you otherwise but I do hope we can do this uh again and tell more stories. Canada’s so proud of you, we got a lot of people on the text line saying hi to you Scott. Somebody asked if you could play defense for the Oilers so maybe that’s in your future. But I really appreciate you coming on the show.

SM: I got stone hands so I don’t think you want me, I think the talent you have there you’ll be OK, but I appreciate you having me and can’t wait to be in Edmonton again. Hope everyone has a happy holidays.

KO: Merry Christmas Scott

SM: same to you Kaetlyn, talk to you soon

RW: Scott Moir checking in tonight on Inside Sports. Kaetlyn thank-you.

KO: ya that was great, ya

RW: that was incredible. Ah 2010 and 2018 Olympic Gold in ice dance. 2014 Olympic Silver in ice dance and then they got the team silver in 14, team gold in 18 and they’re 3 time world champions. Is that sound right?

KO: sounds right to me

RW: most decorated. Are they the most decorated Canadian figure skaters ever?

KO: in Olympic history

RW: in Olympic history

KO: um hum

RW: pretty good

KO: I heard it every night on the tour [giggles]

RW: Scott was writing the script for that I assume, make sure this is the intro

KO: it was amazing to hear every night, and it got such an amazing applause from the entire Canadian world, so it was incredible

RW: I think the 1 thing that I appreciated about is Scott was, and I think regardless of the sport, and you’ve been through and we were talking before you came on air that you gotta be, were told to be careful what you say and stuff, I know you’re loosened up tonight ‘cause we’re having a good time, but you know he never got that sense with Scott. But you got the sense when he was being interviewed or you saw him in reacting in the kiss and cry as they call it after the skate, it was never a mask with him. I always got the sense watching like this is this guy. I would love to meet this guy. I would love to talk to this guy.

KO: he’s an amazing person for sure, um I’ve been talking to him for at least the last 4 years, being on the Canadian team with him and he is just absolutely incredible, always so well spoken, and just such an amazing fun guy to be around

x

[justlookingvm]

Virtue Moir Lindt Master Class Talk 1 (uploaded youtube August 2015) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8dX2xEjAlQ

Tessa and Scott’s Journey (Crank up volume or use headphones. They started skating together when she was 7 and he was 9)

 Tessa and Scott are in the front of a room sitting on a table

 S – that we were 7 and 9 and skating at a little skating club called the Ilderton Skating Club, and my aunt coached both of us and decided that, I think it was just so we would skate together, they thought it was cute. We weren’t very good, we didn’t like to hold hands, we didn’t talk.

T – no we didn’t

S – So, we had no idea that we were going to be Olympic ice dancers when we were 7 and 9

T – we always say that the sport chose us because we never consciously made that decision, but, we started skating together sort of just doing a few dances together and we had fun, we really liked it, and maybe after about 10 months or so we actually started talking too so that (muffled can’t understand), but every year our parents would sit us down and (she sees someone and says) do you need a chair? (gets up and says) we have extra ones here

S – (Scott also gets up and says) there’s chairs (they give out chairs), do you want a chair chair so you don’t have to roll around? (motioning to someone off camera, they say no) Oh you like rolling around. How about you guys back there? (motions to someone in the back of the room), you sure? OK, I’ll use it for my feet then (sits back on the table and puts his feet on the chair)

T – (sits back down on the table) save your legs (unintelligible), um, so our parents would sit us down every year and ask if we wanted to commit to skating one more season together and we were never allowed to quit in the middle of a season but every year we said yes, we were enjoying it, and we had success pretty early, we won the juvenile nationals when we were I don’t know about this tall (indicating with her hand how small they were), we were the smallest and youngest team, not sure we could even see over the boards

S – don’t think so

T – but uh that was a first kind of taste of standing on the podium and receiving a medal and we realized OK we want to just continue to get better and better so set our sights on pre-Novice, Novice, and just sort of continue that way

S – once we got up to Novice we started competing at a pretty serious level then um our parents would drive from, we live in London Ontario, and we were training in Waterloo so our parents would have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning and drive us to Kitchener/Waterloo so we could train for 3 hours and then drive us all the way back for school. We weren’t able to get the hours that we wanted to um so when we were 13 and 15, Tessa skipped 8th grade and we went to Waterloo to live there permanently, away from our parents

T – yes so we were quite young to move away from home at just 13 and 15, but uh we lived with families there and we were training every day and training with teams that were pushing us to be better and we would skate 3 hours in the morning, we would go to school, and then come back to the rink or return to the rink and do ballet and workout and um dancing, things like that and often then we would go home and do some homework, have dinner, and really be in bed before 8 or around 8 PM. So that wasn’t normal for high students I don’t think, we didn’t really do any semi-formals, no parties or movies, no sleepovers, we kind of missed out because we were so focused on training

S – and we were away from our families so it was really odd but we had a great coaching staff there, we billeted with some fantastic families and uh one coach in particular, ah Suzanne Killing [Sp.], our choreographer, um she would sit us down every week and we’d talk about goals, talk about what our goal was for us every day, what our goal was for the week, what our goal was for the month, and the season and so on. And what we also talked about is how each other are feeling, and more specifically how our actions made each other feel, and um started to really communicate. We would challenge each other, she challenged us to watch other teams on the ice (pause) fighting, yelling at each other, she’d ask “what are they getting accomplished, like how are they going to do when it comes time to compete?”, and that was a big start to our relationship where we had to communicate and we also had to have this level of respect that we kept through our whole career. We never told each other to shut up, we don’t raise our voices at each other, our biggest fight goes something like this (he looks down and stops talking), we’re very very sensitive people and what we found is that just not talking to each other is hurtful, we had to make sure that we didn’t hurt each other because we needed each other to be at our best, so I think ever since that those meetings, we are each other’s biggest fans

T – hm, we sorta cultivated our code of respect and set boundaries for um, you know we never name called, we don’t blame one another, and those are things that were just never crossed those lines, so even still 18 years later we have that understanding and that trust, that took a long time to work on, but ah

S – we were successful

T – ya we did well in Waterloo but when we were 15 and 17 we needed to make another change, um Waterloo we were sort of the top team in the rink, and we were still just in Junior, we needed to be around, we needed to skate with more senior teams, people who were better than us, world champions, and people who we were aspiring to skate with, so we moved to Michigan. Um and that was another big shift, because I still couldn’t drive and Scott had to drive me everywhere to get groceries, or to the rink, or to the gym, or everything, we were each other’s family, we relied on one another, but was also a big shift in our coaching staff because in Waterloo they were like our family members, and they were warm and they were encouraging, supportive and in Michigan we switched to some Russian coaches and the dynamic was entirely different, it was quite intimidating, and quite an aggressive style of coaching that we weren’t used to, and a lot of new things, we couldn’t go to regular high school, we couldn’t live with families, um we had to grow up pretty quickly

S – and um I can remember when we were driving across the border (garbled speech) and 15 and was something we would do together which was dangerous in itself (garbled speech), um we’d get to the border and they would think that we were eloping, and I was stealing Tessa from her parents, so we used to have to have a letter from her parents, a letter from my parents, a letter from Skate Canada, to cross the border every day, um but we grew really close in this time, because like Tessa said, we live with older skaters and we needed to be there for each other, and so here we are with these really intimidating Russian coaches, we’re both so scared out of mind, but our skating starts to get better, the (something) stuff that they taught us just kinda passed on to you today, ah you know their coaching style was magnificent (something garbled) teams and we love the product that they’re giving us. So we started to kind of get better and better and better. And um it was around 2005 that we moved there and 2006 when had our first shot at the Olympic Games. So we went to the National Championships knowing that we needed to be the top 2, and then we had a very we thought, we had trained all year, we were ready to go to the Olympics, so we ended up 3rd in the a compulsory dance segment, and then we were 2nd in the original dance and 2nd in the free dance, but ended up 3rd overall by .02 (Tessa gives a wry smile), so we thought that Skate Canada was going to send us to the games because we were young, and we wanted to win Vancouver, so they thought that they would see the future and that we needed to go to a Games, but, we were wrong. They didn’t send us to the Olympics and we were crushed.

T – I remember just feeling like everything was crumbling down, and everything we had worked for was, was um absolutely devastating I’ve never cried harder probably and still to this day I just thought, you know, we missed our chance and that was just devastating. They had even sent us we have all of the sort of destination Torino gear, so we had t-shirts, baseball hats (unintelligible)

S – our Olympic accreditation

T – yes, we had everything, we were at home watching the Olympics from our couches, and it was then that we made a decision, you know, 4 years from now, we’re not going to leave anything to chance, we have to be there and we have to be the best position as possible to win. Um, so we sort of retrained it and decided, OK, we can’t go to the Olympics, but we have Junior Worlds this year, we ended up going and winning, um we were motivated, we wanted to prove a point to everyone and to make a statement, and uh, so that was really successful but it was then that we sort of started on this 4 year plan to the Vancouver Games. And things were going along nicely. Our first year Senior we were 6th at Worlds, and our second year we won the free dance at our 2nd Worlds. That was a big leap and we thought OK, in 2008 this is great, we’ll be 2nd, we planned to win in 2009 Worlds and then we just go and win the Olympics. And that just seemed easy

S – easy (they say it at the same time)

T – we just had it figured out. So, in order to do that, um, in 2008, we decided we needed to work as hard as humanly possible, so we started skating or training 13/14 hour days, at the rink, um because we thought that working longer meant working smarter or working harder, and little did we know at the time that that was probably the worst thing that we could have done because surprise surprise I ended up with an overuse injury. So I had pain in my shins, uh basically my muscles were being strangulated ‘cause I could skate for 20 or 30 seconds at a time ‘til I had to stop when there was numbness and cramping and

S – and stop working

T – ya it was a really hard thing to explain and no one could diagnose it ‘cause it’s not a common injury so, eventually I mean we were sitting in our team doctor’s office and she said well “you have compartment syndrome and it’s a chronic thing, there is a surgery so we could try the surgery which may or may not work, or you know the alternative is just to stop skating, and to stop competing”. We’re a year and a half out of the Olympics so that wasn’t a choice a question for me, um I ended up getting the surgery and I spent my time rehabbing and doing physio in London Ontario when after the surgery, and Scott was training…

 Virtue Moir Lindt Master Class Talk 2 (uploaded youtube August 2015)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWY_PgHbK8g&t=610s

T – I think I was reluctant to tell him about the pain I was experiencing and I felt like I was disappointing him or somehow letting the team down, and I just couldn’t bear to get myself to deliver that disappointing news every day

S – and I felt like uh I was training really well and hard, I was skating with a sand bag and a hockey stick, just like trying to do anything so when Tessa came back I was ready, um and I didn’t want to remind her that I was just waiting there ready to go every single day, and I was training hard and I was in great shape, I kinda felt guilty about that too, so our relationship really struggled really suffered (garbled), now coming back with this injury not only does Tessa have to get over the fact that she just learned kind of how to re-walk again with her legs ‘cause remember her injury was on both legs, um that’s quite a process, so, also the one of the hardest parts was the we just didn’t communicate with each other during this time, and we had this weird, didn’t know how to look at each other, we didn’t know how to talk to each other, and that was probably one of the weirdest times in our partnership

T – it was really strange, we sort of pushed through we had Nationals, Four Continents, and Worlds in that winter championship series, and we would, guys you can appreciate this, we would step on the ice, and because I was still in pain we couldn’t train the way we were used to, so we would get on the ice for a competition without ever having done a full run through of our program, or maybe having done one at home

S – this is like World Championship stuff

T – so we would start, and we would just sort of cross our fingers and hope to make it to the end and hope that adrenaline carried us through, um, that’s the worst feeling, unprepared, and not ready, that was a big struggle, and on top of that to not have that trust and loyalty in the safety net that you know we came to rely on in our partnership, so that was challenging and we thought that once that season was done we ended up 3rd at Worlds which was it was respectable, no team had ever won the Olympics without first having won Worlds, so it seemed an impossible task to prepare for the Vancouver Olympics and think that we would win, and yet, we still decided that that was our goal

S – so we’re one year out of the Olympics, and remember we talked about the little relationship problem between the two of us so we decided to make it, we both knew that we needed to find a way to come together and stronger so did start taking a bit of counseling which was kinda like marriage counseling, uh the guy that we went to was a marriage counselor and a sports psychologist, so we used him for both but then again we started talking about our feelings, and how each other were feeling, um that was huge for us, we still actually worked on it up to the Games and it wasn’t easy, it’s not like we sat down once and we just it’s like OK everything is perfect, water under the bridge, we had to work on the whole season and uh what a lot of people don’t know as well with the Vancouver Games, Tessa was still very hurt, the pain in her shins had gone away uh a little bit but not not for very long and we adapted kind of the (metro?) (a little aside to Tessa, speaking low can’t understand), but since we couldn’t train like everyone else we needed to make sure that we were trained but we needed to train in our own way. And uh going into the Vancouver Olympics, Tessa was even more hurt, she was doing about 6 or 7 hours of physio a day, but we were very trained, we were very ready for the Olympic Games.

T – and there’s something about the energy in the building at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver that I just felt right, just felt like it was it was our building and we took the ice and I just remember sort of the magnitude of the situation, it was larger than life because judges, and the media watched our every move and and criticized um we were sort of in a horrible position with this we were in the hunt for a medal, and yet, with all of that attention I think our focus narrowed and it was really just the two of us, our little world was all that we saw and that was all that mattered. We took the ice in this little bubble and started forgetting that there were 30 million people watching or you know caring and invested in this, and we skated really well, we had 3 strong performances, um

S – couldn’t hear our music for some of them

T – laughs

S – the crowd was so loud

T – it was amazing and it’s really an athlete’s dream come true to represent your country at a home Olympic Games, so standing on the podium and singing Oh Canada with 12,000 people in that building was absolutely incredible and a bit of a whirlwind, it was amazing

S – highlights?

T – absolutely and shortly after that actually we had the World Championships, we won our first world title 3 weeks after that, and I think we were just exhausted

S – in Torino Italy, so destination Torino, we had those shirts, we might not have gone to the Olympics, but we got to win a World Championship

T – (at the same time) we redeemed ourselves

S – I remember being in the final position and watching the tape afterwards and just seeing our faces, we just look exhausted

T – ya we just relieved to have that season done, um, but it didn’t take long for us to decide that we wanted to continue, we felt we still had more to give and more potential to explore, we wanted to sort of push ourselves and push the envelope in skating and in ice dance, and um see what else we could do, so we worked with different Cirque du Soleil acrobats on our lifts, we brought in various choreographers, and off-ice dancers, we sort of made that our mission to change up the sport a little bit, um or at least change our dynamic on the ice, uh but I needed another surgery ‘cause the pain moved not only in just my shins but I got it in my calves as well, um a few months after the Vancouver Games I got a 2nd more aggressive surgery on my legs, but the recovery process went smoother because we kept in touch and we were supportive and learned our lesson (Scott nods approval), so, sort of battled that for a couple of years, actually I considered a 3rd surgery believe it or not, the exact same surgery, um before Sochi Olympics ‘cause I still had that pain, um and I remember my surgeon just joking that he liked to see new patients every now and then (laughter in the room), but it was then that I was put in touch with a sport scientist physiotherapist and they call him movement whisperer, and he looked at my mechanics and how I moved and how I skated and said well no wonder your calves are so sore, you’re expecting them to do all the work for you. So I wasn’t using my glutes and my bigger muscles, you know what we talked about on the ice today, that squat position and I wasn’t doing any of that

S – and evidently we were watching tapes, either was I really, um we would watch he’d be pointing out things like saying Tessa look at your hip position here, she used to skate with her hips really forward and not coming back at all, and then I’d look over to me and I was doing the exact well not quite the exact same thing because obviously I didn’t have any pain but there was a lot of room for me to improve as well so it took this advantage that we found through this injury and then made it our style

T – ya

S – a lot of our exercises and stuff that you guys saw today

T – ya we took a lot of video work and it was a way more intellectual and sophisticated way to train because we realized why we were doing what we were doing so we understood why our warmup was important, exactly what muscles we needed to work through for certain things, it was tedious, like learning to write with the other hand, and he would even, this guy would film us doing our cooldown walk, we do this walk when we get off the ice or our session, he’d video that and he’d correct every single step that I made, so that was kind of interesting and just extended it to every exercise that we were doing

S – a couple of you weren’t very happy with me when I was (bending in today?) imagine walking to the end of the hallway and back and me being like nope that was wrong, try it again (laughter from the room), just you walking

T – so that was a challenge that I actually was able to skate without pain and that was incredible, we changed a lot of our on-ice training and preparation for competition became more integral work and it was harder that we had ever done before but I was not in pain, so it was amazing leading into the Sochi Olympics, um because I was present and I wasn’t getting 7 hours of physio every day as I was in Vancouver, and we were 4 years older and think we were approaching it as if it was our last Games, so it was a totally different experience. We just embraced every part of it, we embraced the (?), we loved chatting with the athletes in the cafeteria, in our workouts, and standing on the podium, they’ve got an outdoor ceremony and we just wanted to be present and to take it all in, and um we knew that 17 years of work sort of led us to that point. So we had our best performances at Sochi Olympics. We couldn’t have skated any better and in fact we sort of lucked out. (Scott says something and laughs, but it’s too low to hear). Um in fact I think we felt better about our skates when we got off the ice in Sochi than we did in Vancouver, and we got Silver medals in Sochi, so a lot of people saw that as a failure or as a disappointment, um and (typically?) it wasn’t what we wanted

S – we wanted to win

T – we wanted to win, but we were so genuinely satisfied with our skates, our performances that we realized that the colour of the medal didn’t define us, didn’t identify us, you know it didn’t matter what those 9 or 11 people thought about us on the panel, it was really, how do we feel about ourselves, how do we feel about what we’ve accomplished, and that was put to the test

S – we got our moment, it was really neat because in 2010 we said to each other we’ve done the work so no matter what happens we’re so proud of each other, let’s go out there and have our skate, we’re focused (the video cuts to him saying) the colour of the medal that made the moment special after all was more so what we had together, the 18 years that go into it, mastering our craft, mastering every step of every program, we felt that we did the best that we could

T – so, after that we decided that we needed a bit of a

S – ya we needed a break

T – break (laughs), um we took a year to sort of step away from competing but we challenged ourselves in new ways on the ice, we were performing come around the world, doing tours, we worked with different choreographers, and it was a clean slate because we could create programs without rules, (something about appeasing judges), technical requirements, things like that, so it’s been a really thrilling year for us, we tried to say yes to everything, things that scared us, tried new things

S – work with different choreographers, (something) opportunities outside of the sport, now we have to decide if we want to try for 1 more Olympics, figure out if we, we have to make sure if it’s right, we would love to go to another Olympics, but I think with our 2 experiences, um with Sochi and Vancouver, we are always going to want to be at the Olympics, we’re 75 where we want to be representing Canada in ice dance, it’s just not the reality, so we hope that we have 1 more run in this, but we never know.