Virtue, Moir have tunnel vision for Olympic gold
Canadian ice dancers can't wait to tell their story
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| Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir pose with coaches Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva. (Jacque Tiegs) |
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And if journalists keep asking them about a possible North American sweep of the ice dance medals, they're going to get very bored, Moir warned on a media teleconference yesterday.
"We haven't even seen two of the better European teams this season [Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia, and Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France]," he said.
"I think the biggest [thing] for Tessa and I going into the Olympic Games is not to focus [on] the other competition, just focus on ourselves. We believe in the product we have. We're not really concerned with matching ourselves up against the European teams, or the American teams, as a matter of fact."
So not even a YouTube peak at Delobel and Schoenfelder's practices, or Domnina and Shabalin's winning free skate at the recent European Championships? Those teams won the last two world championships.
"I really try not to go out of my way to watch any of the other ones, especially online," Virtue said. "I just sort of made that decision early on that I wasn't going to take a look."
"I'm in the exact same boat as Tessa," Moir added. "We've definitely heard a lot of hoopla, and you're not the first to ask, 'Have you seen the Russians? Have you seen the French?' We know just as much as you guys, and we'd like to know almost less."
That philosophy has prevented the skaters from thinking too much about Domnina and Shabalin's controversial Aboriginal folk dance, which has inspired protests from Australian Aboriginal leaders and concern from Canada's 100 Nations.
"As I said, we're not focusing on that," Moir said. "We know there will be a ton of stories at the Games. Our story is just going to be the skating itself. We don't care about the [Aboriginal] story; we're just about us, and I don't want to repeat myself over and over, but we're not concerned about anyone else."
There is one team they can't help but notice. Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who recently defeated world and Olympic silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto to win their second U.S. title, share Virtue and Moir's coaches, Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva, and their training ice in Canton, Mich.
In December, Davis and White defeated the Canadians at the Grand Prix Final in Tokyo for just the second time in their senior careers.
Earlier this week, the Canadians' adopted community in Canton held an Olympic pep rally and send-off to honor the two couples.
"Watching Meryl and Charlie compete this season, I don't think there's any doubt they are going to be top contenders in Vancouver," Virtue said.
"They are looking amazing. We're so proud of them and so excited for them because we see how hard they train and how hard they work every day. We always say we're on this journey together, the four of us, so we're excited for them and I think [two medals] is a definite possibility."
The team, especially the outspoken Moir, has made no secret of its goal to bring gold home to tiny Ilderton, Ontario, where a second pep rally is being held this Saturday.
"We don't really care too much who is on the podium with us; we just know what spot we want to be on," he said. "As selfish as that sounds, that's kind of the tunnel vision that I have, to tell you the truth."
The skater shrugs off concerns that such statements heap extra pressure on an already expectation-packed event.
"There's definite pressure coming from all sorts of places but we've always been a team that feels no one is putting more pressure on us than ourselves," Moir said. "We want to do well for Canada; we want to represent ice dance in Canada, figure skating in Canada, but really we've worked so hard for this, we want to go out there and enjoy it.
"If us being honest puts more pressure on us, I don't think it's going to be more pressure than what we're going to have when we step on to the Olympic ice on the 19th, the 21st and the 22nd."
Thus far, the two-time world medalists (silver in 2008, bronze in 2009) have won three events this season -- their two fall Grand Prix assignments and their third Canadian title. Their international scores, while stellar, have been a shade below Davis and White's. Still, Zoueva and Shpilband have made very few changes to their Flamenco OD or their free dance to Mahler's "Symphony No. 5."
At the Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris in October, they were docked two points for extended lifts, something they've worked hard to correct.
"We're very happy with the programs, and we're very happy with how things [went] at nationals," Moir said. "We're just tweaking a couple of little things prior to the Olympic Games, really just letting the programs grow and train them until they're absolutely flawless, making sure that all of the elements are just exactly on all the time."
Such success seemed unlikely little more than a year ago, when Virtue underwent surgery to relieve pain in her shins brought on by chronic exertional compartment syndrome, a condition that stems from overtraining.
Now, the skater said, the pain has all but disappeared.
"I've learned a lot about my body and what it needs. I've learned to be smart about training and smart about recovering and getting my dose of therapy regularly, so I'm in a really good position. I feel great. No pain, which is amazing. It's more just about maintenance now."
Virtue has no qualms about marching in the Games' opening ceremonies on Feb. 12.
"We never had any doubts about going," she said. "It's always been something that we've talked about, just embracing the whole experience...As far as what to expect, we've never been to an Olympics, let alone one in Canada. So who knows? A lot of noise, a lot of adrenaline, a lot of excitement and energy and can't wait."
"I'm just going to take it in; it's going to be something, that's for sure," Moir added. "I'm glad we have a week in between, maybe it might take that long to come down."
Follow @LynnRutherford and @icenetwork on Twitter throughout the Olympic Games.