Q&A VIRTUE & MOIR

Q You guys did take a few years off after Sochi. Was the plan always to come back?

Scott Moir The plan was not always to come back. I think we knew that there was a possibility. We thought we were retired, but we were smart enough to not announce that we were retired. We didn’t want to be the athletes that were kinda in-and-out, inand-out. So we just left it open. We knew we needed a break, but nothing was concrete. Luckily we just stayed in touch and then one day it became very clear. We still were skating together, but it became very clear that we weren’t done.

Q How did you make that decision?

Tessa Virtue We started to realize that we missed competing. It sounds simple, but it was. We missed having that purpose. We missed the structure, the regimented training schedule. Maybe most importantly we felt that there was more for us to give and more for us to explore. We watched a lot of videos and weren’t entirely satisfied with the material that we’d put out there. And I think the challenge of the fear was a big part of the appeal, because we missed that.

Q Did that surprise you at all? What did the break do for you? Moir The break gave us fresh perspective. Being away from it and being able to watch. We did some broadcasting stuff and were in the stands, and the one thing that really hit us is that we turned to each other and said, “Why aren’t they having more fun? They should be enjoying this!” Then we looked back on our tapes and see how serious we are, and started playing the, “What if?” game. If we came back and really enjoyed it, how much fun would that be? That sounds kind of silly, but it’s really powerful. I think that’s changed our whole approach.