Chan finds joy in sport after Olympic stress
Although Patrick Chan was crushed when he didn’t win gold at the Sochi Olympics, it didn’t take him long to find a silver lining.
Chan took about two weeks off following his silver-medal performance in February. He travelled to New York, played tennis and watched TV to unwind.
And, perhaps most importantly, Chan also visited schools near his parents’ home in Toronto with his medal in hand.
“It was a great response. It helped me kind of get over the fact that I didn’t win a gold medal,” the 23-year-old said. “Honestly, the peoples’ faces light up when they see the medal and they touch it. It’s really, really cool. To them, they don’t even notice the colour. They notice the weight of the medal and the fact that it’s an Olympic medal with the Olympic rings on it.”
“It really helped me to realize that it’s not all about what place you come in,” Chan continued. “Sure, (a gold medal) would have been great. But that’s why I’m so happy to skate for Canada. Support is all around no matter what you bring back from the Olympic Games.”
The school visits were a big part of Chan’s invigoration. The other part was lacing up the blades again and getting back on the ice.
Chan is part of an all-star, all-Canadian cast for Stars on Ice, which makes its way to Credit Union Centre at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
He will perform two individual numbers — Michael Buble’s Best of Me and Tony Bennett’s Steppin’ Out With My Baby.
“After the Games, I kind of lost the joy of skating,” Chan said. “You’re so ingrained to be perfect and so focused on the jumps and not making mistakes.
“You put a lot of pressure on yourself and you really don’t end up enjoying it anymore.”
Stars on Ice features Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir; Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford; Kaetlyn Osmond; Kurt Browning; Joannie Rochette; Jeffrey Buttle; Katilyn Weaver and Andrew Poje; and Shawn Sawyer.
The theme is celebrating the Olympics and saying thank you to fans across the country.
“It is work, but it feels like a vacation at the same time. I get to hang out with great friends,” Chan said. “It really brings out the joy in skating for me again.”
It’s a more relaxing experience than the one Chan endured in Sochi. The door was open for him to win Canada’s first-ever Olympic men’s gold after Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, the leader after the short program, stumbled in the free skate.
However, Chan struggled his way through his own routine in Russia and wound up 4.47 points behind Hanyu.
At the time, he settled for silver. But if the medal that now sits at his home in Detroit is any indication, Chan — and his fans — appreciate it a lot more now.
“It was getting pretty scratched up (from the visits),” Chan said. “But it’s cool. It’s worth it.
“There’s no point if I just baby it the whole time. It’s really cool to share it.”