CANADA’S ART OF GOLD
We set the bar high for our athletes — and they have soared well beyond it.
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir captured more than Olympic gold in Pyeongchang. They captured Canada’s hearts.
Virtue and Moir won ice-dancing gold Tuesday in what was probably their final Olympic performance, breaking the overall world record and winning the third gold medal of their highly decorated careers.
The loud and passionate crowd in Pyeongchang stood in the shadow of fan excitement on social media through their skate into the history books.
Actor Ryan Reynolds thanked Virtue and Moir for “agreeing to raise my children as your own” on Twitter (Reynolds shares two children with actress Blake Lively).
Olympic gold medallist Adam van Koeverden wrote on Twitter: “Canada’s collective heart just melted . . . @ScottMoir @tessavirtue what perfection.”
With Moir and Virtue hailing from London-Ilderton, Canadian singersongwriter Donovan Woods thought a name change ought to be considered. “They need to change the name of London, Ontario, to Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue, Ontario,” he wrote.
All of Canada seems to be invested in the pair’s career . . . and their relationship.
Though they say they are not a couple, and haven’t been since childhood (he was about 9, she was 7), Moir told the Star’s Rosie DiManno, “If we don’t have love for each other . . . do you know what we’ve been through together?”
That was after Moir reportedly told Virtue: “You complete me.”
The sizzling chemistry between Moir and Virtue — most blatantly apparent on the ice — enraptured social media.
“We skated with each other in mind the whole way and we skated with our hearts,” Moir told the New York Times. “It’s extremely fulfilling.”
The gold was their fifth career Olympic medal since they first melt- ed hearts at the Vancouver Games eight years ago. En route to gold at Vancouver and two silver medals at Sochi, Virtue and Moi pushed the ice-dance envelope with their athleticism and made sensuality a required element of ice dance.
With the 2018 Winter Games, Virtue and Moir solidified their place as Canada’s sweethearts. Will we ever see their like again? “Probably it will take a long time,” coach Patrice Lauzon said. “They’re a once-in-a-generation talent, that you don’t see often.
“And it’s something to be that good and to be able to keep at it for that long . . . to be at the top for three Olympics is quite amazing.”