FLAG BEARING
Third medal puts short-track speedskater Kim Boutin in the discussion for Canadian closing ceremony duties,
PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA— Kim Boutin made herself a calendar. And then she crossed off the days.
Because it’s a long, chaotic grind, the short-track fortnight inside the Olympics arcade, lurching from one race to another.
Possibly no other athlete has pinballed more crazily through the ups, downs and sideways dramas of these Games than the 23-year-old Boutin.
Death threats on social media — combustion and conflagration — after South Korean superstar Minjeong Choi was disqualified in the 500-metre final, elevating the Canadian to bronze, with Boutin wrongly blamed for the bump that got Choi penalized, her secondplace finish erased.
An inadvertent veering into the racing lane during the 3,000 relay final, deemed to have impeded a Chinese skater at the finish line — Boutin wasn’t actually racing at that moment; it was Marianne St-Gelais on the last lap — but the upshot, after all hell broke loose, was disqualification for Canada and a medal snatched from their grasp.
At the other end of the emotional spectrum: bronze in the 500, bronze in the 1,500. And, on Thursday evening, glittery silver in the 1,000, a tick behind surprise winner Suzanne Schulting, safely ahead of the double-tilt wipeout that sent a pair of South Koreans sprawling to the mats, the crowd shocked into silence. That made Boutin the second Canadian woman to win at least three medals at a single Winter Games, after speedskater Cindy Klassen’s five-pack in 2006.
A head-spinning jangly Games for the Olympic debutante from Sherbrooke, Que.
“I was flying,” she gasped, postrace. Like, did you see?
“It’s a cooler colour,” she giggled, of silver, compared to the brace of bronzes. “I’m happy.”
She couldn’t catch Schulting, who must be viewed as something of a short-track freak in the long-track speedskating colossus that is the Netherlands. But Boutin’s face split in a grin as she thrust her blade down across the finish.
“I was in pretty good position. I had a lot of energy at the end and I protect my second place.”
Her teammates hadn’t blamed Boutin for the relay havoc, which had left everybody stunned, wondering what the dang had just happened. Even cognoscenti of the sport were flummoxed, requiring an explanation from officials. But of course Boutin had blamed herself, yet another crunch to her psychological equilibrium after finding herself, at least in some hysterical quarters, the most hated woman in the country over the Choi tizzy.
“It was a really sad disqualification,” said Boutin, revisiting the relay madness. “I was really sad because I feel it’s my fault that we didn’t have a medal. I was sad for my teammates because they deserved it.’’
Short track had a relentless schedule at Pyeongchang. Boutin allowed herself one night to wallow in dis- may. “I was disappointed after the race. But I think these are things that happen in short track. I’ve been through things worse than a disqualification.” She meant, specifically, her alarm over the threats. “It was behind me the day after.”
She’d been reset mentally, thanks largely to the encouraging ministrations of her roommate, StGelais.
“Marianne helped Kim a lot at these Games,” said women’s coach Frederic Blackburn, giving full credit where it was due. “I put Marianne and Kim together in the same room just because I knew that was a good fit, because all year they were together. They had fun and they helped each other.”
Blackburn disclosed that Boutin had experienced difficulties all season, dealing with the mental and physical strain of race after race after race at short-track competitions. “This year was really hard. She was always tired. In Dordrecht (Netherlands), for example, she was super strong in the 1,000 but in the semifinal she mentally died, not physically, and she didn’t make it. We worked on that all year, to make her strong mentally for the Games.
“After the relay, that was really hard, not because of the result of what happened but because that was pretty long. That’s why she surprised me so much. Her character was so strong.’’
Boutin admitted she didn’t even have a strategy for the 1,000 final. “I’m not really a person who fixed on strategy.” She finds that constraining. “My body knows what to do. But I know that I really like skating in front.”
Further, she’d watched the Canada-U.S. women’s hockey final and drew energy from Team Canada, even in the loss. “That was motivation.”
Mostly, though, she’d leaned heavily on St-Gelais, her lodestone.
“She’s always there every time I win a medal, every time I don’t. To have her beside me at my first Olympics, it helps me to take a breath and just enjoy the moment.”
Enjoy. Savour. And maybe carry Canada’s flag in the closing ceremony. Why not?