CHAN’S NEXT CHAPTER
Olympian upbeat about Stars on Ice
Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan retired last month, after a decorated career that included three world championships, two Olympic silver medals, and Olympic gold in the team event at the 2018 Games.
He’s in Saskatoon on Friday with a wide array of skating luminaries for Stars on Ice, which is slated for 7:30 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.
Chan chatted with The StarPhoenix this week about adjusting to the real world, why it would be easier for a figure skater to transition to a hockey player than the other way around, and how many times he’s watched the replay of his own performance from that goldmedal day at the Olympics.
Q You competed at Canadians in Saskatoon several years ago, and now you’re heading here with Stars on Ice. How does your mindset change when you’re putting on a show for the fans, versus skating competitively with a championship on the line?
A It’s a totally different beast. You feel nervous doing both shows and competitions, but the nervousness you get in competition is from expectations you put on yourself. It’s a bigger mind game, and you have to be really mentally tough to handle the distractions and the pressure of competing.
On the other hand, when you’re coming into Stars on Ice ... we’re so fortunate to be the select few who get to do this. We get to go out and actually enjoy skating. It’s a bit of a full circle — it feels like when I started skating, and the feeling I had when I first started falling in love with skating. I re-live that when I’m on the ice with Stars on Ice.
Q When most athletes retire, they also move out of the public eye. But figure skaters can pursue their sport in front of large crowds through shows like this. Is there value to be found in that transition?
A I’m going through that transition period right now. I have a lot of friends in other Olympic sports who aren’t sure. They don’t know what they’re doing next. And a lot of my friends don’t have that opportunity to transition lightly and softly with performing in shows. You can’t do shows and speedskate. You can’t do a show with skis, or with bobsleds. It’s a very unique situation we’re in.
A very small handful of skaters have this opportunity. If I wasn’t in this situation, if I didn’t have the good fortune of being successful in my sport, I would be in that same boat — I would have those struggles. OK, what am I doing next? I’d be feeling lost, feeling like ‘Where am I going to put my focus and my hard work, now that my competitive career is over?’
Q If the choice was yours, what’s one other sport you would like to have made a career in?
A: I would have loved to do freestyle skiing, or trick skiing, or snowboard cross. That would have been really, really cool. Kind of what Mark McMorris does. That would have been a very, very exciting career. It’s a different world, and that’s where the curiosity is — wishing I could have experienced something completely different, in a completely different world.
Q All things being equal, who would make the easier transition — figure skater to hockey player, or hockey player to figure skater?
A (Laughs). I’m going to say figure skater to hockey player. I think we’ve got the good skating skills, and we’re extremely competitive people. The only downside would be the stickhandling. We’d have to buckle down and work hard at it. But the hockey players would have to adjust tremendously, moving into a world of sport that’s completely individual and not team-based. When you make the transition that way, it’s much more challenging. You have to learn to work well with yourself and your own tools, and not necessarily have the support of an organization or a team around you. It would be very interesting, though. That would be a good TV show.
Q You’re looking forward to a career in commercial real estate. Is there anything you learned in figure skating that can help you with selling real estate?
A Yeah. There’s actually a lot of similarities, not just figure skating, but sports in general. It’s a very self-motivating industry. If I were to do more on the brokering side, trying to match buyers or tenants with building owners and developers, it’s a pretty competitive business. You make your own schedule, you work as hard as you want, and you make as much money as you’re able to, as motivated as you are. There’s a lot to be taken from being a competitive athlete to commercial business, which is why I found it pretty attractive.
Q You told Canadian Press that you’re “just a sponge” when it comes to learning about life outside competitive figure skating. How easy, or difficult, is it to flip that switch from one world to the next?
A It’s really weird. But it’s fun. As long as you keep an open mind ... I try to stay very honest, and if I don’t know something, I try to ask, and like you said, be a sponge — own up to the fact that you don’t know anything, especially when you’re making a transition into another career. At this point, it’s like Day 1, learning how to skate again, all over. It’s a very similar situation.
Q Young skaters pattern themselves after you. Who did you use as inspiration when you were still young and unknown?
A Many, many inspirations. Elvis Stojko is on this tour, and I remember him skating to the Bruce Lee number he did in Nagano in ’98. Kurt Browning growing up ... we skated at the same rink sometimes at the Granite Club in Toronto, and he would come and visit, and I remember chatting with him — even those innocent chats, not even about skating, necessarily — those are inspiring moments. I’d have to say Jeffrey Buttle, who is also on this cast, growing up with him and going head-to-head with him was one of the biggest turning points of my career.
Q How many times have you watched your men’s skate performance from that gold-medal day at the Olympics?
A None. (Laughs). I haven’t watched it once. I’m weird like that. I don’t love watching myself. I’ve lived my entire life being my own worst critic, and it’s been a challenge — even later on, at a point in my career where I’ve become more mature and more aware of how to be reasonable, and how the progression of improvement works.
Maybe in a few years I could go back and watch it, but right now, it’s still too fresh. I’d watch it, and criticize it, and shake my head at certain points. That’s what we are as elite athletes, and it goes back to how you transition from being an athlete to an every day job. The advantage we have is that we’re so competitive and critical of ourselves that we never cut ourselves any slack. (Laughs). And I really wouldn’t cut myself any slack at this point if I was to watch it again.