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Canadian fans 'can be your army': Browning
| Source: |
Abbotsford News |
| Date: |
December 3, 2009 |
| Author: |
Dan Kinvig |
When it comes to the Olympics, home-ice advantage will either make you
or break you.
That's the opinion of Canadian figure skating legend Kurt Browning,
who is in Abbotsford for a Friday performance of Holiday Festival on
Ice at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre.
Browning has tasted the hype of Winter Olympics both at home (Calgary,
1988) and abroad (Albertville in 1992; Lillehammer in 1994). With
B.C. just two months away from hosting its own Olympiad, Browning gave
some insight into the challenges that Canadian athletes will
face.
"The pressure of 16,000 people freaking out and wearing red and white
might just cave you in," said Browning, who never medaled at the
Olympics but won four world championships. "Or, it can be your
army.
"For Patrick (Chan) and Joannie (Rochette) and those guys, when they
step on the ice in Vancouver, it's going to be one of those two
things. It's either going to help or it's going to hinder – it's not
going to be both."
Browning is just one of the skating luminaries in Abbotsford for the
Holiday Festival on Ice. He's joined by past Olympic and world
champions as Ekaterina Gordeeva, Jeffrey Buttle, and Jamie Sale and
David Pelletier.
Sale and Pelletier authored one of the most famous moments in Canadian
Olympic history in 2002 in Salt Lake City. The Canadian duo were
initially awarded the silver medal in the pairs event, but were
upgraded to gold in the wake of a judging scandal that rocked the
sport.
Sale, who recently won CBC's Battle of the Blades reality skating show
with former hockey star Craig Simpson, offered her own advice for
Canadian athletes who are gearing up for the Vancouver Games.
"For a lot of athletes, I know that right now is when it's really
hard, because (the Olympics) are thrown in your face a lot," she
said. "When you go grocery shopping, everyone's like, 'Bring home that
gold medal!'
"There are some figure skaters right now who are feeling pressure,
because their faces are on Cheerios boxes and the media is hyping them
up. It really adds a lot of pressure, but I think it's important as an
athlete to embrace it and not to be scared of that.
"People want the best for you and they're so excited for you, and I'd
tell myself that was good."
The ex-Olympians agreed that touring professionally is a far cry from
the pressure-cooker of amateur competition. Browning pointed out that
in an Olympic year, the goal of his training was to peak for a single
mega-event. While participating in pro events like Holiday Festival on
Ice doesn't generate the same amount of stress, it doesn't offer the
same thrill as Olympic competition.
"It's a completely different mental ballgame," Browning said. "This is
easier, of course, but there's not as much excitement and not as much
comes back to you. Winning the Worlds is a real high. It's a
wow."
Sale said that the whole point of succeeding at the amateur level is
to pave the way for a solid pro career.
"This, for us, is so enjoyable," she said. "There's not a lot of
pressure on us, because it's about entertaining and not about
executing perfectly.
"There's no pressure here except that we want to be good for an
audience every night."
The Abbotsford stop on the Holiday Festival on Ice tour will be taped
for broadcast on CBC on Dec. 16, and will air internationally in the
United States, China, Japan, South Africa and the UK later in the
Christmas season.
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