VANCOUVER - Is this end of the golden era of Canadian figure skating?
Or does the beat go on?
There's been a fear, a very real fear for more than just a year, that when
Elvis Stojko and the dance duo of Kraatz and Bourne are done, Canada's done.
With four world championships from Kurt Browning, two from Stojko, one
from Brian Orser and world and Olympic podium appearances by Isabelle
Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler and Liz Manley, Canada has been on a real roll in
the sport.
But for the last few years, we've seen a lot of stop signs. And with the
people who hold the top jobs in the sport, it reached proportions of pure
panic last year at Canadians in Ottawa.
"My biggest fear is that it could all collapse,'' said David Dore, the
director general of the Canadian Figure Skating Association.
"Too much TV and not too much control over it,'' he identified as one
fear.
And no more Canadians to put on the podium ...
"It's been the big fear.''
I mean, this sport has risen to amazing heights in Canada. It's become a
prime-time, big-bucks TV hit which breaks records every year, and it did it
again here with $1.85 million in ticket sales, breaking the old record of
$1.3 from Edmonton Canadians in '94. (The Edmonton attendance records for
Canadians and Worlds still stand.)
But with saturation of made-for-TV pro-skating shows and the prospects of
no Canadians to put on the podium to keep the sport on top, it's little
wonder Dore had been a decidedly worried man.
TOUGH CALL
One year ago it was tough to see a single skater coming along to keep the
Canadian flag flying.
If there was a storyline at '97 Canadians, it wasn't Stojko winning as he
did Saturday night or Bourne and Kraatz winning in dance as they did here
yesterday - they would have won blindfolded. And the story isn't really
setting up the Nagano Olympics next year. What will be will be.
It's for the next Olympic quadrennial. And the good-news story out of here
this week is, finally, Canada can see them coming. And you could almost hear
the sighs of relief from one side of the country to the other.
"We went from zero triple Axels to 12,'' said Dore of the Canadian men,
from two years ago when Stojko didn't skate and Sebastian Britten became
Canadian champion without being able to do the three-and-a-half rotation
jump.
Britten still can't do it, and that's basically why he isn't going to
Lausanne. Why send an unarmed man?
Dore said it spoke volumes when Britten stepped on the ice and saw the
facts in front of him Saturday night.
"Sixteen boys had done triple Axels and he didn't have one.''
Stojko had his quad and six triple jumps in the long program. But
17-year-old Ben Ferreira, the Edmonton Royal Glenora skater, had five
triples. He was seventh in his first exposure as a senior skater. He was
fourth before the final skater, Jeff Langdon, upset his apple cart.
"In novice men, 16 skaters had triple-double combinations. Two years ago
everybody did double-double. It's clear our young skaters are responding to
the challenge,'' Dore said.
"Our problem in Canada is we are a huge nation,'' said Louis Stong, the
new elite level development co-ordinator.
"We have a huge glut of skaters. But the net is so huge and the holes so
big ... ''
His point is that so many smaller countries can identify and then nurture
their skating prospects in hot-house situations.
But Canada realized - more than a little late - that the figure- skating
game was changing, and started to make changes in identifying prospects,
exposing them to international skating earlier and challenging them to try
more at an earlier age.
The first real results started to show here.
"It's surprisingly higher than last year and significantly higher than two
years ago,'' said Stong of the podium potential.
Stong was asked to name them.
One of the following four men and one woman will, he believes, make their
way to a world podium between the Nagano and Salt Lake Olympics.
1. Ben Ferreira of Edmonton.
2. Colin Thompson of Mississauga, Ont.
3. Jason Denommee of Asbestos, Quebec.
4. Emanuel Sanhu of Richmond Hill, Ont.
He could only name one woman.
1. Sara Schmidek of Jenner, Alberta.
But keep a long-term eye on l0-year-old Audrey Thibault of Drummondville,
Que., who finished second in novice here and landed a triple, he says.
"I like her,'' he said of Schmidek. "I have a feeling that she's gutsy.
You won't like the word, but I think you've got to be a bitch. And when you
see her jump and see her eyes ...
"Then I look at the body. She's got the best body,'' he said of the form
necessary for a figure skater.
Ferreira landed five triples, only one fewer than Stojko. And he's seven
years younger.
"He's great,'' said Stong, who says all four of the skaters, who are
either just graduated juniors or coming out of novice, all have a legitimate
shot at the top.
NO GUARANTEES
I asked him for a Joe Namath guarantee. "No guarantee,'' he said.
But belief. They finally believe when the next Worlds are held in Canada,
likely here in the year 2000 or 2001, we'll have somebody to put on the
podium.