Lovers On Ice

Prologue : Glorious

In 1996, when I was 6 years old, that's when I knew I was born to practice this sport. I was initially interested in pursuing ballet and modern dance but I began skating at an early age through the CanSkate program. With my classmates, we had a special activity that consisted of assisting a figure skating show and I knew right then that's what I would want to do, always. I would become the best ice dancer of all times.

One year later, I was meeting my new ice dancing partner, Scott Moir. He was 9 years old and already a very talented skater. Scott was born in London, ON, just like me but he came from a skating family and was coached by his aunt, Carol Moir. We both skated individually first at the same club but we became more familiar with each other during the summer skate camps held at the Ilderton arena. Carol was looking for a new partner for Scott and she noted that I was the right size and skill level. His aunt thought we would be the perfect match so we started skating together and actually, we could say she was right from the beginning. We soon skated almost exclusively during group dance training sessions. Then we officially started competing as partners in 1998 when we entered a Western Ontario invitational competition.

In the summer of the same year, we began traveling to Kitchener-Waterloo for additional training with coach Paul MacIntosh and his assistant, Suzan Killing, during a few years and won a bronze medal at the Championships in Canada in 2001-2002. We trained for a while at home and abroad and then in 2004, shortly after winning first place at the Junior Nationals in Edmonton, AB, we began training to Canton, in Michigan, with Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva. In 2006, we became the first Canadian ice dancers to win World Junior title and then we began competing in senior events.

One year later, I was starting to feel cramps and pain in my shins but despite the pain, Scott and I we continued to train and compete until I tested positive for chronic exertional compartment syndrome in October 2008. I needed to have a surgery on both of my shins to try to alleviate the pain. After the surgery, we had to be apart for 6 months in order for me to recover and it was horrible. We didn't speak for months! Even our relationship, as perfect as it seemed to be, wasn't immune to rough patches. We were used to seeing each other everyday on the ice and for the trainings but then not anymore for a moment that seemed to be like years to me.

When I finally recovered, I could start training and skating with Scott again but it was as if all this time apart had ruined our chemistry somehow. We couldn't understand each other anymore and our bodies were no longer as one so we had to get some kind of "couple" therapy, which was funny since we were not a couple, but it helped us anyways in finding this sort of fusion between us again. After regrouping in early 2009, I was still in pain and we could only practice small portions of our program, which should have gotten Scott discouraged, but instead, he was so patient and understanding and that made me appreciate him even more. Despite this, it didn't stop us from winning other competitions and even getting a perfect 10.0 component score and that was the first time this mark was ever awarded to any ice dancers in competition.

All eyes were on us in 2010 when we competed in the free dance at the Pacific Coliseum on February 22 but due to pain in my legs again, we could not complete a full practice run-through of our program. Nevertheless, we were victorious. Our free dance program, which featured a challenging lift we had developed and called "The Goose" was awarded a score of 110.42 points, including four perfect tens, the highest of our career. Scott and I became the first North Americans and youngest skaters to win the Olympic gold medal in ice dance. We kept winning over and over again, which allowed us to be inducted into the London (ON) Sports Hall of Fame.

In October 2010, I had to undergo a second surgery but the pain kept returning in my calves and shins so my surgeon and I decided to try alternative methods, including an increase in my off-ice workouts. This approach was actually successful and allowed Scott and I to win other championships afterwards. However, our training partners Meryl Davis and Charlie White soon became our biggest rivals, stealing the first place out of our reach a few times and even in 2014, at the Olympic Games in Sochi where they won the gold medal and we had to be content with a silver medal. This second-place finish was colored by controversy about the coaching and judging. The French sports publication "L'équipe" alleged that the US and Russian judges had conspired to ensure gold for Russia in the team event and gold for Americans Davis and White in the ice dance competition. In addition, coach Marina Zoueva's apparent conflict of interest in coaching both the first- and second-place ice dancers provoked questions about whether she had displayed favoritism to the Americans (especially after she chose to march in the opening ceremony with the US team) and had devoted less coaching time to the Canadians. After those games, we stopped competing for some time, allowing us some free time since we never really had any in between practices, trainings and competitions during our entire childhood.