Rochette keeping mother’s Olympic dream alive

Yahoo ^

[nuconvert]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – She still hasn’t buried her mother, but here was Joannie Rochette, among the last skaters to leave the practice ice Monday. She took her time leaning up against the boards, slipping a guard around her skate blade.

These were the final moments of normalcy, preparing for Tuesday’s ladies short program. Off the ice a crushing reality remains: Sunday’s unexpected death of her mother, Therese, who suffered a massive heart attack upon arriving in Vancouver to watch her daughter skate in these Games

If you wanted to see Olympic courage, if you wanted to witness a testament to inner strength overcoming the worst of circumstances, a petite blonde from Montreal delivered it in full Monday afternoon by merely getting through practice.

From a corner of the Pacific Coliseum stands sat her father, Normand, dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief at the sight of his daughter even trying to make this happen. Less than 48 hours had passed since he made an early morning trip to the Olympic Village to break the most horrible of news to his daughter.

[stylecouncilor]

ping