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Gold medalist set to give back (5 photos)

Scott Moir is part of a star-studded figure skating field that will stop in Sault Ste. Marie in the fall

To say hockey played a role in Scott Moir becoming an Olympic athlete wouldn’t be a stretch.

The Canadian figure skater, who has five Olympic medals with partner Tessa Virtue, got involved in the sport in part because it was a chance to improve his skating.

“I didn’t care for it (figure skating), to be honest,” Moir said. “I knew that to be a better hockey player, I had to skate. I learned to skate and then it was always just moving forward in hockey until I met Tessa. That changed everything for me.”

“There is this young girl who could jump higher than me, skate faster than me and that really bothered me,” Moir added. “That competitiveness really drove us forward. That was the first time I had to set goals and make sure that I wasn’t just messing around all the time."

As partners, Moir and Virtue would go on to win three Olympic gold medals, including in PyeongChang, South Korea last winter, along with a pair of silver medals.

“It was completely different,” Moir said of the 2018 Olympics. “We had three different Olympic experiences and they were all totally different. The last Olympics were extremely fulfilling.

“We got to do what was near and dear to our hearts program-wise,” Moir added. “It was a fun ride. We were all on the same page. It felt like all of the lessons that we learned up to 2017 just set us up perfectly for the last games.”

Moir and Virtue took time off before returning to competitive figure skating in early 2016 with hopes of making it back to the Olympics.

“I love the Olympics,” Moir said. “We came back just for another shot at the games. Being a Canadian Olympian, is just different. The Canadian winter team is just so tight. We support each other. I have so much respect for all of the athletes. We hang out, support each other. We go to every single event that we can.

“There’s a connection,” Moir added. “There’s just something different about the way we do the Olympics in Canada. It’s because of the support that we get from the Canadian public. It was a special time for us. A lot of the people we were at the Olympics with in Korea, we had been to Sochi, Russia (in 2014) with and some even in Vancouver (in 2010).”

Moir said that “the most fascinating part about being an Olympian is that what (sport) you do is so different, but the way you approach it is so similar.”

Moir and Virtue are part of a cross-Canada tour that will stop in Sault Ste. Marie in the fall and features many of the best figure skaters the country has to offer.

“We’ve had a lot of support across the country and we’re very lucky in our career to get support from Canadian figure skating fans across the country and a lot of them aren’t in the 12 major markets,” Moir said. “These markets are smaller, and they’ve always travelled to watch us do shows so we wanted to go to say thank you to all of these fans who have supported us throughout the years and try to give them a skating show that’s different from anything they’ve ever seen before.”

In addition to Moir and Virtue, the Thank You Canada Tour includes the likes of Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, Patrick Chan, Kaetlyn Osmond and Elvis Stojko.

The tour stops in Sault Ste. Marie on Oct. 25.


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Brad Coccimiglio

About the Author: Brad Coccimiglio

A graduate of Loyalist College’s Sports Journalism program, Brad Coccimiglio’s work has appeared in The Hockey News as well as online at FoxSports.com in addition to regular freelance work with SooToday before joining the team full time.
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