Getting the Gold When It's Not Expected

To all those who work so hard at their craft, sport, studies, jobs, and even research -- if you hang in there long enough and work hard enough, the recognition will come -- although it may come when you don't even expect it.

What is important is that you stay with your passion, despite the obstacles that may block your way, and that you never stop believing in yourself.

Last weekend, we were at the ISI (Ice Skating Institute) district / regional figure skating competition in Norwich, Connecticut, which covers all of the New England States. Our daughter was competing in three different events. The Norwich skating rink is located right next to a golf course and is in a lovely location in southeastern Connecticut. The competition took place June 23-26, 2011.

Our daughter was very much looking forward to skating at this competition and her events were scheduled over two different days. She had her dresses/costumes packed up and had been training for months, while holding down a heavy set of academic subjects in school and also being on the varsity track team.

Interestingly, there were decorations throughout the rink with a Chinese theme (consisting of lanterns, Chinese sayings, and graphics of what the various Chinese years mean, i.e., the year of the dog, horse, etc.), so we interpreted these as good luck signs.

She had a wonderful time, as did we, and earned gold medals in Freestyle Gold, Artistic Freestyle, and Light Entertainment Freestyle, as well as the Freestyle trophy. (When the incorrect music was played initially for one of her events, she did not panic, gracefully skated to the judges, and provided a backup copy of the correct music and back on the ice she went.)

The organizers of this competition did a superb job of making the events run in a timely manner (something that I very much care about) and created a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

The results are posted here.

Behind every achiever, there stand the coaches and the support network (family members, friends, and the community at-large) and special thanks go to them! The Daily Hampshire Gazette has a nice feature article recognizing the accomplishments and notes our daughter's truly exceptional figure skating coach, who makes skating, learning, growing, and doing one's best, such fun.

Miracle in Vancouver -- Evan Lysacek Gets the Gold in Men's Figure Skating!

For the first time since 1988, a Russian did not win the gold medal in men's figure skating at the Winter Olympics, and the American, Evan Lysacek, stood at the top of the medal's podium at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

This is not quite like the Miracle on Ice, a theme I have written about, when the US men's hockey team received the gold at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, but close!

I had written earlier in this blog about Lysacek's coach, Frank Carroll, who had coached such Olympians as Michelle Kwan, but whose students had never, until now, received a gold medal at the Olympics. I liked Carroll's quote, that you are only as good as your last student. Now, Carroll, the coach, and Lysacek, the figure skater, are clearly at the top of their careers

According to The New York Times, when the final scores were posted, Carroll turned to Evan Lysacek and said: My God, you’re the gold medalist! You are the Olympic champion! They hugged. Congratulations to both of them for their incredibly hard work, discipline, dedication, determination, and for believing that technical mastery and artistry would yield the top prize in figure skating!

Kudos also to Johnny Weir who skated beautifully and who earned 6th place.

Yes, Evan Lysacek, despite not doing a quad, got the gold, and Plushenko, of Russia, got the silver. Takahashi of Japan was the bronze medalist.

Time to celebrate the comeback of US Figure Skating!