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OMG! IT'S BARBARA ANN SCOTT!
Posted on Mar. 8th 2010 at 11:26 am EST (175 views, 1 comments)
When I saw the lovely Barbara Ann Scott among the illustrious Canadians honoured with carrying the Olympic flag into the stadium during the Opening Ceremonies, the first thing I thought was, "OMG! It's Bararbara Ann Scott! Ruthi will be so excited!" Ruthi is my older sister. When I spoke to her the next day I said, "Did you watch the Opening Ceremonies?" She said, "OMG! Did you see Barbara Ann Scott?!" Barbara Ann Scott was the world's favourite figure skater in the 1950's and a role model for young girls everywhere. She was the first Canadian ever to win the Gold Medal for Figure Skating in the 1948 Olympics in St. Moritz. My sister loved her. 
Barbara Ann Scott c.1948 Being the firstborn child, my sister got a lot of attention from my Dad before my brother and I came along. One of her favourite things to do with her Daddy was to go skating with him on Beaver Lake near the top of Mount Royal in Montreal. It's a beautiful place in any season, but it's especially magical in the winter. And that's where Daddy taught her to skate and told her that she could skate as well as Barbara Ann Scott... and was just as beautiful. And I'm sure in his eyes, it was absolutely true! If going skating with my Dad made my sister feel like Barbara Ann Scott, going skating with David Ansel in grade seven made me feel like Jamie Salé of the fabulous Pairs Skaters Salé and Pelletier...even though I had never heard of them because they weren't even born yet!...but you know what I mean! 
Jamie Salé and David Pelletier c.2002 David and I went to the skating rink at Houde Park in Ville St. Laurent, the suburb of Montreal where I grew up. All our friends and neighbours skated there. It wasn't Beaver Lake, but it was my first date(!) and it was just as magical to me. I'm sure I was wearing the matching angora hat and mittens that my mother had knitted for me. We skated around with all the other kids, but we were holding hands! I had a boyfriend! WOW! But it was the hot chocolate afterwards that really did it! Maybe that's why I never took to skiing...it just doesn't seem like romance if there's no hot chocolate involved! I've loved skating ever since, and I actually CAN skate. Pretty fast too! I even know how to do a fancy trick. It's the easiest trick in the world, but it looks like I really know what I'm doing...for about six seconds. Hey, it's my personal best! As far as skating fast goes, there's only one problem. I don't know how to stop. I'd have to skate on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa to impress anyone. The Rideau Canal Skateway is 4.8 miles long! That's apparently the area of 90 Olympic Hockey rinks! I've always wanted to skate there, but they'd have to put up one of those foam thingies they use to stop the Skeleton racers so I could crash into something soft! 
Rideau Canal Skateway (Ottawa, Ontario) I SO wanted to learn to stop (especially a "hockey" stop, with an ocean of ice dust spraying around me), that a couple of years ago, I took an "Adult Refresher" class at Harbourfront's excellent rink in Toronto. Although the skating teacher had no luck teaching me how to stop properly, I did develop my own method. I was very excited to show it to her on the last day of classes. With a very puzzled look on her face, she said "What IS that?" "It's my signature Olympic move!", I answered, and did it again! Here's me enjoying a day of skating at Harbourfront… 
Here are some people who REALLY know how to skate! 
VIRTUE and MOIR Olympic Gold Medal / Ice Dancing Simply Beautiful 
CLARA HUGHES Olympic Bronze Medal / Speed Skating (Ladies' 5000m) Only multiple medallist in both Summer and Winter Games National Treasure 
JOANNIE ROCHETTE Bronze Medal / Ladies' Figure Skating For her Mom 
SHENXUE and ZHAO HONGBO Gold Medal / Figure Skating Pairs Free Program Love story! 
TEAM CANADA / LADIES' SHORT TRACK Silver Medal / Ladies' 3000m Relay Now THAT'S one crazy race! 
CANADIAN WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY TEAM Gold Medal / Women's Hockey Tough cookies! GO! CANADA GO! GO! WORLD GO!
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