Thank you, Dan.
Thank you, everyone, for having me here today.
As an Olympic year approaches, I find myself looking back at my life and my journey to the Olympics. If you can believe it, it all started when I was three years old, by borrowing a pair of my brother's hockey skates. It wasn't long before my parents realized that I absolutely loved to skate and they enrolled me in what we call CanSkate lessons. As my love for skating grew quickly, my parents sacrificed their time and their financial resources to help me realize my dream.
My heroes were the women in the sport, especially the ones from right here in Ottawa, Barbara Ann Scott and Lynn Nightingale. So many aspects of my skating life have come full circle for me. I started skating right here in Nepean, Ontario, and then moved to Trenton, Ontario. Now I have the privilege of coaching young future skaters nationwide. In 1978—yes, I'm telling my age—I was a flower retriever at the World Figure Skating Championships here in Ottawa, and I was out there picking up the flowers thrown on the ice after the skaters' performances, and skated madly back to hand them to my idols. One of them included Scott Hamilton, who then went on to become the 1984 Olympic champion.
Recently, a couple of weeks ago, I selected some of the flower retrievers who will start their dreams by doing the same role at the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Figure Skating Championships coming up in January. I am so thrilled when people come up to me and tell me they were so inspired by my skate in Calgary at the 1988 winter games. I still vividly remember every moment of those two weeks and being part of the team that included the great Brian Orser and the incomparable Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall. Our preparation for those games was extremely different from what this year's teams are going through. We often trained in isolation and rarely saw our fellow skaters, and we didn't have much attention from media in those days.
Today's athletes have more competitions, more expectations, and also an incredible team working with them. I've seen in the past few years how Skate Canada, with its high-performance camp at the start of each season, helps our athletes be fully prepared for their international assignments. It also builds a great team spirit. As well, the skaters have access to tremendous wealth and knowledge in the sports science field, nutrition, and sport-specific training, which was really lacking in my day. They are the best prepared team we've ever had.
Twenty-five years ago—once again I'm telling you my age—I was intimidated by the senior people at Skate Canada, while these skaters have come to know them and embrace them as the strong support team that they are. And it's not just strong support from Skate Canada, but from the COC, the federal government, and the corporate community. And most of all, they are a part of a warm, welcoming sport family. We didn't have the strong spirit that I see in today's sport world in Canada. Both the figure skating team and the wider Canadian Olympic team have had more opportunities to be together and to be prepared. When they arrive in Sochi, they will already feel as much a part of the Canadian team, ready to compete in their own event, and most of all, to cheer on their teammates in other sports. I wish them very much success.
Thank you