Yesterday Patrick interviewed with Golden Skate’s Ted Flett about his upcoming season. It just happened to coincide with the unveiling of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic medals, too. Patrick spoke of his interpretation of the song “Dust in the Wind” and how it will help him keep perspective during this crazy year.
Patrick Chan's @pchan31 Silver medal us drawing a lot of attention @LCBO – so is his Icewine too!
Here is a look at all of the Winter Olympics medals since 1924!
Will Patrick wear one of these 2018 medals? See his perspective below!
It could just be me, but Patrick sounded a little tired as he struggled to find words to express some of the deeper thoughts and feelings he had about his career and the song, “Dust in the Wind.” Nevertheless, as Ted said, Patrick seems more “enlightened” this time as he moves towards his third Olympics.
Shout out to fan Liz C., who confirmed with Bev Smith that both of Patrick’s programs were choreographed by David Wilson (link)!
Ted: So Ted Flett here with Golden Skate joined by Patrick Chan, a multi-time Canadian national champion. This year fingers crossed, it will be magic number ten.
Ted: Is that exciting? Does that give you an extra push into this Olympic season?
Patrick: Absolutely. It’s the stepping stone to the Olympics for me. Going for ten, then setting a record… I think it’s an all-time Canadian record would be amazing. It’s… I mean, that’s where it all started, that’s where my career started, is at the national level, and… Canada has brought me up and given me all the tools and the resources to become the skater that I am now. My first coach, Mr. Colson, was the one that made me skate the way I do, and he’s Canadian, so… I really want to do it for myself and also to be able to go into an Olympic event with the full support… Not that I never had it, but just full support and that momentum from a tenth Canadian title would be pretty nice, and something to just have in my back pocket and know that I can always sit back and think about that and think of a decade of national championships that I’ve won. It would be very, very cool.
Ted: Yeah. So, fans have had a bit of a sneak peek at your programs this year. Can you talk about your music choices and what guided you toward them?
I’m doing this for myself and no matter what happens, what kind of results I get this year, if I come second, first, or tenth, I’ll still be who I am.
Patrick: Sure, so my short program is Jeff Buckley… uh sorry, “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas. I’m getting them mixed up. I’ve been talking about them so much. And the long program is “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley. And… “Dust in the Wind” was a piece that actually Kathy Johnson and David Wilson picked two years ago. He had set it aside for this Olympic year, and it’s got… At first, I didn’t really know the meaning of the song, I didn’t really have the idea as to the story, or what it had and, it kind of evolved, and David said once… he gave me a little idea of his… of what he thought, and it kind of evolved into my… I interpreted it myself, and to me, how I see it is… No matter how successful or rich or we are, and what kind of successes we’ve had or horrible things happen in our life, we always have to remember that we’re all the same and we’re all very small in this greater universe and… You know, I know it’s very deep and so on, but for me it kind of makes me realize that, yeah, skating is important, the Olympics is important, but also, it’s important to realize that, I’m doing this for myself and no matter what happens, what kind of results I get this year, if I come second, first, or tenth, I’ll still be who I am. I’ll still have the people and friends that are there for me, and we all… We still… it’s morbid, but we do end up turning into dust.
Patrick: We all die, we all have a full circle, right? So… it’s hard to lose perspective like that when you’re in a year like this, an Olympic year when people… there’s so much going on, a lot of media coverage, and so much energy, and stress. You lose grasp of reality… so yeah, the long doesn’t have as much of a story. The long is a beautiful piece by Jeff Buckley. We picked it because it’s a piece composed by a Canadian, Leonard Cohen, so we thought it would be a great homage to a great Canadian artist. With Prince dying last year, and then Leonard Cohen following him, we just thought it would be a great… a great piece to go into an Olympic games in Korea with… feeling really proud of being Canadian, or and… my tenth title, hopefully.
Ted: Sure. You seem much more, in terms of your choice of music and your approach this season, much more enlightened, than say, 2010, 2014. Did… feeling that?
Patrick: Sure. Yeah, yeah, I think that comes with experience and a little more perspective and… I think David also gets to know… I think he just has a… he’s such an intuitive, emotionally intuitive person. I think he understands what I’m… where I am in my life, and where I am in my career in skating. And… he’s picked two pieces, and we’ve picked two pieces, but he’s put them on the table for me knowing that those are going to be pieces that are going to be easier to skate, because they’re just from within me. The pieces are almost made for me. Or I was made for the pieces, I should say. And yeah, they both have lyrics, so there was a bit of risk. Marina did worry that they both sounded similar because they both have lyrics and they’re bit of like alternative rock pieces. But the movement and the choreography just changed the perspective, and she now loves “Dust in the Wind”, a piece that she didn’t love at the beginning. It really brings out all the nuances in the music, in these pieces, because they really are… if you really listen, there’s a lot in the pieces.
Ted: Last question. You, of course, have had a first hand look at what the other top five men in the world are attempting, and the technical standards always raising. You are now going for two quads in the short program. How does that feel, how are you feeling about that decision?
Patrick: Yeah, I’m feeling confident with that decision… More so adding a second quad in the short, more so than adding a quad flip to the long program at the moment. There’s just so much in the sport of figure skating now, there’s so much to juggle, and for the way I skate and the way I want to skate at the Olympics, I don’t want to compromise anything else in order to add a more difficult quad. I don’t want to sacrifice anything for that. So, that being said, the best move forward for me was to add a quad sal to the short program, up the value of the short, to give me a little more breathing room for the long program. So that’s the plan so far with, and then we’re keeping the two quad, one sal plan in the long program for the time being, because I also want to… With pieces like “Hallelujah” and “Dust in the Wind”, I really want to do them justice. And I think I wouldn’t help the programs if I added another quad; especially if I was struggling with it. And… unless it’s like easy and it’s flowing, like a quad toe of mine, it’s… I don’t think there’s much benefit in that, because it will sacrifice a lot for the type of skater that I am.
Ted: Thanks a lot. That’s very astute. Best of luck to the season, I look forward to catching up with you on the way.
Patrick: Thank you! Thanks, yeah, appreciate it.
Next week, he travels to Germany for the Nebelhorn trophy! Stay tuned for more news updates on the one and only Patrick Chan!