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| Madison, Laurie, Nick, Zach |
A few years ago I was at Third Beach on a rainy, raw day. I saw two woman looking out at the field but couldn't see what they were looking at. I walked up to them and asked. It turned out that it was a Snowy Owl. One of the ladies was up from North Carolina and was hoping to see a lifer Snowy. The other lady from Connecticut was in charge of finding one. I got talking to them. I found out the lady from Connecticut was the mother of an Olympian. Her name is Dee Willis and her son's name is Zach Donohue.
Zach is half of an ice dance team representing the United States. The other half of the team is Madison Hubble. Together they are Hubble and Donohue (ladies name always goes first). In 2018 Hubble and Donohue finished fourth at the Olympics. They were among the best in the world.
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| Dee saw a Snowy Owl. I met a new friend My car had a view of Third Beach |
As many of you know Laurie's favorite sport is figure skating. Consequentially I watch a lot of skating. I mean a lot! I went to World's with Laurie in 2016. Though I admit, I really did not know what the hell I was watching or could tell who was good. Fast forward seven seasons and I understand the sport much better. Watching it with Laurie, sometimes I am the one who sees a mistake or knows an obscure fact. One thing that struck me at World's in Boston, there were so many big Vodka drinking Russian men in the stands cheering on the Russian athletes the way New England fans cheer on the Pats.
Fast forward to late summer 2021. The Skating Club of Boston put on two competitions. Laurie wanted to go hoping we could see some "local talent". The competitions ended up being world class. There were skaters from all over the world, most of them good enough to make it to the Olympics. The first event featured Olympians Mariah Bell Alyssa Lu, and pairs team Knerim and Frazer. Those were just the American that were in this Olympics. But the place was crawling with former and future Olympians from all over the world including the 2022 Olympic Pairs Silver Medalists from Russia. It was cool to walk right by Todd Eldredge and Chris Knerim.
A month later in September we were pleasantly surprised there was another world class comp at The Skating Club of Boston. This time, some of the same people came to compete, but there were also others we hadn't seen. Among the ice dancers were Zach and Maddie. The team, and pretty much every great ice team in the world trains in Montreal, Canada. I figured if Hubble and Donohue were going to be in Norwood, MA Zach's mom would be too. So when we were there, we kept an eye out.
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| Hubble and Donohue are in the middle of the photo. Norwood, MA |
During the competition we did see Dee. I went up to her and told her how we met a few years back at the Snowy Owl. We ended up only talking for about fifteen minutes, Laurie and I did not want to feel like stalkers. Before we left her, she told us if Zach and Maddie come out to the stands following their program the next day she would introduce us.
The following day came. We missed Zach and Maddie coming out to greet the fans somehow. However, we lucked out and after they ate a lunch they came back to talk to Dee and take some more photos. We went up to them. Let me say this, Zach and Maddie skate with a lot of confidence. It is borderline arrogance. When you watch them, you can tell they know they are world class. Part of their style is to be bold and do things harder than everyone else with a confidence to know they can do it and others can't. So it was an huge surprise to realize how unbelievably nice they are. In the twenty seconds we got to talk to them, Zach and I were talking about me birding with his mom. Laurie and Madison were talking about skating. They really were so nice that I wish we would have met them when they were out with the fans so we could have talked longer.
Later that day, Zach and Maddie won the completion. I had mentioned to Dee how awful the photographer was taking photos of the medal ceremony. He stood so far back you couldn't get any detail on the faces. Dee asked me if I could get some photos for her. I went down to the front row and snapped away. Dee gave Laurie her email address. After a few days of going through my thousand photos, I finally sent her my best ones of her son. Since then, Dee and I have exchanged emails twice, mostly about national parks (she is an adventurer, hiker, and photographer also).
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| Madison and Zach |
In the Ice Dance competition that followed, there was only going to be room on the podium for one American team. The French were the gold medal favorites followed by the not very likable Russian team. Both American teams (Hubble and Donohue and Chock and Bates) were fighting for the other spot on the podium. Both teams are world class. Either team could beat the other on any given day. They both skate with perfection. Olympic judging is much more fair than even ten years ago because of a much better scoring system. However, both teams are so even, it really might come down to the style the judges prefer. Though Laurie and I "know" one of the teams, Chock and Bates are really likable too. So, if they finished fourth, it was going to make us almost as sad even though we wanted Zach/Maddie to beat them.
As it turned out, Zach and Maddie got the bronze medal. The French team won and the unlikable Russian team got second. Madison Chock slipped in the Rhythm Dance and they could not make the points up on the near perfect Hubble and Donohue. It's a cool feeling to see someone you've been rooting for years, and you've met, win two Olympic medals. As I said they couldn't be nicer people.
More Olympic Skaters...
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| Knerim and Frazer Norwood, MA |
Sometimes us Americans forget that the Olympics are not just about winning. Most people that qualify for the Olympics do not have a shot at a medal. For most of them, just making it to the Olympics is the dream come true. When we watch a (hypothetical scenario) US Bobsled team come in ninth place we feel like they let us down or they choked. In reality, that team may be thrilled with a top 10 finish because coming in, they were ranked twentieth in the world. Take for instance the top US pairs teams. There are four pairs (skating) that had a reasonable shot at a medal. Everyone else was playing for fifth or lower. The top US team, Knerim and Frazer (seen to the left in an incredible photo taken be me) finished in sixth place with an incredible skate.
As I said a few paragraphs back, there were only four teams that had a chance to podium in Ice Dance. The fifth place team had a score seven points lower than Chock and Bates. However, again, most people know they can't medal. The third US team came in eleventh place. But they were thrilled with their skate. They said they had so much fun. They got to go to the Olympics, compete, and cheer on team mates. And as they say, skate on Olympic Ice.
With that in mind, Team USA did about as good as they could have. Mariah Bell and Alyssa Lu both skated clean. They had absolutely zero chance of making the podium with all those Russians. With the US audience used to seeing Tara Lipinski and Dorthey Hamill winning gold, they can't understand how the American women are not champions. They must have either choked or been underscored. Nope, they just aren't as good. So when Alysa Lu and Mariah Bell finished in seventh and tenth respectively, that was the best they are capable of. They peaked and had a great Olympics.
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| Tarasova (flying) Morozov (not flying) |
At Norwood, Laurie and I got to see many people live that went to these Olympics. Obviously, meeting Zach and Maddie then watching them win two medals was the highlight. Still, we kind of rooted on anyone we had seen even from other countries. Patriotism is great but so is Humanism. We wanted to see these people, all kids and young adults, do well for themselves. For American the team of Knerim and Frazer finished sixth in Pairs. They skated better than they had all year. They were far better than when we saw them in Norwood. We also saw the Silver medal pairs team from Russia. I got a photo of Tarasova looking right at me while in the air.
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| Mariah Bell |
As for ladies, besides seeing Mariah and Alysa live, we saw Alexandra (Sasha) Trusova skate in Norwood along with the sixth place lady Young You. Trusova won in Norwood. Trusova finished with silver in the Olympics and was the one that said she hates the sport and will never skate again. In Norwood after the comp was over, she signed autographs for little girls until she was told it was time to leave. She was the only person to do this. It was pretty cool to see a Russian sign autographs for little American girls for almost a half hour.
We saw a bunch of other non-contenders also. Some had great Olympic moments, some not so much. But no matter what place they finished, forever they can call themselves Olympians. That is something I think, we all wish we could say.
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| Olympic Silver Medalist Sasha Trusova signing autographs in Norwood, MA in September |
