Inspirational Speaker Impressed
This inspirational speaker thinks that figure skaters sometimes get a bad rap. To many people, figure skating is one of those ‘fluff’ sports in the winter Olympics where the skaters are not considered as ‘tough’ athletes, unlike say hockey players or skiers. But one of the most inspirational moments during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics for me has been the story around Canadian figure skater Joanne Rochette.
Like many athletes, Joanne has her family staying in Vancouver in the Olympic families accommodations which are separate from where the athletes stay. A few days just before Joanne’s first competition at the games, her mother died suddenly of a heart attack. Under these tragic circumstances, it would have been understandable and even expected for Joanne to remove herself from competition.
However, she chose to continue on with the competition plans despite the sudden loss. I just watched the opening night of the ladies figure skating and she ended up skating to a personal best in scores leaving her in an astonishing 3rd place position so far. Of course, the whole arena and country was behind her.
No matter how Joanne Rochette does in the rest of the competition, she has shown a courage that most people don’t have. She is teaching us that if one is on a mission, you stay on that mission no matter what. Now that really impresses this inspirational speaker. So who says figure skaters are not tough?
I’m certainly going to cover this story in my inspirational speaker Motivational WebTV show for sure.
