Tuesday evening, the ladies figure skating event started. As always, there are many human interest stories; sad, heroic, heartwarming. Some stories are so brief, they hardly get noticed. This one belongs to the very first skater to perform her short program, Cheltzie Lee of Australia.
There isn’t a lot of information available about Cheltzie. According to the Vancouver2010 website, she is 15 years old, 5’0″ tall and lists her occupation as “student.” Although Cheltzie is the reigning national champion of Australia, she certainly is not the best skater in the Olympics. As she started her short program, one of the announcers even said her goal would be just to finish in the top 24, which would give her a chance to skate her long program.
Cheltzie didn’t find out until February 2, when an Israeli skater withdrew, that she was even going to Vancouver. She has been working very hard since then, but really hasn’t had as much time as most of the other skaters to practice and prepare. For Cheltzie, it really is about the Olympic experience.
And, it’s about Morgan.
Morgan Innes was a fellow figure skater and good friend of Cheltzie’s. She died at the age of 14 in a boating accident along with three other people in Sydney Harbor back in 2007. Cheltzie misses her friend and wears a yellow bracelet in tribute to her.
Tuesday evening, Cheltzie accomplished what every Olympic athlete hopes for. She performed better than she ever had before, “exceeding expectations” the Australian Sun Herald said. Squealing with joy over her score of 52.16 points, Cheltzie topped her previous personal best by 5 points, and came in 18th overall. She will be skating her long program in the next round.
After her performance, Cheltzie said she knew that Morgan would be proud of her. Yes, Cheltzie, she would. Congratulations on doing your very best when it was your moment to shine!
What are some of your favorite Olympic stories, so far?
