Preserving A Proud Tradition

They are a link to Canadian figure skating's proudest moments of the past. And becoming more visible than ever around the sport today.
To hear Skate Canada CEO William Thompson tell it, none of this is an accident. More than perhaps ever before, the association is turning toward some of its most famous alumni and asking them to play a hand in inspiring the stars of tomorrow.
"We're making a concerted effort to reconnect with our alumni," said Thompson. "They're our link to a tradition of excellence."
So it is that you will see some of these famous alumni presenting the medals Sunday to all the podium finishers at these Canadian figure skating championships. Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz will be there. So will Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. And a few other "special guests" who'll make their appearance on the ice at Pacific Coliseum.
Looking on as Thompson and others spoke — and no doubt nodding their approval — were Kurt Browning and Brian Orser, a pair of former world champions who are still very much involved in the sport they love.
It is a vast departure from the days, Debbi Wilkes says, when retired champions were all but put out to pasture and pretty much forgotten.
"As long as you were current, as long as you were on the podium and winning medals, everyone was anxious to talk to you," said Wilkes, a 1964 Olympic pairs silver medallist who has brought her boundless energy to Skate Canada as its director of marketing and sponsorship. "Once you became a 'was' skater, nobody wanted to talk to you anymore."
Given the way other sports find ways to keep their greatest heroes alive in the hearts of the generations that follow, it only makes sense that figure skating do the same. Few sports in this country have produced such a line of world and Olympic champions. Why not invite those people to be a part of extending that lineage into the foreseeable future?
Bourne spoke passionately about the contributions and "giving back" that such alumni can make. She has returned to Canada and spends lots of her time these days at the Granite Club in Toronto, where young skaters there can feed off her championship experience.
"Even seeing each other is motivational," she said. "It keeps that spirit alive. (The alumni) have so much experience we can share."
No time like the present to mine it for all it's worth.