From where is Gracie Gold?
The commentators on NBC have said that the 18-year-old Olympic figure skater has ties to Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Mentions of Missouri are less frequent, though we’ve got as good a claim as any of the others.
Gold was born in Massachusetts but grew up in Springfield, Mo., where the family moved when Gracie and her twin sister, Carly, were 7. Gracie started skating after a birthday party at an ice rink. As she stumbled along the edges, she saw talented figure skaters out in the center of the ice, pulling off daring jumps. Gracie was mesmerized.
She began taking “Learn to Skate” lessons. One of her early coaches described Gracie as “just a very charismatic, happy, crazy little girl,” in an interview with the Kansas City Star. But she was also a hard worker. Another early coach recalled 5 a.m. practices and pushing her to the point of tears. Soon those coaches were telling her mom, Denise, that Gracie had Olympic-level talent.
As Gracie began to develop, the Golds committed to traveling for her to train and compete. And pretty soon, Carly was skating, too. The family moved to Springfield, Ill., then to Chicago, then to Los Angeles, each time to work with a new coach at a fancy training facility.
Between her fearless love of jumping and her outgoing personality, Gracie had the winning combination of athletic skill and artistic flair needed for figure-skating greatness. And then there’s that name, a headline-writer’s dream. She’s the Golden Girl, her hair the same color as the medals she hopes to win.
“I’m a powerful skater, and I’m a powerful person,” Gold says.
It’s no surprise that she (along with the dynamic ice dancing pair of Charlie White and Meryl Davis) has become the American face of this Winter Olympics. Gracie graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, made appearances on the Today and Tonight shows (juggling with Jay Leno), and is the star of half the commercials that air during Olympic coverage.
But while she might seem like a skater of destiny (did we mention that perfect name?), Gracie’s road hasn’t been totally smooth. Last fall, as she struggled with a coaching change and adjusting to the top level of international competition, Gold described herself as “lost.”
The pressure was mounting, and anxiety took hold. That bubbly personality vanished. She was guarded in interviews and would burst into tears at the dinner table. “Oh God, mom, what if I don’t make it?” she remembers saying. As Denise told reporters on Sunday, “Pressure changes people. It’s hard to live under fear.”
But Gracie did make it. After some ups and downs during the 2012-13 season, a silver medal here, a sixth place finish there, Gold won the U.S. Championship to claim the top spot on the Olympic team. Now, she is among the favorites for Olympic medals, along with defending Olympic champion Yuna Kim of South Korea and teenage sensation Yulia Lipnitskaya from host Russia.
Gracie has left her fear behind. She calls herself the New Gracie. Bolstered by helping the U.S. win the bronze medal in the team event, she is brimming with confidence headed into the individual competition, which started today.
She says she’s not concerned with perfection. Just excellence.
“When you let go of the fear,” Gold told the Boston Globe, “that’s when you love not just sports, but life.”
It’s a personal journey that started right here in Missouri.
Hockey Hero
It’s rare in sports to be able to pinpoint the moment when an athlete became a superstar. Usually, the process is more subtle, a steady rise. But early Saturday morning, when the United States and Russia played a hockey game for the ages, with seemingly the entire world watching, the Blues’ T.J. Oshie became an international icon.
In the third period, the Russians seemed to score the winning goal, but it was disallowed on a technicality. After a scoreless overtime, the game went into a shootout. Unlike in the NHL, international rules allow the same player to take multiple shots in the shootout, if the game remains tied after the first three attempts by each team. The United States decided to let Oshie take every shot. He made four of his six attempts. A couple of his stylish goals kept the U.S. alive, and the final one gave Team USA the win.
Oshie said he didn’t realize just how big a deal it was until his grandma was crying on the phone. Then he got a Tweet from President Obama.
Oshie and the rest of Team USA are back in action today at 11 a.m. in the quarterfinals, where they will face the Czech Republic. After that classic game this weekend, many fans were hoping for a rematch with Russia in the Gold medal finals, but that won’t be possible. Even if the Americans make it that far, the Russians were eliminated this morning by Finland, devastating the host nation.
From Russia With Love
NBC broadcaster and local native Steve Schlanger was at the hockey game on Saturday. He emailed us to say, “It was one of the great sports experiences of my life. The ambiance, the drama, the grandeur of the Olympic stage. Can’t get this anywhere else.”
When Schlanger first arrived in Sochi, he sent this report: “Things have been very smooth, and our hotel is first class all the way around. Security is sufficient without being suffocating. It does feel strange with how warm it is right now. Temps have been over 60 degrees the last few days. It has been colder at some of the recent summer Olympics than it is here at the moment. The mountains are spectacular though, and my venue is tremendous. It sits on top of a ridge with panoramic views of the Caucuses in all directions.”
But this morning, he provided an update on the weather: “I’ve been busy, but it’s been a terrific time. Finally getting a lot of snow up here where I am in the mountains these last few days.”
