Canada’s Joannie Rochette, 24-years-old, will be skating today in the women’s short program of the Olympics under some pretty tough circumstances. Sunday, her mother Therese, died in Vancouver from a heart attack. She was only 55-years-old.
Joannie’s parents had flown into Vancouver to watch their daughter compete. There is a picture below of Joannie and her mom. Just hours after hearing the news, Joannie was back on the ice focusing on her skating, the reason her parents had come and honoring what her mom had come to see.
“We have received so many emails and texts, and we wanted people to know that we read everything that you are sending,” Joannie and her coach Manon Perron said in a release. “We also want everyone to know that these messages are helping us to get through this. We are going to do it with Therese. Even though we aren’t able to respond to everyone, please keep them coming for both of us.”
“Joannie is a very courageous person, and just to be here in the practice hall, I was very impressed,” Canadian teammate Cynthia Phaneuf told the New York Times. “I think she is doing the right thing. She won’t get any better staying in her room. It shows how strong she is. It shows that she is a person to look up to here.”
