Chan's Time Is At Hand

Already, he's becoming one of the faces of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. One of many Canadian athletes charged with upholding the host country's honour at the biggest show on earth.
Patrick Chan, all 18 years of him, doesn't shy away from any of it. Bring it on, says the reigning national senior men's champion, who fully embraces the opportunity to put figure skating in the biggest sporting spotlight of them all.
"Every night, I think about it," said Chan, whose face lights up at the mere mention of the Vancouver Games. "It’s huge just to think about it. I’ve been to Vancouver and I’ve seen the construction going on. To think that in a year’s time I’ll be in that construction area and living in that space and being at the opening ceremony … that’s always in my mind.
"What’s going to happen? That is the question, what’s going to happen in a year when I’m there and what’s going to be different? It’s a lot of questions and I wish I could read the future."
A little sooner than he'd planned, Chan is suddenly the man in Canadian men's skating. There is no shadow of Jeffrey Buttle to hide behind, not since the 2008 world men's champion announced his retirement from eligible skating last September. But Chan is clearly ready to accept whatever torch is being passed his way.
"I think I’m doing the job of trying to promote figure skating," said Chan, whose face you may have already seen on a few pre-Olympic commercials and ad spots. "I want to sort of be what Jeff was, a spokesman for figure skating. It is good timing for me ... to have all that attention now because it’s so close to the Olympics and that’s when most of the attention is. I want to do my best to promote figure skating and really bring it back up as it was before."
Without a doubt, another Chan-Buttle showdown at these BMO Canadian figure skating championships would have done a lot in that area. Especially with the men's final receiving prime time live television exposure on Sunday night on CBC.
"I knew this nationals would have been very exciting — a world champion and a national champion both fighting for it," said Chan, who upset Buttle to seize the Canadian title a year ago in Vancouver. "It was going to be an epic battle."
Instead, all eyes will be on Chan, who knows full well what's at stake.
"I have to make it to the world team," he said. "Last year, it was ‘I want to make it.’ Now, it’s not an option. I have to make it, especially if I want to be an Olympic athlete."
Through it all, Chan manages to maintain a balance in his life. He is clearly enthused about returning to Ecole Etienne-Brule in Toronto next month to finish high school and graduate with his class. School is also the place that helps him stay grounded as the road toward Vancouver grows ever shorter.
"You have to really look at the bigger picture and say ‘do I really want that much attention?’ " he said. "There's just the initial ‘oh, my God, I’m famous, I feel like a rock star,’ But you have to realize there’s much more than that. You’ve got your friends and other people. You always have to remember your friends. One thing that Kurt (Browning) taught me is try not to get a big ego and try to stay as grounded as possible. Keep your best friends closest to you.
"That’s what I love about school. You just go in the first day and they say ‘congratulations, we know you did great, I saw you on TV.’ And the next day they forget about it and treat me like a normal kid."
Even if the thoughts that run through his head are often anything but.