Clare Henney: Feeling the MCM Fever

One thing that most of my friends don’t know about me is that I used to dream of being a figure skater. I love watching figure skating performances whenever I could catch them on TV.

In the early days of the mall skating rinks here in the Philippines I often wondered if I could go and learn to skate one day. Unfortunately that day never happened (couldn’t afford it) so I was left to just fangirl over people like Michelle Kwan, Kristi Yamaguchi, Tara Lipinski and the married skating pair Sergei Grinkov (RIP) and Katia Gordeeva when I saw their performances on TV for Stars on Ice (or was it Icescapades?). Naturally, finding out that a Filipino qualified to become a representative in the Men’s Figure Skating Competitions in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia, I was very excited. A Filipino figure skater in the spotlight! I always dreamed of that happening and it’s finally here! I watched as Michael Christian Martinez walked out during the opening of the Olympics with the Filipino flag, I felt very proud of him. It was commented that he was probably the only one who held the flag right so even with that little thing, I was so happy!

When Michael went out on the ice for the Short Program, I honestly wasn’t expecting much because I knew that this was his first time and he is, after all, very young (17). This young man exceeded my expectations when he performed with so much emotion, passion and flexibility to conquer the technical skills needed to qualify for the Top 24.

Michael’s performance gave me goose bumps and made me teary-eyed as he moved and impressed the people watching him. I was clapping happily when he ended with the commentators remarking that they did not expect him to be as good as he actually was. This young boy may have ended up ranking 19th in the final tally but for me, he is a winner for making it into the Olympics in spite of coming from a tropical country. At his age, he can still join the 2018 Olympics and with his performance this year, I’m sure that he will have enough support to get more training and experience to do even better. I’m looking forward to the 2018 Winter Olympics this early. Who knows? Maybe next time a female can qualify with him too!

Photo Source: Friday PH, Philnews