Kid's stuff
15-year-old Cynthia Phaneuf steals spotlight from former Canadian champ Jennifer Robinson
By TERRY JONES, EDMONTON SUN
For many years she was the best of a bad lot. Then came the day when Jennifer Robinson's run was done, a day which may have been one of the greatest figure skating battles in Canadian history. There's something so wrong with that. And something so right.
"It was a great night of skating and I'm proud of that. I'm very proud to have been part of this evening. I'm proud of Canadian ladies tonight. They proved they could fight,'' said the former champ after being knocked out by a kid nobody had ever heard of before.
Cynthia Phaneuf was a seven-year-old girl in Sorel-Tracy, Que., when Jennifer Robinson won the first of her six Canadian titles.
Today she's a 15-year-old star-is-born sensation who shocked the nation by becoming the youngest skater to wear the Canadian crown since 13-year-old Tracey Wainman won it way back in 1981.
Her mom is a waitress in a Chinese restaurant. Her dad works in an auto body shop. Her Christmas present from her parents was driving lessons. She turns 16 next week and is eligible for her learners permit.
"I can't believe this,'' she said as she struggled to find words to describe what happened this amazing day. "I didn't expect it. When I wake up in the morning I will cry.
"After this I now want to be the world champion,'' said the long-legged skater, as the Grade 10 private-school student quickly shifted gears.
The kid, who two years ago won the Canadian junior title, landed six triple jumps and was awarded six 5.8 marks from the judges. The panel did not play games. They did not give Robinson one last title for old-time's sake so she could go out on top.
NOT GOING TO WORLDS
They didn't even give her a trip to Worlds where she's finished seventh, eighth, ninth, ninth, 15th, 18th, 19th and 21st, to go with a seventh at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.
The trip and the silver medal, for a second year in a row, went to another kid, 17-year-old Joannie Rochette of Ile Dupas, Que., who knocked Robinson off the Worlds team travelling this spring to Dortmund, Germany.
Dethroned by a couple of kids.
"Well, it would have to be, I'm the old one,'' the 27-year-old married lady laughed through tears she'd held back until Elvis Stojko was the first of several retired Canadian skaters to come up to give her a hug.
Robinson fought harder to not cry in front of the cameras and media members who had covered her for so many years. But you could tell it was only a matter of time before the dam burst.
"Somebody had to go and say something nice,'' she said. "Somebody told me I was a nice person.
"It's important to go right out and do the interviews,'' she said. "People want to know. Kids want to know. As long as I was being asked questions, I was all right. Then somebody had to say something nice to me. It brought tears to my eyes.
"The last time I cried was in 2002 and they were tears of joy for making the Olympic team. The time before that was in 1998 when I didn't make it.''
Coach Michelle Leigh called it "a sad night,'' but Robinson said only for her.
"I think it's great what happened tonight. It's extremely hard to be me right now, but I am very proud of these young ladies.''
She said obviously it represents a changing of the guard.
"Cynthia is a young skater with a lot of technical ability. I think she's way up there,'' Robinson said, adding that the new champion has more technical ability that she did at the same age, let alone when she first became Canadian champion.
A CLASS ACT
Robinson was a class act as she made her exit from the Canadian scene on a night which many, including Kurt Browning's coach Michael Jiranek, called "the greatest night of women's figure skating in history.''
There was not one hint of having been done wrong by the judges.
"It was fair. They both skated great. Just about everybody skated great. I knew what was going on ahead of me,'' said Robinson who skated last, Rochette second last and Phaneuf third last.
It left Rochette standing beside the media in the mixed zone waiting for Robinson's marks to be read, to discover if she was going to Worlds or going home.
"It was hard,'' she said a minute later, taking time to compute the reality of what had happened to the veteran who took her under her wing when they went to Worlds in Washington, D.C., together as teammates.
"I was so mad at myself for what happened in the short program the night before. It was so hard to skate after that. I had to fight for it. I'm so proud of myself.''
That was the thing that made this night so compelling. Robinson was proud of her, too.
