Jenn's end
Canada's ice queen Jennifer Robinson calls it a career, never reaching the top of the world stage, but leaving as the ultimate overachiever
By TERRY JONES, EDMONTON SUN
DORTMUND, Germany -- It was three years ago at Four Continents in Salt Lake City when Jennifer Robinson came up with the quote. She'd just made a mess of things in the pre-Olympic event and those of us waiting for her in the mixed zone were expecting to deal with a damsel in distress.
Eyes wet and emotion already dealt with to some degree, she showed up, produced a big smile for us and said, "I'm still a pretty girl.''
I'll always remember her for that moment.
More predictable than Canada's streak of 22 years of putting people on the podium at the World Figure Skating Championships was the fact that Robinson's career would end here. But it was a bit of a surprise she made the announcement seconds after completing her long program yesterday.
Sad? Happy?
"Happy,'' she said. "I'm extremely happy to skate with such a strong performance. I am official retired. I'm announcing it right now.''
Thirteenth after the short program and drawing first in her flight, Robinson had to endure the humiliation of being the seventh skater on the ice.
She was offering up her retirement quotes long before most of the final-flight skaters had entered the building, long before Shizuka Arakawa of Japan and Sasha Cohen and Michelle Kwan of the U.S. had the gold, silver and bronze medals, respectively, hung around their necks.
The Windsor, Ont., skater, who ended up 14th, said she decided to make it official here after talking to her husband, Shane Dennison, a Mariposa Club coach in Barrie, Ont., and her brother Jason, who is playing pro hockey in England, while sitting in the stands after the short program.
"It was like, 'Well, I should probably tell everybody tomorrow.' ''
When she finished skating she shouted at somebody in the crowd.
"Whoever it was, yelled 'I love you' so I yelled 'I love you' back,'' she laughed.
GREAT ROLE MODEL
Though she was short on talent, few played the part of a female figure-skating role model better than Jennifer Robinson despite her lack of results.
Some may choose to see her as a failure as her 8th, 9th, 9th, 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th and 21st -place finishes at Worlds and 7th at the Salt Lake Olympics would suggest. But she won six Canadian titles. And to be able to make a decade run on the world scene may be a statement on the state of female figure skating in our nation, but it is also a testimonial to how far a pretty girl who was never going to be better than pretty good, could go.
"She must be the ultimate overachiever,'' said coach Michelle Leigh.
"She's not the most talented, but day in and day out she got the most out of herself from within. More than we imagined. More than she imagined. More than her parents imagined.''
HER EIGHTH WORLDS
Co-coach Doug Leigh said that's the bottom line.
"When you think about overachieving, she's at her eighth Worlds and finished seventh at an Olympics.''
But that's not her legacy.
"She's meant so much to all the little girls in Canada,'' said Manon Perron, the coach of 18-year-old Joannie Rochette from Ile-Dupas, Que. "Joannie learned a lot from her.''
Or as Skate Canada CEO Pam Coburn put it, "her legacy is the new crop of talented skaters coming up for Canada.''
Indeed, Rochette matching Robinson's all- time best eighth-place result at Worlds as an 18-year-old in her second trip to the big show, can be written as both a negative and a positive against Robinson's name.
Ending up 14th here, combined with Rochette's eighth, Robinson accomplished what Canada sent her here for - preserve two spots for Canada at Worlds next year in Moscow.
The move by Skate Canada, which left 16-year-old Cynthia Phaneuf sitting in the stands here, was, to say the least, controversial.
Robinson has had a tough-love relationship with the media, but, at the end of the day, says she's interested in getting into our profession.
"On the whole there's been more support than criticism and I always carry them with me. It's a rough season and to finish on such a high ... I'm so proud.
"The biggest legacy I could have left this sport is being extremely tenacious, extremely focused. I've gone through enough difficult times to know around the corner there's going to be just a bit brighter, more positive. You just have to go through the stuff you're going through to get to it.
"Skating has given me a sense of character. It's given me a sense of humour.''
She said it was great to have her brother here to watch, only the third time in her career he's been able to see her compete live and in person. She also said it was neat to end up here in Dortmund.
"My first international assignment was in Chemnitz, Germany, in 1993. It's cool that it's totally, completely, a full circle.''
