Friday, May 2, 2008

Canadian Cultural Icon the Fifth -- Elvis!!!!

It’s Friday night, so it’s Canadian Cultural Icon time. Honest, I was thinking about going high-culture this time – Margaret Laurence, Margaret Atwood, Ben Heppner – something like that. Then I thought of this, and I couldn’t give it up. It’s a land of ice and snow, and I’ve got ice for you again – this time, the 1997 World Figure Skating Championships in Lausanne, where Elvis Stojko came from fourth place after the short program to win the whole thing, with this. It was the first time a quad-triple jump competition had been landed in competition.

Okay, I know there’s more jargon in that paragraph than in a software manual. Can’t be helped – either you know your culture, or you don’t.

I’m really sorry I couldn’t find a copy of this on YouTube from the CTV television network. Canadian commentators are, by and large, quiet during the skating program, except for, “If he’s going to do the quad, it’s coming up next,” and then, “WOW!” There was a lot of WOW with Elvis. The analysis comes in the replays. This is from ABC and the commentators from the Estados Unidense yak and yak all through skating programs. It’s very distracting – they have that music in skating events because you’re SUPPOSED to be able to hear it …



4 comments:

Doorman-Priest said...

Inspirational!

Claire said...

It was inspirational! I liked Elvis for some of the same reasons I liked our Rudy Galindo...working class boy, not a child of privilege who was entitled to success in skating. I've never been able to skate, which is why I appreciate the sport so much. Great post!

Jan said...

I'm so glad you posted the video. That was amazing. Elvis is beyond belief!

Kate Morningstar said...

I just love Elvis. When he was little his mother asked him something about skating once, and he said, "I love to spin."

I'm starting to look at three videos I've chosen to post in the course of a week -- Bobby Orr, Libby Sauter and Elvis Stojko. There's a common thread -- the latent physical ability is inborn, and the preference for the activity, at least with those two men, was there very young. Then there's focus, drive, determination ... I've felt something missing in my life, and I've been going back to, "Why those videos? What do you need in your life?"

Thanks for visiting, everyone!