It has been a long and winding road for Canadian skaters Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who have been an ice dance team for the past decade.
Their preferred destination after all that traveling would of course be the top of the podium at the Beijing Olympics in February, and Saturday’s result in Vancouver is an early indication that they will indeed be in the medal mix at those Games.
Skating to music from the Beatles’ classic, Long and Winding Road, Gilles and Poirier breezed to gold at Skate Canada International. Their score of 210.97 points eclipsed that of the Italian silver medallists Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (200.05) and the bronze medalists from Spain, Olivia Smart and Adrian Diaz (192.83).
“It’s every little piece of our journey,” said Gilles, when asked about the music choice. “I think every step, every competition, every program has led us to where we are right now and we really want to finish this season at the Olympic Games celebrating what has taken us (there). … I think we really need to celebrate what we’ve accomplished, so the long and winding road is really what we’ve done through our entire career and where we are now.”
For the full article by Dan Barnes, go to the Ottawa Sun Web site.