Why Joannie Rochette isn’t skating in Sochi

Joannie Rochette was the picture of courage and resilience at the Vancouver Olympics, skating to a bronze-medal finish just days after the sudden death of her mother.

But four years later, the darling of Vancouver won’t be going for gold in Sochi.

“I really thought about it for a long time,” Rochette tells Yahoo Canada. “I just felt that I have achieved everything that I wanted in my competitive career.”

Since her triumph at the 2010 Winter Games, the 28-year-old has been largely absent from competitive skating. She did, however, toy with the idea of making a comeback for team figure skating – a new event in which Canada is a heavy medal favourite.

Instead, Rochette opted to skip Sochi. She says the decision was made “easier” by her active participation in pro skating.

“I can still do shows. I’m not hanging up my skates by any means,” she says. “That’s what made the decision a little bit easier to make.”

This time around, Rochette will be experiencing the Olympics from another vantage point – as a member of the media. She’ll be working with French-language broadcaster Radio-Canada.

“[W]hen you’re competing at the Games, the only person you’re really focusing on is you,” she says. “And now, being there to tell these athlete stories, it’s going to be a really different role, and fun to live the Games without the added pressure of the competition itself.”

Like any analyst, Rochette has a few opinions on her sport. For starters, she believes Canada is the gold-medal favourite in the new team skating event. The Canadian squad will have a deep well of talent to call upon, including three-time world champion Patrick Chan and reigning gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.