Joannie Rochette’s Emotional Short Program Is A Show Stopper

This is going to break your heart. Joanie Rochette is the Canadian figure skater whose mother died suddenly of a heart attack on Sunday two days before Rochette was scheduled to compete. Rochette decided to remain in the competition anyway, and gave a blazing, heart-wrenching performance last night that landed her in third place going into the long program. But it was the crowd’s reaction, and Rochette’s emotional response that really made this absolutely must-see TV. I dare you to watch this and not cry.

Of course, as per usual, it would be great if I could show you Rochette’s entire short program…alas, once again NBC has it behind their weird, not embeddable Olympic video village. So here’s her reaction. And the crowd’s. Yahoo noted that NBC was admirably restrained in their coverage of Rochette. You will have to imagine the rest.


Note – the video has been removed.

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