{"id":28142,"date":"2022-02-02T14:12:07","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T19:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/?p=28142"},"modified":"2022-02-02T22:45:56","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T03:45:56","slug":"dispatches-from-beijing-gilles-poirier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/dispatches-from-beijing-gilles-poirier\/","title":{"rendered":"Dispatches from Beijing: Gilles &#038; Poirier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>By Lynn Rutherford | Photo by Melanie Heaney<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier compete in Beijing not only as reigning World ice dance medalists, but as Canada\u2019s only legitimate medal threat in any of the figure skating events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, the two-time Canadian champions don\u2019t feel too much weight on their shoulders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019re trying not to look at it as a pressure situation,\u201d Gilles, 30, said after a recent practice at Beijing\u2019s Capital Indoor Stadium. \u201cI think we\u2019re just very excited that the Games are happening, and we are in that position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trusting our training, trusting all of the work we\u2019ve put in the last four years,\u201d Poirier, also 30, added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Pyeongchang, Gilles and Poirier ranked third on Canada\u2019s depth chart, behind the great Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, and Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje. There, they placed a solid eighth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the years since, under longtime coaches Carol Lane, Jon Lane, and Juris Razgulajevs, the couple has come into their own with striking, artistically daring programs like their free dances to Don McLean\u2019s \u201cVincent\u201d and Joni Mitchell\u2019s \u201cBoth Sides Now.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Beijing, both Gilles and Poirier\u2019s rhythm dance, set to a lively Elton John medley, and their cerebral free dance, choreographed by their coaches to \u201cThe Long and Winding Road,\u201d are sure to stand out from the pack. Here\u2019s what they have to say about their approach to their second Olympics together:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Four years ago, you were on a team including Virtue and Moir. This time around, you are the leaders.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Piper: It\u2019s a position we haven\u2019t been in before, but I think it\u2019s an exciting opportunity. We know the work we\u2019ve put in to be here, and I think it\u2019s just time to celebrate how far we\u2019ve come. Being in that spot is an honor, to be considered Canada\u2019s top figure skating couple. We\u2019re just going to celebrate what we\u2019ve accomplished in the last four years. We\u2019re trying not to look at the end goal, that\u2019s obviously in sight, but we need to focus on our programs and how we feel, but it\u2019s an honor to be in that position.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What\u2019s the biggest difference between now, and your first Olympics?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul: I think confidence. We\u2019ve really learned to trust in the artistic decisions we make, trust in our training and trust that we are excellent ice dancers. I think, more than anything, for so long we felt we had to prove that to everyone. The more we learned that we could take ownership of who we are and take ownership of our skating and our art and just really enjoy living in the moment of the performance, that\u2019s when we thrive and skate our best, rather than trying to prove to people that we\u2019re good. So, I think it\u2019s just really a change in the mentality the last few years that has allowed us to become more successful and get where we are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How are you staving off pressure?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Piper: The two of us just love to skate. That\u2019s been a nice reminder, every time we go to compete the last couple of years. We just love to skate. And I think that kind of takes a little bit of that pressure off ourselves. Just enjoy what we do, skate the program we know how to do and just enjoy it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lynn Rutherford | Photo by Melanie Heaney Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier compete in Beijing not only as reigning World ice dance medalists, but as Canada\u2019s only legitimate medal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"1280","_gspb_post_css":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[352,6,142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beijing2022","category-articles-interviews","category-featured"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?fit=254%2C150&ssl=1",254,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?fit=300%2C177&ssl=1",300,177,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?fit=768%2C454&ssl=1",768,454,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-post-main-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?resize=400%2C250&ssl=1",400,250,true],"et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?resize=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?resize=400%2C284&ssl=1",400,284,true],"et-pb-portfolio-module-image":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?resize=510%2C382&ssl=1",510,382,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image-single":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?fit=957%2C566&ssl=1",957,566,true],"et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?resize=400%2C516&ssl=1",400,516,true],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Gilles-Poirier-Beijing22-MH.jpg?resize=45%2C45&ssl=1",45,45,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Team 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[&hellip;]","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7GOSM-7jU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28142"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28163,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28142\/revisions\/28163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}