Figure Skating

In the days leading up to the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Joannie Rochette has found the perfect antidotes for pressure - a little dose of Michelle Kwan and Jeffrey Buttle.

Buttle - the 2008 men's world champion and an old buddy from his days on the Canadian national team - has been training with Rochette in Montreal. Buttle won a bronze medal at the 2006 Turin Games, but hung up his competitive skates soon after his world gold in Gothenburg, Sweden.

"It's great he's here to push me even more," said Rochette, who won the Canadian women's title for the sixth consecutive time last month. "I have someone who I can talk to who has lived the Olympics before."

His presence at the rink takes Rochette back four years ago, as they did the same thing just before going to Turin.

"It was lucky for both of us," said Rochette, who finished fifth at that Olympics. "I need to have him here in a very intense period of my training, because a good friend like him can be supporting and [we have] fun together training."

Rochette of Île-Dupas, Que., has reached into the past in another way to help prepare for the pressure cooker in the imminent future.

She's been watching video of nine-time U.S. and five-time world champion Michelle Kwan at the 1998 Nagano Olympics (where Kwan won silver). She wanted to see how the American star reacted to Olympic pressure, and she went away inspired.

"For me, the most stressful moment is when you wait before going on the ice, when they call your name and you take your starting pose," the 24-year-old Canadian said.

Rochette shares a link with Kwan - Canadian choreographer Lori Nichol prepared Kwan's programs for years. This season, Nichol designed Rochette's sophisticated long program set to Samson and Delilah, a tale of sensuality and betrayal.

Although Kwan was visibly nervous before her performance in 1998, Rochette could see she tried to enjoy the experience as well.

"They called her name and she was cheering for herself at the same time," Rochette said. "She put her arms into the air and went into her zone and took her start pose. And she had a little smile. ... She was enjoying the intensity of the competition."

It's a frame of mind Rochette will try to emulate in Vancouver. (The women's short program is scheduled for Feb. 23, the long for Feb. 25.)

The key, she said, is to embrace the moment and all the pressure, as most of her best performances have come when she enjoys herself out on the ice.

In B.C., Rochette will face five or six skaters who could all be on the podium and she acknowledges that it's a tough field. But she's defeated all of them at one time or another over the past year or more - and she's one of the few top skaters who does all of the triple jumps in her free skate.

Kim Yu-Na of South Korea, favoured to win gold in Vancouver, does not do a triple loop. The 2008 world champion, Mao Asada of Japan, will attempt two triple Axels - something no other woman does - but she does neither the triple Salchow, nor the difficult triple Lutz. The 2007 world champion, Miki Ando of Japan, does not do a triple flip in her routine. And Mirai Nagasu, the 2010 U.S. silver medalist, does not do a triple Salchow.

While most women attempt six triples in the free skate, Rochette says she attempts a "very challenging" seven.

"I can do it. I've shown that," she said. "I really love my programs this year. They're the best I've ever had. I've been working lately on my spins and my transitions, so I know I have the package. I have everything."