Sunday, February 13, 2011

Maybe Next Time Scott Checks WebMd.com

The Rift Between Virtue and Moir:  Erosion of Trust and Year-Long Estrangement Stemming from Tessa's Failure to Return to Olympic Level Figure Skating Training Sooner than Immediately After 2008 Compartment Surgery That Sliced Open the Fascia in Her Legs in Four Places.

RIFT THOUGHTS:

In their recently published book, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir tell us they didn't communicate at all for the two months she was gone recovering from her 2008 compartment surgery.  They confess this  absence of communication led to a nearly year long estrangement that persisted into their Olympic season.

Setting aside this story is belied by video evidence and every interview they gave at the time, also that Marianne Strong indicated Scott spent much time at Tessa's apartment in London working on expression while she recovered, also that they previously claimed to have texted and phoned constantly, and most of all, that they continually expressed how the experience made them respect, trust and appreciate each other even more, enabling them to win Nationals and get on the Worlds podium with nearly no training ...

It also means they choreographed Mahler and Farrucas in the summer of 2009 while behaving as virtual strangers, all stemming from Scott's upset with Tessa's failure to return to training from leg surgery in under 6-8 weeks.  After psychological counseling, they finally reconciled and so were able to be as one in time for Vancouver.

(Could they have patched things up faster by taking an IQ test, checking for water on Scott's brain, or cracking open an Anatomy 101 text and turning to the part that says "SLICED SHIN FASCIA = FIGURE SKATING HURTS"? )

Compartment surgery means "releasing" the muscle compartments in the leg so the muscle can expand. "Releasing" means slicing open the fascia and leaving the raw slices to heal while they simultaneously expand for the muscle.  So, ouch.

Contrary to how the story was presented, this isn't an uncommon condition in elite level athletes who use their legs with intensity.  The customary prognosis, not to mention ordinary logic, indicates this is painful, and two months is not time enough to heal up and get back to Olympic level figure skating training.  By these common indicators, Tessa's return in early December was rushed. Indeed, at the time, and after the season's conclusion, the team acknowledged  it was rushed.

But consistency plays no part in the many historical revisions presented by Scott and Tessa. Today, they earnestly inform us that in the ever-inspiring world of Canadian sports medicine, a compartment surgery patient can be expected to be healed up and ready for elite, Olympic level figure skating training a whole lot sooner than six to eight weeks later, an amazing assumption by a group we're told took a year to diagnose it in the first place, and nearly a year to figure out a second surgery was needed months after her pain persisted. (For contrast, a US lacrosse player swiftly diagnosed herself).

We're told Tessa's failure to return until early December created continual disappointment in Scott. They tell us now that return dates were set for sooner, Scott's hopes would be crushed, and so not until a whole two months after surgery did she get her ass to Canton and thus was the damage done and trust broken. 

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