I thought they already had Hall of Fame installations put up in London/Ilderton after 2010, but I guess you can never have enough.
I'd imagined 2019-20 was the season Virtue and Moir had to pull the trigger (or not) on a fourth Olympics, but I jumped that gun. All we've got anticipation-wise is speculating what next troll-tastic firecracker the two will throw into the otherwise semi-dormant VM fandom: Can they even top, "Scott's dating his partner. His OTHER partner." It was a one note joke but easy to imagine guffaws all around in Moirville.
Almost 25 years ago a number of pairs figure skaters were bitter at Gordeeva & Grinkov's return to Olympic competition. It kicked everybody else down a step, "robbing" several aspirants of their podium finish hopes. Similarly, if Virtue Moir hadn't competed in Pyeongchang, Papadakis & Cizeron would have received their gold medal in 2018, and this current cycle might claim some legitimacy. Instead we endure two more years of Papadakis & Cizeron's synchronized swimming on ice. Two more years of virtue-signaling from Tessa Virtue's social media, two more years of Scott and Tessa yet again re-tweaking their established relationship narratives or inventing new ones to suit their most recent commercial partnership. It's no Shibutanis again, for no reason other than what's the point. It's updated rules and requirements with no actual competitive relevancy. Not Virtue and Moir's fault, but here we are.
Ice dance should be abolished as an Olympic sport after 2022. That could be the direction its headed. This cycle could be the argument that gets it done.
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| 10 years of marriage + kids and I'm still not sure Scott's 100% comfortable with another human making physical contact with Tessa. (from Tessa Virtue's instagram) |
