I love watching the Olympics. The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver were my favourite. It became a nightly event at my house. I couldn't tear myself away from the TV screen and I wasn't alone. It brought my whole family together. When the figure skating competitions took to the ice, we were mesmerized. Our eyes followed along with all the twirling, dancing and lifting. Such effortless grace. Wow! Soooo impressive. We were transfixed on Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue. We felt so proud when they stood on the podium with their well deserved gold medal. A few weeks ago, Skate Canada International was held at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga. Seeing how the figure skating competitions was one of the Olympic events that brought our family together, I thought it would be a great way to spend some family bonding time. And that it was. We watched as Patrick Chan defended his world championship with a win in the Men's Program, despite falling on his first jump, a quadruple toe loop. He attempted another quad, this time he added a triple toe to make it a perfect combo. We cheered when Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won Gold in the Ice Dance competition. They solidified their gold in the free dance with an uplifting program based on the 1957 musical "Funny Face". [caption id="attachment_7041" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir - Ice Dance Gold Medal winners"] [/caption] We were also privileged to see a few rising stars... Russia's Elizaveta Tuktamisheva danced her way to a gold medal. This was the 14 year old's first senior grand prix appearance and the youngest women's singles gold medalist in 30 years. Canada's Tracey Wainman was the youngest ever. She was only 13 when she won in 1981 in Ottawa. Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje wowed the crowd with their serious and romantic themed piece. They skated to a Karl Hugo special arrangement of Lara Fabian's "Je Suis Malade". Their short and free dance programs earned them a silver medal. Spain’s Javier Fernandez performance was one of my favourites. Coached by our very own Brian Orser, he lead the short program but came up just short of Patrick Chan to grab silver. These young stars along with a few others are heading to the 2011 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final being held on Dec 8-11 in Quebec City. I'm wishing them the best of luck and hoping they experience their personal bests in a sport they love so much and do so well.