The Bravest of Faces: The Joannie Rochette Story Barb MacDonald, ABC / Skate Canada / Ottawa NEED/OPPORTUNITY The 2010 Olympic Winter Games, held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from 12 28 February 2010 drew the world s media attention for the entire month of February. At an Olympic Games, the world s sports and news media are assembled in one place. The media on-site in Vancouver accredited for the games numbered approximately 10,000. That broke down to approximately 7,000 television accreditations, approximately 2,600 journalists and just over 500 photographers. In addition, 400 1,000 non-accredited media personnel flocked to the city to cover the event. In March of 2009, Joannie Rochette won the silver medal at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, Canada s first medal in the ladies division since 1988. Canada s last Olympic medal in ladies figure skating also dated back to 1988, to the silver won at those Games, which were also hosted in Canada. As the reigning silver world medalist, Joannie was highly touted to win a medal at the 2010 Games. The first night of competition in the ladies event was scheduled for Tuesday, 23 February. Very early Sunday morning, 21 February, word was received by the Canadian Olympic team that Joannie s mother, Thérèse Rochette had died of a sudden heart attack at the age of 55. Joannie was an only child and was exceptionally close to her mother, who had been a huge supporter of her figure skating. This entry outlines all of the measures that were put into place to first inform the media of the tragic event and, once Joannie decided to continue skating, to manage information sent to the media until the end of the Games. In addition, Canada s ice dance team of Tessa Virtue (who was rooming with Joannie) and Scott Moir, were in contention for the gold medal. Every measure needed to be taken to allow Tessa and Scott to continue to compete in the remaining two components of their competition and to continue towards their goal of becoming Olympic champions. INTENDED AUDIENCE/STAKEHOLDERS The first priority was the athlete who had suffered the loss, but the Skate Canada team also knew immediately, given the profile of the athlete involved, that this would become a huge media story. It was critical to maintain a normal, competitive approach to the remainder of the competition for the athletes who had not finished competing. Team leaders and coaches were the best people to convey the information to competing athletes. The close relationship of coach and athlete would allow the coach to monitor and assess the emotional needs of the athletes under competitive conditions. The target audiences and the people responsible for direct communication in the initial stages were as follows:
1. Joannie Rochette, supported by team doctor, Julia Alleyne, her coach, Manon Perron, and sports psychologist Wayne Halliwell, Ph.D. 2. Normand Rochette (Joannie s father): Alleyne and Halliwell 3. Joannie s agent David Baden: Skate Canada CEO by telephone 4. Skate Canada family, board members: email from COO of Skate Canada drafted by media attaché 5. Competing athletes: told by Team Leader Debbi Wilkes/Mike Slipchuk or respective coaches 6. Remainder of Canadian figure skating team: Team Leader Debbi Wilkes/Mike Slipchuk or respective coaches 7. Canadian Olympic Committee: informed by the COC communications team 8. Canadian media: notified at COC daily during a 10:00 a.m. briefing, by the CEO and president via the COC Twitter news feed 9. International media: notified through a statement on Olympic News Service (internal news intranet specific to Olympic Games) and via the COC Twitter news feed GOALS AND OBJECTIVES 1. Provide support to Joannie Rochette through this difficult time. 2. Manage the flow of information to the media in a timely and effective manner. 3. Maintain the competitive environment for the five remaining figure skating athletes who continued to compete at the Games. 4. Support the close-knit figure skating team, including athletes who had completed the competition. SOLUTION OVERVIEW Skate Canada s management team had envisioned a possible judging or injury crisis in its planning and preparation, but never this type of tragic scenario. However, the plans put in place to create a strong, experienced support team were the key to how this situation was handled. PREPLANNING The last two winter Olympic Games, Skate Canada s leadership had been in transition, and had not handled the media particularly well, including 2002, when the judging scandal that eventually changed the scoring system for figure skating erupted, with Canadians right in the middle of the situation. This time around, the advance planning included the following: Skate Canada prepared athletes for the onslaught of media, both leading up to the Games and during the two-week event. At training camps prior to the games, athletes who competed at the 1988 games, the last home games for Canadian athletes, spoke to the team. Several of the athletes also participated in preparation seminars by the COC with many speakers who focused on the potential distraction of the media in the lead-up to the Olympic Games. The athletes were in a comfortable environment and were very familiar with all of the people around them at the Games. All support personnel had been working with the athletes for at least four years, with the exception of the media attaché, Barb MacDonald, who joined the team in September 2008. MacDonald was a familiar face to many of the
Canadian athletes, having been the press chief for the 2006 Olympic figure skating venue in Torino, Italy. She accompanied the team to the six national and international events prior to the Games, including the test event in the Olympic venue, the 2009 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. The team leaders, who live in the Olympic village with the athletes, ensure they get to practices and competitions on time, and take care of logistics and on-site care for the athletes, were Mike Slipchuk and Debbi Wilkes. Both had extensive experience working with the media and were chosen to handle media requests at a practice venue while the media attaché was tied up either in victory management of another athlete or a crisis situation. The president of Skate Canada, Benoît Lavoie, and CEO William Thompson were both accredited to the Games, and were staying in a rented condo just a few blocks from the Olympic village. Both international ice skating judges, they were trained and prepared to step in and comment in the case of any judging irregularities that might occur, Lavoie for French language and Thompson for English. To allow Canadian athletes a relatively private location to watch their teammates compete, Skate Canada purchased a box for the figure skating events, which meant athletes could come and go as training permitted, and could watch without being interrupted by fans. ON-SITE ACTIVATION From initial notice at 1:15 a.m. 5:45 a.m. when Joannie was informed The support team first confirmed the news was accurate and that Mr. Rochette was the person at the gate asking to see Joannie. He decided to wait until she woke at her normal time to break the news, so as not to disturb her roommate Tessa Virtue, who was competing that day. This allowed the team time to compose the balance of the plans for that day. From 5:45 a.m. 10:00 a.m.: Public statement The experienced support staff around the figure skating team immediately went into action, with very little discussion. In the first four hours before the news became public they felt it was important for people to receive individual phone calls or to receive the news in person before it went public. The media relations strategy was directed by the media attaché, Barb MacDonald (as per COC guidelines), with the support of the CEO and president. The team decided to be factual, and to make it clear that Skate Canada would support the decision made by the athlete to either compete or not. Senior staff would make themselves available for all media follow-up throughout the day and the days to come. 5:45 a.m.: agreed with COC that information would be released at 10:00 a.m. at the COC briefing 6:00 a.m.: Joannie Rochette informed of her mother s death 6:30 a.m.: Joannie accompanied by family and the support team to the hospital to see her mother 6:30 a.m.: Initial statement drafted in English Benoît Lavoie translates into French 8:30 a.m.: Statement revised to reflect Joannie s decision to skate 8:45 a.m.: Arrangements made for accreditation for Lavoie and Thompson to access main media center
9:25 a.m.: Statement sent to Skate Canada board and to Skate Canada office for translation and later posting to Skate Canada website 9:30 a.m.: Skate Canada team arrives at main press centre and meets COC communications staff 10:00 a.m.: Statement made to press at daily briefing session Canada is an officially bilingual country, and all of the COC communications needed to be handled in both French and English. With Joannie being of French heritage, and her first language being French, it was critical to present information in both languages. The statement was written in English, translated that morning by President Benoît Lavoie, and delivered first in French by Benoît at the press briefing, and then repeated in English by CEO William Thompson. Both of them were available for questions from media. 10:30 a.m. 2:00 p.m.: Conclusion of Joannie Rochette s first practice 10:30 a.m.: Statement released by COC to media through Olympic News Service 10:40 a.m.: Contact made with figure skating venue media personnel to alert them of the situation and to request assistance in controlling media at practice 11:00 a.m.: The COC twitter feed carries a link to a statement on the COC website 10:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m.: Lavoie and Thompson available to media outlets both inside and outside Olympic Media Centre 10:30 a.m.: Request official dispensation for Joannie to bypass media scrums at the conclusion of her practices and short program 1:15 p.m.: Joannie takes to the ice for practice session 2:00 p.m.: Senior Skate Canada officials available to media in mixed zone for comment From that point on, every time Joannie Rochette competed or practiced, at least two members of the Canadian senior executive team were available to media to respond in both French and English, and when possible, written statements were released from Joannie Rochette and Coach Manon Perron. 7:30 p.m.: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir skate the Original Dance. With a magnificent performance, they vault into first place on their way to becoming Olympic Champions the next day. IMPLEMENTATION AND CHALLENGES There was no budget involved in the management of this issue but an incredible investment of time and energy by all personnel involved. The lines of communication were clear Skate Canada handled the athlete information, while the COC handled the balance of requests and Canadian team perspective. On-site, Skate Canada worked with new Olympic-issued cell phones and electronic devices and the lack of familiarity slightly hampered the distribution of information. Twitter feeds were also new to many journalists who weren t used to using them as alerts and missed some information. Skate Canada did not plan to issue press releases during the Games but to use the COC services. In hindsight, having their distribution lists available would have enhanced and sped up the communication process. The decision to have team leaders experienced with media was critical when the media attaché was busy with the victory management of the ice dance champions on the same day as the ladies competition began.
Simply managing the volume of calls, inquiries, and details was a challenge that was met because of the strength and camaraderie of the team involved. MEASUREMENT/EVALUATION OF OUTCOMES 1. Provide support to Joannie Rochette through this difficult time Joannie was able to stay in her competitive bubble until the end of the competition due to the protection from the media spotlight, and she won a bronze medal. She was named flag bearer for the closing ceremonies and won a special award for her dignity and courage. She has gone on to become a superstar in Canada. 2. Manage the flow of information to the media in a timely and effective manner Journalists were well served by alternate spokespeople. Over 1,000 articles appeared in print and used the quotes provided. Feedback from the media, the International Olympic Committee and the COC was overwhelmingly positive. When asked to grade the process, they scored Skate Canada 9.6 on a 10-point scale. 3. Maintain the competitive environment for the five remaining figure skating athletes who continued to compete at the Games Joannie s roommate, Tessa Virtue and partner Scott Moir became Olympic champions in ice dance, just two days after the news was received. They too were able to keep the distractions to a minimum and compete at their very best. The other skaters still competing finished close to their anticipated goals and world rankings. 4. Support the close-knit figure skating team, including athletes who had completed the competition The Canadian figure skating team watched the events from the privacy of the box provided by Skate Canada. This allowed them a private place to manage their emotions (many of them cried during the short program). They all felt a protective environment was created for them, including safe places and time to chat with the team leaders, team doctors, and other personnel as the situation deserved.