By Lori Ewing
MILAN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Canada's Stephen Gogolev made a memorable Olympic debut with a third-place finish in the men's short programme of the Milano Cortina team event — a moment that once felt far from guaranteed during years of injuries after a major growth spurt.
The 21-year-old, dressed in suit and tie and skating to music from "Mugzy's Move" by American swing band Royal Crown Revue, landed two gorgeous quadruple jumps to finish third behind Japan's Yuma Kagiyama and Ilia Malinin
of the U.S.
Gogolev's long-awaited Olympic debut comes after he had considered walking away from the sport.
"There were definitely hard times in the past few seasons where I'd get constantly injured and kind of doubt myself, (questioned) if I'd keep going with competitive skating," he said. "Ultimately these Olympics were the main goal, and it was what kept me going all throughout the hard times."
Gogolev, who was born in Russia to athletic parents Irina and Igor and grew up in Canada, had been a child prodigy. He was Canada's first skater to land three quadruple jumps. He was 13 at the time, and weighed all of 90 pounds.
He shattered world records as a junior, in the short and free programmes, and the overall points total, and was the youngest winner of the Junior Grand Prix Final at 13.
Gogolev was also the youngest skater to land three quads - Lutz, Salchow and toe loop - in competition.
And then he grew over a foot. Growth spurts in skaters cause disruptions in balance, co-ordination and jump technique due to rapidly changing height, weight and centre of gravity.
In Gogolev, who now stands a towering six foot one, it also triggered back injuries.
OLYMPICS FEELS SURREAL
The Olympic experience, he said, still feels surreal. Asked if there was a pinch-me moment in Milan, when the significance hit him, he said: "I think it happens almost every hour that I'm here."
"Just walking around the village, walking into the arena, walking into the practice rink — everywhere you feel that feeling of, wow, like I'm really here at the Olympics. It's a very special feeling."
Skating onto Olympic ice was exactly the moment he had imagined since childhood.
"It was very different from other competitions. You see all the Olympic rings, and obviously there's many more people than any other competition that I've been to," the once shy skater said with a smile.
As he takes it all in, Gogolev acknowledges the reality still has not fully landed.
"It still feels a bit unreal," he said. "Because you're in this environment where you see all the best skaters in the world and all the best athletes — like really the world's biggest stage of competition — and so I don't know, it still feels a bit unreal, so it hasn't really sunk in yet."
Gogolev's skate is a key reason Canada are fourth in the team competition with three events - the women's, men's and pairs free programmes - remaining.
His focus was not on medals or placing but on delivering the skating he had been building towards all season.
"I'm more focusing on myself and what I can do in the moment," he said. "And obviously that is going to translate to Canada getting the highest ranking possible in this team event."
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Ken Ferris)
