Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir reminisce about their hall of fame career in this raw & uncut interview

so over over the history of Athletics in our country there's less than 700 people who have gotten the phone call that you two would have gotten so let's start by saying congratulations and and tell me what it's like to get that phone call and did it happen at the same time or did it happen separately and how quickly after that would you two have talked well immediately you know these um we've been so fortunate in our career and you never in our wildest dreams could have imagined something like this this happening and and being among this this group of people and you know Tessa and I above everything else are are Canadian sport fans so to to be in the hall with so many great athletes and to be considered among them is a is a there's no other word for it other than just an immense honor and it was there was a lot of excitement then becomes a lot of nerves I think I'm I'm feeling a lot of of of that right now um we're very proud Canadians and what um being a Canadian athlete means is important to us so we always feel the pressure to uphold that but um of course we talk right after and um that's one of the best ways that I can truly process um I guess all all of these fortunate accolades is is being happy for test you know I got to witness firsthand with a front row seat to her athletic career and um I can say that I've never met an athlete who deserves to be in the hall more than test that's so nice I feel that too and it's interesting I'm sure we've said this over the years but there is something about celebrating one another's success and on the phone I probably said have you have you called Scott yet and I I couldn't be happier for you and it's um maybe a different way to process the emotion and and to channel it into you know a partner but it's how we lived our career it's I think what made our partnership thrive in that your success meant My Success um that was the goal every day how can Scott feel his best and I think you came in and wanted to do the same for me so um it's neat that at this point in our career five years after retirement that that still lives on five years five years is that only only five years so to that point this happened pretty quick does that does does that speak to your Excellence how quickly this happen um is it 5 years after our career or five years after we stopped skating what is the end of our career I always think 2019 after tour after we're done skating completely like we haven't performed together yeah I agree I mean maybe it speaks to how long we did it I was looking at like photos and videos of us when we were young starting out at seven and n and on one hand it's hard not to look at the that footage and feel like you know who was that it was it was like almost as if it was a different person um but on the other it Tes me right back to that feeling of being in the Elderton Arena and that thrill of you know suddenly having a dance partner and figuring out what that really means and having fun together and exploring um the compulsory dances together and um that was so pure and I think it speaks to the purity of amateur sport of the Olympic Games of the passion that Canadians have for that you know from Grassroots to Podium I really believe that that Canadians stand behind their athletes in the most beautiful way so you know in all this reflection it's also impossible not to think about all the people that were with us every step of the way I think for us as well you know kind of selfishly it does feel good to be put in the hall so soon because our entire one of our big goals of our career was was to connect with people to to make them feel something from our performances um and it to be honest it it feels good that so many Canadians have resignated with what we did on the ice and uh who we are as people and especially later um you know the last 10 years of our career when when we're really our authentic self and we're getting a lot of Canadians uh supporting us and in our corner and um you know that support has always been so huge um but to have it kind of as that reminder that yeah maybe our performance is actually did we were able to touch some people make them feel something and and feel like they were a part of our journey on the point of authentic c um I've been looking at the era post and we and we'll get back to that but you two literally grew up in front of cameras comedians watched you two grow up what what was that like because that's a lot of pressure trying to figure out who you are in the world and having the spotlight on you all the time I'm so grateful that the spotlight on our career was fairly gradual it started young sure you know those those early interview and fluff pieces around a competition it it may have started young but I do feel like we were given the space in time to figure out who we were as athletes and as people and we forged such special relationships with everyone behind the cameras and and that meant something to us because I feel like they were as much a part of our career you know in telling our stories as our coaches were and I think you know certainly we lost ourselves along the way sometimes trying to appease people and and you know maybe having a few identity crises but still but ultimately we made a decision early to never do media training and maybe we could have used it sometimes but we could have used it over the gates but I do feel like we were um cognizant to like really hold on to that authenticity we did our best to you know present as who we really are which meant that there was no Shield or armor when the spotlight got quite intense I never felt there was this moment of okay I have to be on I have to be test virt you and then you know separate from that is is a separate World in life so I think there was this Synergy this consistency just within our lives that that really made a difference and also doing media with Scott I mean he brings out the best in me so I always felt like we could play off of each other and again just just so fortunate to have had that Dynamic um that I missed uh later in our career when when we did you know a few more things apart then I would kind of look and think where's my buddy where's my partner well it's like when we do commentary like I I would never dream of being out there without you because I need you there to make watch my back at least but yeah I think those are those are some great points I don't know what there is for me to add other than like we grew up with the media uh but we also grew up with social media coming around and [Music] um it it changed drastically as our career went on um with where our first Olympics there being very little um social media and then it really exploding in 2014 and 2018 and what that did for us was allow us to kind of dip our toe in the water and figure out what worked for us and what we liked and what we didn't like and then how we were going to tell our story and and how to do that authentically and um hopefully we we were able to do that I mean I I agree with Tess like there are parts that um you know for me I was too authentic maybe um I look back on that and and kind of think oh maybe you spoiled a couple friendships in there but uh there's some emotions anyways that come out that weren't the most mature but now as I look back I think well at least um at least I was honest at least I was able to um let people in and have them feel um what I was feeling a little bit MH was honest you mean is that when you something a piss off yeah when I yeah said we should have won or yeah that wasn't one of them you know call out the judges a couple times without really understanding you know when you're an athlete you you're emotional you're you just come off the ice you pour your heart and soul into something it is a funny thing to be judged immediately and uh you know there were Parts in in my career where that ate me up and I shared it and when I look back now I'm I'm proud that I was honest wasn't the most mature stuff I ever no it was honest and it's human and Tess always supported me which was which was actually you know because she didn't now that's the part that I would maybe not regret but look back on and maybe check in first because I I pulled her down these paths without really being like hey you okay if I walk into the mix Zone and give the reporter a piece of my mind for asking me a very simple question uh but she was always there and all like not blindly but so supportive and that that meant a lot fascinating to to hear you reveal you didn't do media training they tried Canadians adore YouTube in a way that they haven't maybe adored athletes in our history and and I wonder when you talk about human authentic your relatability if there was a part of that where Canadians felt like they could relate to what you were going through because of how vulnerable and authentic you were in your career I hope there was some sense of relatability and connection and I think you know perhaps in our sport given that we get to tell stories there's another element to that as well and the the stories we're telling on the I we get into character are such Universal themes of love and passion and jealousy and heartache and loss and and you know if nothing else I I do hope that in some performances that people could kind of resonate with one of those sentiments and so I you know we had we were very lucky in that that was our form of creative expression and over the course of 22 years um really got to tell a lot of those stories so uh I think maybe maybe that was part of it and again I mean Scott has so much passion and natural just Charisma it's I'm so happy that Canadians get to see that and I'm so happy that translated and I'm so happy that we have such fantastic Canadian media that again really get to tell our stories I do have a lot of really great chisma that that part's right you're not going to deny that sometimes you got to just let a great answer like I don't need to jump in and just Ramble On Again that's what would 9-year-old Scott and seven-year-old test of all of this I feel Scott would have known this was coming 9-year-old Scott would have 10-year-old Scott once he remembered the steps for a little bit I don't think you think so you just seem to have such confidence in where we were heading and I didn't mean to take that answer from you but I really feel you just you you sort of knew from the beginning that we were heading on a certain path and we would do nothing or we would stop at nothing really you didn't I feel like I was ready to be the best in juvenile and then the best in Pre novice and then novice you know I wanted to give everything I could to to those categories but I wasn't thinking Olympics or hall of fame or you know yeah I mean there was so many like there there's two Pirates I think right like there's us skating around the Elderton Arena like anybody who would have seen us skate that first year you you're not thinking we're going anywhere we're not even going to the Blue Line yeah it was a struggle yeah we were just making faces at our grandparents in the lobby pretty much was our whole training regiment but there was quickly the the the fire lit I guess and we were just going after after one Goen uh to win juvenile like you said novice um but then watching Simon Whitfield 2000 win yes there was there was another side of me who was in love with the Olympics and Donovan Bailey in '96 I was seven or eight years old I should really be able to do that math better uh but I I was connected to the Olympic Games I always knew I wanted to go to the Olympic Games and at that point even before I knew I wanted to go for figure skating um and it wasn't really until Sally pel and and Salt Lake City when I kind of thought oh yeah I'll go for the Olympics or sorry for the for figure skating and there is an interesting side of me I think that did always know that was my goal you know in my eighth grade yearbook I put I'm going to go to the Olympic games um so you're right in that but I mean I mean I I think you always had that drive as well I think we also made those goals together and that we always knew there would be a chance that they would lead us there I I said that you had to grow up in front of the camera but there's so much we didn't see and so much Canadians didn't see um not that much it was but when we did see you there was such excellence and people would see the two of you and just be absolutely captivated by the two of you I wonder when you when you get inducted into the Hall of Fame and you think about all the step that happened behind the scenes and what you had to endure what this is a culmination of Tessa I asked my mom recently to what she would attribute our success because she has unique perspective you know I I among friends and family she's always the first to point out that there was so much sacrifice and we lived this life of real deprivation and discipline and it was grueling and so she sees that she saw that every step of the way and so I asked her you know how how did we accomplish what we did and she said there was this cycle of goal setting goal Pursuit and goal attainment and we got addicted to that cycle I thought she was gonna say your resilience or your grit or your optimism even but I thought that was so interesting in in that cycle because it's true we were from young age really aware of the fact that we had these common goals this shared Vision that the way that we spoke to each other mattered the way that we used our time efficiently and effectively on the ice really mattered so we were so purposeful and it was so clear um I I think that's what got us through the very tumultuous and hard times and I don't want to paint a really Rosy brush over you know our career it was hard and it was it was pressure filled and stress filled and um you know it it wasn't always just the metals and sein and the smiles and the podiums but we were we were sick in a way where we loveed that as well like there really was that cycle right like if we weren't under pressure it didn't feel right you know and we we put that pressure on ourselves and I really feel that we are able to or we had to go after that like we we kind of knew early on that this partnership was a gift and that we we really had this crazy potential and it was our duty to to kind of explore that and um yeah and and while it was it just there's such two sides to everything isn't there like it was so much pressure and it was really grueling and really hard and even a relationship that people see as being you know this beautiful thing and we now see it as being beautiful um it was a lot of work like to to be having all these expectations and and we really had to work at just communicating with each other a lot of the time and to grow that in into the success we were able to have is work that we're also very very proud of but it was exhilarating at the same time to be able to put ourselves in those pressure situations on on Ice surfaces all over the world and try and be damn near perfect for 7 minutes we loved that you know you know there's part of me that misses that to this day let's have some fun with the Aros oh yeah got some on social media so you probably haven't seen yeah you're going to have to bring bring this back I thought you were just talking about the eras that I've lived through kind of but do you know you know Taylor Swift's eras all do do we need I Know Travis Kelsey is that the question I know that every Sunday when I turn the TV on I see Taylor like 15 times it's like watching Tiger Woods at the Masters yeah so she has her ER okay and she's on an air she's quite a following do you think she has more following than us so I'm listening yeah no I'll quit making jokes and I'll listen giving him context because you you truly probably have not seen so that's why I thought you were just like saying that we've gone through many eras um I'm I was like finding our little child baby era seven to nine and then teenage era and then I guess I don't know Vancouver Sochi Chang maybe sorry that was all this right no this is hilarious but Scott we're getting a view of the arrow the costumes the quality of footage the quality of footage everything remember when Taylor broke on the scene and I was just like she's never going to make it you know we're still on Taylor I'm fascinated does some stick up to you are or what comes up for you Tessa when you look back at all of those eras when I think about our various eras I I'm struck by a couple of things one sort of the vastness of our repertoire and our how our style evolved and changed and and sometimes I think oh that's not the program I would have gone with but I guess we took a risk or we tried something and um and the other is like I really blocked some memories of maybe times that my injuries were really bad or it was particularly hard in training so it's it's enlightening to look back and to see this compilation of all of these programs and all these years and Seasons that we dedicated everything every fi of our beings to these you know these programs it's it's an interesting time capsule of sorts to to really go through and and see all the different parts of it and we grew up in an era of ice dance where you had to do that you had to take risks you had to you know there were many years that we made the decision on what program to go with just because it was the complete opposite of what anybody would expect and I don't I think that comes from one of our early choreographers Suzanne killing um always challenging us never letting us you know kind of just do what was in our wheelhouse she always made us try everything that was quote unquote impossible and um now when I look back you know cuz I think it was annoying at the time for me but as I look back I'm very proud I guess of what you guys call eras and um but there are a couple things that I look back like the can can outfit I could have gone without you know oh yeah I'm sure that would we have a couple of really things we need to put them down deep in the drawer and hopefully those pictures never come out yeah the other thing that comes to mind is that sorry if you thought you would sneak in the odd question yeah know we're just having a conversation Tess and I have this is what it's like now to get both of us in a room what what really strikes me is is the Lessons Learned in sport just how applicable they are in every facet of life now so that reinvention the idea of preparing and embracing failure are knowing that's part of the journey um taking on challenges with a growth mindset um you know that that partnership the teamwork the goal setting so many of those things apply now in the work that I'm doing um away from the ice and I'm so grateful that we got to learn those lessons and in a in a way surrounded by all of these amazing experts in their fields I mean we got to work with some of the best coaches and sports scientists and strength and conditioning coaches and mental prep coaches I mean we we were surrounded by the best so it was our job to be sponges and I underestimated how how much all of that learning would set us up for Success post skating from from my seat that's what I always felt like you understood better than me that you were using sport to to try and you know enrich your life to to grow and kind of overcome all these obstacles learn all the skills on how to do that so you could apply it anywhere that's what I I always kind of admired you for like I I think early on I learned that lesson a little later um and it's when I reflect on on this achievement it's so important to me because now I am a huge believer like in in sport and what it does for our communities and what it does for us as people and um I know um you know I I live a rich life now because of our opportunities that we had in sport and the lessons that we learned together and um while we had to do a lot of work to get us there um you know I take that with me to every single thing that I do but I felt like you you always had that perspective I wonder I always wondered if that that that came from from Kate from your mom who always just seemed to be looking over us and making sure that we were Usher in the right directions and had access to the amazing people that we met through the sport the mney MC beans uh the David pel who didn't have to guide us but they were part of the Canadian sport family saw two vulnerable kids coming up in a in a with a whole bunch of hype um and stepped in to guide us to protect us to try and help us a little bit with our path with the experience that they had and that was that is something that I try every day to look at the sport or look at Canadian Athletics and see where I can you know return that favor and kind of pay it forward I really didn't have to ask this is beautiful winding down because I'm aware the time really quickly it it does take a village where's your chance who who comes to top of mind in a in a massive Moment Like This of course our our families um you know our parents who drove us at 400 in the morning to the rink and picked us up and then took us after school and more than that I think trusted us to at some point early early on in our career to sort of take the Reigns and um empowered us to to harness that sense of autonomy um knowing that it was our passion and and our Pursuit I think of our coaching teams you know as if we had sort of three different chapters in waterl with Paul McIntyre and suzan killing in in Michigan Marina and Igor and you know at the end of our career in Montreal with Marie France du and Patrice Lozan and you know and then of course the Alice coaches that come along with that I mean there there are too many people to thank I have this okay bear with me I have this visual that keeps coming to mind as I think about our career and it's that at some point when we were young we got on a trend train and then invited people to come on with us and people you know hopped on and off um but but when you were on board with us there was like a bit of a this Golden Glow and we were all Heading In This One Direction and we tried our best to like lift up the the coaches and the people around us and even as it kind of was windy and bumpy we were at least all on that train car together am I taking this too far no I like it we were together and I think right now this visual of like okay the the train's coming to the station who's getting off and it's car after car after car of people who were just so invested in our success and that's I mean that's the most emotional part of all this is just that people believed in us and that's that's the sport Journey you know that that we were blessed with honestly like Canadian sport um um we all read the news and hear the awful heinous crimes that happen and um we were two kids that were we had people on our train that believed in us and empowered us and built us up um and they were the reason that we're able to sit here in the Hall of Fame and and to have the career that we have and and be functioning hopefully functioning adults um working still yeah to transition into that but uh yeah that I love that and the I think it is really such an important message that that is that's Canadians that's our communities that we are powerful when we support each other and when we're there for each other and that's what that's what makes us special perfect place to St thank you both for everything thank you it was fun yeah

Channel: CBC Sports

Views: 246,077

Keywords: team canada, cbc sports, canadien, sports, Canada, Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir, hall of fae, hall of fame, figure skating, figure, skating, olympic, olympics, raw, uncut, interview, canadian sports hall of fame

Id: ZE9wkxMjH_g

Length: 27min 52sec (1672 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 19 2023