Whilst for most athletes at these Winter Olympics dealing with the variable weather conditions or lack of snow at Cypress Mountain has been their biggest hurdle, for figure skater Cheltzie Lee, there is an even greater issue.

What is she going to wear?

If there is one event that is as much about how an athlete looks as to how they perform, it’s figure skating.

Lee leaves her costume design up to two very important people – her coach Kylie Fennell and her mum Renita.

While the sceptics might think ‘it’s just a costume’, matching an outfit to both the music and the performance is a vital part of any figure skater’s preparation.

So what can we expect next Tuesday (Vancouver time) when Lee takes to the ice at the Pacific Coliseum?

“The outfit is blue and black with several lace pieces,” Fennell said.

“We bought the fabric in the United States and then we had a dressmaker named Lisa based at Castle Hill in Sydney put it all together.

“Then Renita finished it off by sewing some of the intricate parts together – I think it is stunning and Cheltzie looks terrific,” Fennell added.

Lee just made it through to the final field of 30 – she will skate the short program, with the top 24 of those skaters making it through to the free program later in the competition.

And in another sign of what has increasingly become her destiny to compete in Vancouver, Lee has chosen a piece of music that will surely impress the locals.

“The piece of music is an instrumental called ‘Feeling Good – a Tribute to Michael Bublé’ which I suppose is a bit coincidental,” Fennell said.

“We had been searching for a piece of music for a while and I heard this over the internet around a year ago and I immediately knew we could design a routine for it and it would be something Cheltzie could really get into.”

Fennell has revealed that when she heard the music she could immediately visualise the sort of outfit and routine that would complement the instrumental.

“I could see dark blue and black and some diamantes,” Fennell said.

“It has come together really well,” she added.

Bublé, the Canadian crooner, is well known to Australians and is a Vancouver native. He is part of Australian PAY TV provider FOXTEL’s coverage of the Winter Olympics back to Australia.

Fennell laughed at suggestions that she chose the piece of music to win over fans in Vancouver.

“I few people have said that,” Fennell laughed.

“We picked it for another international competition a year ago and Vancouver was the furthest thing from our mind at that stage,” she added.

It’s unknown at this stage whether Bublé can be present when Lee performs on Tuesday night but I’m sure he would be proud that the great link between Australia and Canada will be further strengthened with his own special touch at the Olympic Winter Games.

Damian Kelly
AOC - Vancouver