Word: orser
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...breakthrough was as much psychological as competitive. After twice bungling his trademark triple Axel jump at the 1986 world competition, Orser set out to improve his state of mind. Sports Psychologist Peter Jensen has worked regularly with him on envisioning success, practicing success, achieving success. A gaggle of others also laid on expertise. In addition to his shrink, Orser has a nutritionist, a physical therapist, a choreographer and a figures coach (for the compulsories). Finally, and always, there is Coach Doug Leigh, who has been with Orser for 17 years...
...full-support approach has bolstered the athlete's confidence. The Boitano challenge? "If we both did a perfect program, I'd come out ahead," he says positively. Orser & Co. are leaving nothing to chance. Workouts run to eight hours a day, six days a week. Recently, the entire Canadian figure- skating team rented Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens and simulated Olympic conditions, including the actual announcer who will be in Calgary. "Now in my , practice, I can visualize how I'm going to feel in the Saddledome," says Orser. "I can picture the audience, all of the sounds, everything...
Common wisdom among skaters holds that it is harder to defend as world champion than to come from behind. Adding to the pressure, Canada's Olympic dreams rest heavily on Penetanguishene's favorite son (that's in Ontario). But Orser seems to relish his position. "I'm in the driver's seat going in," he says, "so all eyes and expectations will be on me. That's the way I want it to be." Other than Boitano, the only tough competition is likely to come from Alexander Fadeev, the Soviet skater who won the 1985 world title and has placed...
Despite competitive tensions, the two Brians are friends off the ice. Since first crossing blades at the 1978 junior world championship in France, they have developed a genuine warmth for each other, built on shared interests, common pressures and gentle mutual needling. When Orser turned 26 in December, Boitano sent a card that read, "You are just like a ripe, vintage wine. Old." Both men know not to push the friendship where it cannot go. "We never talk skating," says Boitano. "The program is taboo...
Maybe following Budapest, those barriers will come down. The Hungarian capital will be the host for the 1988 world championships -- and a quad perhaps? -- just four weeks after the Olympic Games. Then both Brians intend to retire from amateur skating. Is there life after 6.0s? Orser already co- owns a restaurant in a Toronto suburb and is planning a second this year. Boitano (surprise! surprise!) also wants to go into the food business. His dream is to open an Italian restaurant in San Francisco, some place where he can satisfy his constant craving for pasta. Both Brians will have...