With a bronze medal under their belt two members of the U.S ice skating team are preparing for the men’s figure skating competition at the end of the week.
Jeremy Abbot said he’s making some changes ahead of the men’s competition. He’s checking out of athlete’s village because he said he has trouble staying on schedule.
“In the village I was feeling a bit like Neverland where time just doesn’t exist and I would get very behind on my schedule and then once that starts to happen you kind of start to feel rushed throughout the day and it definitely takes effect once you’re on the ice,” Abbott said.
As he turns to his individual skate, Abbott says his poor score was exactly what he needed to get back on track.
“Now I have plenty of time to reorganize and regroup and restructure everything for the individual event and make sure that everything off the ice is very organized and taken care of,” he said.
Abbott and Jason Brown will both go for gold in the men’s figure skating competition. Brown says he still hasn’t accepted the fact that he came in second at the national championships in Boston, much less that he now has an Olympic bronze medal.
“I’m really waiting for it to sink in, it definitely sunk in when I was on the medal stand and I was balling up there. Simon, before the medal ceremony, I was like ‘why can’t I feel that it’s real’ and he was like ‘it’s a dream, don’t worry. You’ll wake up and it will be the short program at nationals this year,’” Brown said.
The 19-year-old says one secret to his success is that he doesn’t wear glasses on the ice despite poor eyesight, foregoing even contact lenses, which he says make the ice to shiny.
“It just makes it all kind of a blur and I see the audience and the crowd as the whole rather than each individual person,” Brown said.
Abott and Brown will both take the ice for their short program and free skate on Thursday and Friday.