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| Canadian-Born Couple Skates for Greece |
| Published on May 12, 2008 |  
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Ariel Fay Gagnon and Chad Tsagris
May 12, 2008
Article & Photo © J. Barry Mittan
 Although the Olympic Games originated in Greece, historically the country has not had as much of a presence in the Winter Games than in the Summer Games. This is especially true in figure skating, where Greek athletes frequently didn't even compete in the European and World Championships.
In the last few years, federation officials in Greece have tried to change that situation, fielding entries in ladies, men and ice dancing. But until 2008, there had been no recent entries in pairs. That changed at the 2008 European Championships with the entry of Ariel Fay Gagnon and Chad Tsagris into the pairs field.
Although the couple only finished 15th at Europeans and 19th at Worlds, it was not a bad debut for the young team, which had been together for less than a year and were competing in their first event. Both of the skaters were born in Canada and competed at Canadian Nationals at lower levels.
"We just wanted to go out and show we could compete with everyone else," Tsagris said. "Greece has a spot with the others at the championships." The skaters had no trouble getting a release from Canada to skate for Greece since they and not competed internationally. "I had talked with Chantal and Arseny about competing for Greece when they were working with Krista in dance," Tsagris noted. "I talked to my father about it and completed the paperwork in a few months."
"Next season, we'd like to be in the top 15 at Worlds and the top ten at Europeans," he continued. "There's a chance of making the Olympics for 2010." Both skaters hope to compete for some time. "I love skating and the opportunities it gives us to travel and meet new people. I plan to compete as long as I'm able."
Tsagris, who is 22, is the more experienced of the couple. He started skating when he was five. "Everybody in my family played hockey," he stated. "I got into figure skating to skate better for hockey. I played select, single A and double A until I was 13. Mainly I played on defense, but sometimes I was the goalie. Now I just play with some friends."
"Once I got into figure skating, I asked my parents for private lessons," he continued. "I saw skating on television with Lloyd Eisler and Isabelle Brasseur and that looked like a lot of fun. So I started into pairs when I was 13. Before that, I just did the tests."
With Brittany Rabjohn, he placed tenth in pre-novice pairs in 2002 and seventh in pre-novice pairs in 2003. In 2004, Tsagris competed with Kristen Lambrinakos-Raymond, placing 14th in novice pairs. He then skated with Andria Bianchi, finishing eighth in novice pairs in 2005. Tsagris then partnered Gagnon for a year, placing 13th in junior pairs in 2006, but then competed with Kateryne Pigeon the next season, finishing 12th in juniors in 2007.
"We skated together from July 2005 until after Nationals in 2006," Gagnon said.
"Then we had different partners for the next season, but we remained close friends." "My partner broke her leg twice last summer so that meant at least a whole season off," Tsagris added. "I had already made arrangements to skate for Greece with another partner. I knew that since we had skated before, we could get ready quickly so I called Ariel and we started skating together in September."
Gagnon, who is only 16, started skating at five. "My mom got me into ballet, and skating and other sports," she recalled. "In Montreal, everybody skates. I did a lot of sports - soccer, gymnastics, swimming, and tae kwon do. I got up to a red belt in tae kwon do in three years. Some of my friends were doing it so I did it too. I didn't stay in gymnastics too long. It wasn't challenging enough at the level they placed me. I also soccer from when I was four to 12. I was a center/forward on an inter-city traveling team. Then I was a cheerleader for four years in school."
At ten, Gagnon started skating pairs. "I've loved pairs since then," she said. "It's something about being thrown around and lifted up in the air. I did pairs for three years, then took a year off, then went back to pairs again." She first skated with Alexandre Heroux, placing 11th in pre-novice pairs in 2004. She later skated with Jacobus Oud, finishing seventh in novice in 2007.
The Greek duo trains at the Brossard rink in Montreal, Canada, with Josee Picard, Isabelle Brasseur, and Rocky Marval. "We train primarily in Montreal," Tsagris noted, "but sometimes we go down to New Jersey to work with Isabelle and Rocky or she will come up to Montreal for a week." Usually, they train for four hours a day, five days a week on ice with another couple of hours a day off ice.
Chantal Lefevre and Arseny Markov choreographed the couple's new programs. They are using "Kashmir" by Bond for the short program and "Variations on a Theme of Paganini" by Andrew Lloyd Webber for the long. Markov selected the music for both programs. "Arseniy really knows music and he's good with music," Tsagris said. "He came and told me he had found some really cool music for us."
Next season, they plan to change the short but keep the long. "We'll probably keep the long so we can polish it some more," Tsagris stated. They aren't sure what style they'll choose next. "I like to skate to strong music," Gagnon said. "I love showing off and expressing myself." "I modern classical music," Tsagris said. "I love Mozart and would to skate to Mozart sometime."
In their short program, they are doing side-by-side double flip and a throw triple salchow. The long program includes side-by-side double flips, a throw double lutz and a throw double salchow. "We're working on improving our side by side double axels and a throw triple lutz," Tsagris noted. "We've landed the throw lutz but so far only on two feet. We haven't had the time to learn any side-by-side triples yet. Next summer, we hope to work on a triple twist and harder lifts."
Gagnon is in her last year of high school. "I want to get into law," she said. Tsagris is in his first year at Concordia University. "I'm studying films and photography, but I haven't decided on a major yet," he stated. "I do a lot of landscape and artistic photography."
His off ice pursuits are also artistic in nature. "I take a lot of photographs, mainly of urban sprawl," he said. "I've also been painting for the last three years, mostly post modernistic, I do a lot of abstract cityscapes." He also enjoys reading, especially biographies.
"I'm an outdoors person," Gagnon said. "I play soccer or hockey with my friends or just hang out. In the summer, I go swimming every day." |
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