The truth behind Patrick Chan's China crisis

[Olympia]

Oh, Olympia, that Paul Martini! Such a skater, such a gorgeous man! Love that pair, always and forever.

A forever-favorite pair of mine also!

 

[brightphoton]

I was not a big fan of Patrick before this article, but now that I know the truth, I've changed.

Imagine, the tough life this boy has. Let me list all of his problems:
*Once he won a competition, but he didn't break a world record because he fell too many times

*Cruel people question the system when he wins while falling, instead of just accepting that the judges know best and the point system is perfect.

*Nobody even says this to his face, but complain on the Internet, but hey, that's bad enough.

* He only has a sponsorship deal with McDonald's, and not every other multinational corporation

* His $130 a plate fundraiser wasn't diverse enough, lacking in White, Black, and Latino Canadians.

* He's forced to speak in a language he doesn't like, even though it's the language of the city he grew up in, IIRC.

* One of his family's two homes isn't very big.

My eyes are filling with tears. He reminds me of Rudy Galindo, who lost his entire support system to AIDS or heart attacks in a single year or so. Or Joannie or Angela, whose mothers died unexpectedly at skating events. Or Tonya or Nancy or Elizabeth Punsalan, who came from families with violent and crazy relatives (assuming Tonya was telling the truth, of course). Now we have the family whose second home isn't big enough. When will it end?

LOL! I love this.

 

[Becki]

Good quote.

A 900-square-foot condo in Vancouver is worth about 1/2 million dollars. A lawyer family in many people's mind is a higher Middle Class family. How many people in Vancouver are struggling to own a place to live, let alone two apartments (one in beautiful Colorado Springs)?

"Poor" is subjective and relative.

Hmm...Pchan is from TORONTO.

 

[skatinginbc]

Hmm...Pchan is from TORONTO.

A 900-squre-foot condo may be worth about $30,000 in Oklahoma City but over $500,000 in Vancouver. Living in a 900-squre-foot condo sounds poor to some but rich to others. "Poor" is a relative and subjective term--and that was my point.

 

[wallylutz]

A 900-squre-foot condo may be worth about $30,000 in Oklahoma City but over $500,000 in Vancouver. Living in a 900-squre-foot condo sounds poor to some but rich to others. "Poor" is a relative and subjective term--and that was my point.

900 square foot condo in North York area of Toronto is definitely not worth 1/2 million and is actually quite small and cramp for 3 adults. Ownership of a property doesn't imply much about financial situation because you don't know how much they are paying monthly on mortgages. Because the properties are in use by themselves, it's not an option to sell or rent out, therefore, whatever money they have on paper is not going to helpful to their regular family budget.

 

[Buttercup]

Upon further review, this article is not helping matters, as it gives off a distinct First World Problems vibe. Indeed, a 900 square ft. condo is no mansion, but for an apartment in a major city, inhabited by two adults and occasionally their only child, it is hardly the equivalent a broom closet. I've lived in smaller spaces with my family as a child growing up (and I'm not an only child), and know people who are in similar situations now. Real estate in major cities comes at a premium; I have friends who moved to Toronto for a couple of years, and wound up having to pay a lot more in rent than they were used to back home.

The Chans chose to invest in their son's skating, and made sacrifices in other areas. This does not make them unique among skating families, and in fact they are better off than many, since at least Patrick has been earning money as a competitive skater for several years. Skating is expensive, but so are many other endeavors, and not all of them can pay off (even if not to the extent Patrick and his parents might have hoped for) at such a young age.

As an aside, I can't even imagine how much money the Gilles family has shelled out over the years, with three siblings who are high-level skaters.

 

[Boeing787]

He is not the only skater not to come from an affluent background. He's making more prize money than most skaters, he has sponsorships (though clearly not as many as he'd like), he gets invited to do shows, and he cannot possibly be spending more than everyone else in the sport: he lived at home until two years ago, he keeps each program he has choreographed for two years, and he's not getting new costumes for each competition like Tessa Virtue. Why is it that we hear about his financial issues, but not about other skaters'? Is he really that much worse off than other people in the sport, and if so, why? Maybe "Team Chan" needs to be smaller. Maybe, if he's hurting for funds so badly, he should taken the ISU up on the three-GP option, which would have guaranteed him quite a nice sum. There are always choices.

Had he taken the ISU up on the three-GP option, he might not have won the GPF because he'd have been too tired. That's also the reason DW and VM didn't take the option.

Although he keeps the same program for two seasons, generally in the 2nd season it has been changed so much that it is almost a different program. That means more bills from Lori. Compare POTO of the two seasons you will see what I mean.

Patrick might not get new costumes for each competition like Tessa Virtue, but Tessa doesn't need a pole man to help her practice quads. The physical training of Men's single is far more demanding than ice dancing. That's why Patrick needs the top notch physical trainer. A men's single skater could wear out several pair of skates each season because of the jumps while ice dancers go thru only one pair. Tessa has Scott to split the coach and choreography expense ( of course you can argue that they split the prize money as well)...

That being said, I agree with you that this article is poorly written and doesn't help Patrick much.

 

[Violet Bliss]

Reading how Chan is being criticized for crying poor, I went back to the article to count the word "poor" and came up zero.

The article lets the public know the Canadian world champion in figure skating is far from being able to buy Ferraris and mensions as he might in an earlier era. Instead it takes sacrifices from the family and hard work from himself just to afford the kind of training to get him and keep him competitive with the best in the sport.

Real estate ownership does not indicate wealth. Equity does, maybe. The Chans might have bought the Toronto condo a long time ago, never traded it up to accomodate a grown up son, and took out a mortgage on it to put down on the Colorado property. All just speculation as a likely financing path. The last paragraph tells of the family's thoughts on the financial situation:

Lewis Chan says he is not complaining about his lot in life and he is doing what any parent would to help a child. “Some athletes can barely afford a nutritional meal,” he said. “There are lots of people worse off than Patrick. But we have to make every dollar count.”

 

[Buttercup]

Had he taken the ISU up on the three-GP option, he might not have won the GPF because he'd have been too tired. That's also the reason DW and VM didn't take the option.

It didn't seem to do Carolina Kostner and S/S any harm, and they had to fly all over the world, with one event on each continent and none in their home country/training base. And pairs, at least, is no less competitive than men's, and maybe even more so; Patrick doesn't have the equivalent of V/T to worry about. There was money to be made for the top skaters in the world, but he chose not to take advantage of the opportunity (and SA wasn't even that far from where he trains).

My understanding is that V/M were concerned that if they needed to WD from an event, they would have been fined. I have no idea what D/W's rationale was. In pairs, V/T decided to do a Senior B instead of three GPs, because they needed ranking points.

Although he keeps the same program for two seasons, generally in the 2nd season it has been changed so much that it is almost a different program. That means more bills from Lori. Compare POTO of the two seasons you will see what I mean.

He could consider a cheaper choreographer; I'm not saying this as a joke - I'd like to see him work with someone up and coming such as Jeffrey Buttle, who I imagine charges considerably less. If a skater is going to tinker so much with an existing program that it costs about as much as getting a new program, why not just get a new program? I can't think of any skaters who repeat all their programs.

 

[gottadance]

what an irresponsible post

I was not a big fan of Patrick before this article, but now that I know the truth, I've changed.

Imagine, the tough life this boy has. Let me list all of his problems:
*Once he won a competition, but he didn't break a world record because he fell too many times

*Cruel people question the system when he wins while falling, instead of just accepting that the judges know best and the point system is perfect.

*Nobody even says this to his face, but complain on the Internet, but hey, that's bad enough.

* He only has a sponsorship deal with McDonald's, and not every other multinational corporation

* His $130 a plate fundraiser wasn't diverse enough, lacking in White, Black, and Latino Canadians.





* He's forced to speak in a language he doesn't like, even though it's the language of the city he grew up in, IIRC.

* One of his family's two homes isn't very big.

My eyes are filling with tears. He reminds me of Rudy Galindo, who lost his entire support system to AIDS or heart attacks in a single year or so. Or Joannie or Angela, whose mothers died unexpectedly at skating events. Or Tonya or Nancy or Elizabeth Punsalan, who came from families with violent and crazy relatives (assuming Tonya was telling the truth, of course). Now we have the family whose second home isn't big enough. When will it end?

This post is laughable and while you are entitled to your opinion please do not put words into Chan's ( or any other skaters ) mouth.

All PC has done is speak the truth


Fact : figure skating was a much bigger deal among the general pubic years ago ( in the Browning/Manley/Stoiko era and even before that )

Fact: financially he would be better off he grown up in China because of government support

He did not say that he was forced to speak a lauguage he doesnt like . He did not complain about the size of his family's house.

All I see here is an athlete attempting to be honest and not just spouting the " everything is perfect " nonsense that other athletes say in interviews . I also see a son caring about his parents sacrifices .

Again , I respect your right to express an opinion but find your post to be unfair and mean-spirited to say the lest

 

[brightphoton]

Lewis Chan is a lawyer. If he didn't spend his income on Patrick, he would probably exchange it all into cash, dump it into an Olympic sized swimming pool, jump in, throw some paper in the air and shout, "money! money!"

From what I can tell, Patrick's mother has no job, ie. she's a housewife who follows Patrick around and accompanies him to every practice and serves his every need. If they're that desperate for money, she can get a job. The Chan family is unhappy with their finances but not that unhappy, so she's free to contribute no income and act as Patrick's unpaid skating mom.

As for expenses, Lori Nichol's good choreography to money ratio is so low you might as well burn the amount of money she asks for.

 

[fairly4]

i don't know about the article or not, but i do remember the remarks Patrick stated against brian joubert when jeffrey buttle won worlds, it wasn't nice.

 

[Violet Bliss]

i don't know about the article or not, but i do remember the remarks Patrick stated against brian joubert when jeffrey buttle won worlds, it wasn't nice.

Bringing up the dead horse because Patrick is friend with Joubert and you are not? ? Where is justice, huh?

From what I can tell, Patrick's mother has no job, ie. she's a housewife who follows Patrick around and accompanies him to every practice and serves his every need. If they're that desperate for money, she can get a job. The Chan family is unhappy with their finances but not that unhappy, so she's free to contribute no income and act as Patrick's unpaid skating mom.

Patrick started training in Florida when he was a minor. He needed a skating mom. During that time, they shared a motel room and ate microwaved dinners. As he achieves success, his mom serves as his manager. His success is in part due to having such devoted parents. He is luckier than many in that respect, something I'm reminded of whenever I think of Adrian Shultheiss. Part of the sacrifices Patrick feels bad about is the splitting of the family since his dad has to remain in Toronto to earn a living.

 

[Redstone]

From what I can tell, Patrick's mother has no job, ie. she's a housewife who follows Patrick around and accompanies him to every practice and serves his every need.

What kind of job can she get if she's been out of work for, I presume, more than 15 years.

 

[brightphoton]

I've got nothing against skating moms or housewives. They have their roles. Skating moms are practically a requirement for elite level skaters; who else is going to push their kid? Housewives have roles too. It's nice to have a clean house and dinner on the table by 6.

But it's not doing this "Chan family has rich people problems" article any favors.

 

[Violet Bliss]

The Chan family is not having rich people's problems. The article highlights elite Canadian athletes' financial problems if they don't belong to the commercial big leagues.

BTW, re the financial fates of Chinese skaters, Shen and Zhao are spokespersons for Mercedes Benz in China. They drive a BMW 5GT and a BMW X6 which is also the choice of several Chinese Pingpong champions.

 

[Buttercup]

Do you feel Patrick Chan's career achievements at this point are on par with Shen and Zhao's? I believe he's short a couple of world titles, an OGM, two more Olympic medals, a boatload of GP titles (the only skaters to have won every GP) and quite a bit of public goodwill. Shen and Zhao are legends in the sport; Patrick is a very successful skater. There is no comparison.

Assuming The Second Mark is accurate, Shen and Zhao earned everything they have and then some.

Aren't successful skaters generally better off than most successful Olympians? How much do, let's say, champion lugers, sailors and fencers make? What sort of expenses do they have?

 

[brightphoton]

You see, when you make an article listing -

* all the stuff you buy
* admitting it's a lot of stuff and probably unnecessary but you don't want to "leave any snowflake unturned" and “it's a lot of expense, but that's what it takes to be a thoroughbred.”
* with a lawyer's income
* with a McDonald's sponsorship
* with an anonymous sponsor, an individual who gives “not a ton of money, but it's definitely not insignificant.”
* Patrick Chan's $$$ from prizes and shows
* only one parent works, but it's okay, just how it is, ya know, skating moms
* then saying you can afford to buy all that stuff but wouldn't it be nice if the government footed the bill so that
* the Chan family could buy a better house
* and then buy a second better house
* in the olden days, skaters could have mansions too, now they have to live in normal people houses
* in the olden days, Patrick would drive a Ferrari. Now he has to drive a Honda Civic like the rest of the peasants.
* and he has no TV!

- that's a rich people problem article.

 

[Boeing787]

Do you feel Patrick Chan's career achievements at this point are on par with Shen and Zhao's? I believe he's short a couple of world titles, an OGM, two more Olympic medals, a boatload of GP titles (the only skaters to have won every GP) and quite a bit of public goodwill. Shen and Zhao are legends in the sport; Patrick is a very successful skater. There is no comparison.

Assuming The Second Mark is accurate, Shen and Zhao earned everything they have and then some.

Aren't successful skaters generally better off than most successful Olympians? How much do, let's say, champion lugers, sailors and fencers make? What sort of expenses do they have?

So you are saying, if Shen and Zhao were Canadians, they'd have the same star status and earning power? I don't think so. It didn't happen to S/P and V/M. And, if Patrick were Chinese, he'd make more although not as much as S/Z do.

 

[chuckm]

Chan's family is better off than the families of other elite skaters.

Michelle Kwan's father was a system analyst at the regional phone company and didn't make nearly enough money to support his two skating daughters; he had to quit his job, sell his house and move the family in with his parents while working at the family's Chinese restaurant.

Todd Eldredge's father was a fisherman; they didn't have the money to support Todd's skating. Todd's community pitched in to sponsor his figure skating career.

Peggy Fleming's family was very poor because her dad was an alcoholic who couldn't hold down a job. Her mother made all her costumes.

Scott Hamilton lost both parents at a young age and wouldn't have been able to continue with his skating if not for a generous sponsor.

Carol Heiss came from a blue-collar immigrant family. The NY Skating Club found sponsors so she and her sister Nancy could continue with their skating.

Poor Patrick Chan! His father is a lawyer who owns his own condonimium. Compared to these other skaters, Chan's family is well-off.