Battered by injuries and burnt out by the demands of her sport, Deanna Stellato-Dudek retired in 2001 — before many of today’s elite figure skaters were even born. But last week, Stellato-Dudek achieved the unthinkable. With her partner Maxime Deschamps, the 40-year-old former retiree defeated athletes less than half her age and became the oldest woman to win a World Figure Skating Championship. Even more remarkable, she did it in the pairs event — a notoriously dangerous discipline in which the top women are thrown across the ice, lifted over their partners’ heads with one arm, and tossed more than 3 meters in the air — all while spinning around multiple times. Stellato-Dudek said she hopes the historic victory inspires everyone, even non-skaters, who might think it’s too late to pursue and achieve their goals. “I hope it encourages people to not stop before they reach their potential,” she told reporters after winning the title Thursday night. “And I hope it transcends into other areas, not just in sports, but also in other areas of life, like work and professional careers.” In a sport full of dangerous skills and merciless injuries, figure skaters often retire by their mid-20s. That’s exactly what Stellato-Dudek did. She had an impressive junior career as a singles skater, winning the 1999-2000 international Junior Grand Prix Final and capturing the silver medal at the 2000 World Junior Championships. But she suffered a spate of injuries, including a broken left ankle, a torn ligament in her right ankle and a significant hip injury. So she retired in 2001, at 17. For the next 16 years, Stellato-Dudek lived a relatively normal adulthood. She became a successful aesthetician and got married. She was no longer attempting risky triple jumps on international ice. But the pangs of unfinished business kept nagging at her. What if she had quit the sport too early? What if she had more to accomplish in skating? So she tried on her old skates and attempted the unfathomable — learning how to become a pairs skater in her 30s and returning to competitive ice. While elite singles skating often rewards youth — requiring immense stamina to pull off quadruple jumps or triple-triple jump combinations — pairs skating comes with its own hazards. Female pairs skaters must have the strength to stabilize themselves high in the air and enough control to land powerful throw triple jumps on a narrow blade of steel. Failure to do either can end in disaster. Then there’s the challenge of finding a partner. In 2016, Stellato-Dudek, who’s from the Chicago area, moved to Florida to start skating with Nathan Bartholomay, a 2014 Olympian who was looking for a new partner. They won two national bronze medals as a pair before Bartholomay’s injuries ended their partnership in 2019. Undeterred, Stellato-Dudek called every single coach she had met to see if they had anyone available as a potential partner. The search led her to Canada and Deschamps, a Quebec native who was more than eight years younger. He also had a successful junior career and has been open about his own personal challenges, including living with ADHD. Stellato-Dudek uprooted her life in Chicago and moved to Montreal to skate with her new partner. The gamble paid off, and now Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps are unlikely world champions at ages 40 and 32. Being the oldest female world champion was “not something that I ever set out to do when I came back to skating,” Stellato-Dudek said after her victory. “But I knew that if I were to accomplish my dreams it would inevitably occur because I’m the oldest everywhere.” And being the oldest is perfectly fine with her. “It’s something I carry with pride, and I’m very proud of it,” she said. “I hope a lot of athletes stay around a lot longer.”(SD-Agencies) Words to Learn 相關詞匯 【超越】 chāoyuè transcend rise above or go beyond the limits of 【困擾】 kùnrǎo nag at pester, make … worry about all the time 時間回到2001年，高強度的職業運動生涯讓迪安娜?斯特拉托?杜德克身心俱疲，飽受傷病折磨的她選擇了退役；彼時，許多今天的花滑精英還沒出生。 上周，40歲高齡的斯特拉托?杜德克攜搭檔馬克西姆?德尚完成了一項不可思議的壯舉：這位前退役選手擊敗了一眾年齡不到她一半的高手，成為贏得世界花樣滑冰錦標賽最年長的女性。 更難能可貴的是，她奪冠的項目是雙人滑，以危險著稱，比賽中女選手被搭檔拋過冰面、單手舉過頭頂、拋向3米多高的空中，落冰前還要旋轉好幾圈。 斯特拉托?杜德克說，希望這場載入史冊的勝利能激勵他人，不限于滑冰選手，讓他們看到從此刻開始追求理想還不晚。 周四晚上奪冠后她對記者說：“我希望人們不要停下腳步，去努力實現自己的潛能。希望我的勝利能激勵從事其他職業的人們，不限于體育運動。” 花樣滑冰運動包含各種危險的技巧，會帶來殘酷的傷病，因此運動員往往20多歲就退役了。 斯特拉托?杜德克曾經是一名單人滑運動員，在職業生涯的開始有過高光時刻，曾贏得1999-2000年國際青少年花滑大獎賽總決賽冠軍，并在2000年世界青少年錦標賽上獲得銀牌。 但厄運接踵而來，她先后左腳踝骨折、右腳踝韌帶撕裂、臀部嚴重受傷。2001年，17歲的她退役了。 此后16年里，斯特拉托?杜德克成了一名普通人。她是一名成功的美容師，也結了婚，不再在國際賽場上嘗試危險的三周跳。 但未竟的事業一直困擾著她。怎么知道她不是過早地放棄了花滑？或許在花滑領域她可以獲得更大成就？ 于是，穿上舊冰鞋，斯特拉托?杜德克開始嘗試不可思議的事情 —— 學習如何在 30多歲時成為一名雙人滑運動員并重返賽場。 單人滑項目是年輕人的游戲，因為完成四連跳或三連跳組合需要極好的體能，而雙人滑也有不一樣的危險。女子雙人滑選手必須在空中穩定身體，而且需要控制力，完成強有力的拋接三周跳后穩穩落在冰面上。做不到任何一點都會導致災難。 此外，尋找搭檔也是挑戰。2016 年，原本在芝加哥地區的斯特拉托?杜德克搬到佛羅里達州，與尋找新搭檔的2014年奧運會選手內森?巴索洛梅一起訓練雙人滑。兩人贏得了兩枚全美銅牌，可惜巴索洛梅2019年受傷后這對搭檔分手了。 斯特拉托?杜德克并不氣餒，她給所有認識的教練都打了電話，請他們推薦合適的搭檔。 這次她來到了加拿大，新搭檔是比她小八歲多的魁北克人德尚。德尚也曾有過成功的青少年職業生涯，他坦言自己遇到過挫折，包括患有多動癥。 斯特拉托?杜德克離開芝加哥，搬到蒙特利爾與新搭檔一起滑冰。這場豪賭得到了回報，現在倆人分別以40歲和32歲的高齡登上世界冠軍領獎臺。 斯特拉托?杜德克在奪冠后說：“成為最年長的女子世界花滑冠軍并不是我重返賽場的初衷。但我知道，如果夢想實現了，必然就會破這個記錄，因為我在任何地方都是年紀最大的。” 對她來說，年紀最大完全不是問題。 她說：“這是令我驕傲的一點，我感到自豪。希望更多運動員擁有長久的職業生涯。” (Translated by Debra) | 