Photosales
niJobfinder
niCarfinder
Home Delivery
Propertynews
Olympic dream over as Jenna McCorkell stumbles out
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Northern Ireland's Jenna McCorkell pictured during her Olympic Figure Skating short programme during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics at the Pacific Coliseum.
More pictures
The massive disappointment was etched on the face of Coleraine girl Jenna McCorkell as she held her head in her hands at the end of an Olympics debut she had dreamed about since she was seven years old but one that had failed to go the way she wanted.
The enormity of the occasion appeared to affect the 23-year-old in the short programme of the ladies figure skating at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver and an unfortunate tumble left her out of the top 24, which means she misses out on the free programme tomorrow ... and out of the Olympics before she really got started.
Her score of 40.64 was well below her personal best of 53.80 set just last month in the European Championships in Estonia and left McCorkell in 29th place with only the top 24 moving on to the second part of the competition.
Despite her build-up to the Games being disrupted by illness, that saw her arrive in Canada a fortnight ago still on anti-biotics for a chest infection, practices had gone well and she looked strong in the warm-up before her routine.
She had plenty of support in Vancouver as her parents, Craig and Ainsley, watched on as well as her husband, Belgian international Kevin Van Der Perren.
Skating to ‘Dance of Death’ by Franz Liszt, the seven-times British champion started off well completing the first of the eight required technical elements, the double axel, without any problems.
But then she failed to land the first part of the combination, the triple lutz, taking a hard tumble on the ice and because she failed to complete either part of the jump it was a mandatory mark deduction.
That appeared to knock her confidence. She managed only a double flip when a triple was required and when it was all over no words were needed to describe the frustration and disappointment.
While waiting for her score, McCorkell still managed a wave and a quick hello to everyone watching on television but once 40.64 was posted it was clear her Olympics were over before she even had the chance to perform her free programme.
McCorkell, funded by Sport NI and who was the first ice skater from Northern Ireland to make the Winter Games, will now turn her attention to next month’s World Championships in Italy.
Friends and other family members stayed up into the small hours of this morning to watch her perform and while there was sadness that McCorkell had failed to skate a clean programme there was still immense pride with her achievement of making the GB squad.
“The short programme, unlike the free, is like a ‘hit or miss’ situation,” explains family friend Karin McBride.
“In the free you have an opportunity to make up the points if you miss an element.
“This cannot be done in the short; once an element is missed it can be very costly.
“Jenna has spent all of last season perfecting her short programme for that very reason and has scored really well all year.
“She will not only be disappointed but frustrated with her performance,” she said.
The leader after the short programme is last year’s world champion Kim Yu-Na from Korea with a score of 78.50, with Japan’s Mao Asada lying second.
- Text Size
Also in this section
- Grand night planned for stars to applaud Mary Peters
Comments
21 Comments
just shrug it off and do it again...you go girl!!!.....you did good!!!!!
Posted by billy | 26.02.10, 04:34 GMT
another export we can be truly proud of............typical effort and attitude of the thousands and thousands of great young people from here we never hear about .
Posted by willeric | 25.02.10, 16:03 GMT
As i said in the other article it is great to see Northern Ireland put on the map for all the right reasons...Jenna you have nothing to be ashamed off - did you know Jim can't even get out of bed! lol!
Posted by Molly | 25.02.10, 15:31 GMT
I wish any one the very best in non-political sports from NI. Pitty she didnt get a bit further. Wish her all the best in the future.
Pity you can't spell properly. No need to refer to the ifa either.
Posted by Tom | 25.02.10, 12:54 GMT
nothin to be ashamed of...
Posted by k.tait | 24.02.10, 22:17 GMT
Poor girl. Not the end of her career though. Good to see local people competing at that level.
Posted by Watcher | 24.02.10, 19:44 GMT
There are no losers at the Olympics!
Why did BT choose to show a picture of Jenna down on the ice? Surely they could have shown a more flattering picture of her.
Why do people take a perverse pleasure in someone failing? N.I. should be proud of her. After all she spent about 10 years preparing for this event.
How many of the naysayers spent even 10 minutes preparing for anything?
Posted by Fred D. | 24.02.10, 19:02 GMT
Fred, no harm to you big lad but you dont half go on!
Posted by D Man | 24.02.10, 17:44 GMT
Jenna I am soo so proud of you. You have done amazing to get there. Remember all your frends love you soomuch and you will always do us proud babe :) xxxxx
Posted by Sarah | 24.02.10, 17:04 GMT
Fred I'm glad you emigrated to Canada and not the US as my Scotch-Irish ancestors did a couple of centuries ago. Rambling about tribal based politics at such a time. To quote Doc in Westside Story, "You make this world lousy"!
Posted by Chris M | 24.02.10, 16:30 GMT
Bad luck Jenna, don't pay any attention to anyone who says it's rubbish to finish 29th in the WORLD in ice skating when you come from a place with a population of 1.6million and rubbish skating facilities. Of course the mighty power house of Norn should only be supporting athletes who are going to win medals! Um, really? Come on folks, talk about negative attitude, the girl is a SIX times British champion at 23 years old!! I trust those who are being critical hold up so well to their own incredibly lofty standards.
Posted by Graham Smyth | 24.02.10, 16:20 GMT
Not to worry, Jenna. Just to be at the Olympics as a world-class elite athlete is a major accomplishment of its own. And besides, Joannie Rochette, the Canadian skater whose mother died on Sunday, is goign to take gold for Canada!
Posted by Eoin Kenny | 24.02.10, 16:10 GMT
Fair play to her, I say. It's not like her skills were on par with Eddie the Eagle so why so negative Jim?
Posted by Ulysses32 | 24.02.10, 16:08 GMT
Poor Jenna - you did very well, considering stupid Coleraine closed its skating rink (one of their classic short-sighted decisions), causing you to have to trail up to Dundonald every day to practice. Chin up - there'll be other chances, you're young enough yet!
Posted by donegore | 24.02.10, 14:36 GMT
How many people can say they have competed at the Olympic games?
Not so fast, Joe, Jim and Fred.
Better luck next time, Jenna.
Posted by Richard | 24.02.10, 14:32 GMT
A heartbreaker for sure. As a Canadian with Belfast ties, I suggest all athletes who compete should be lauded. Public funding for sport is not wasted money we must get more people off the couch and active. Thank you Jenna for coming to Canada and taking part. I wish you success in the future.
Posted by John | 24.02.10, 14:16 GMT
its awful for people to leave such negative comments. jenna im sure workd very hard for this for it to ripped from her. we as a country should be proud she got this far!
Posted by kels | 24.02.10, 13:58 GMT
I wish any one the very best in non-political sports from NI. Pitty she didnt get a bit further. Wish her all the best in the future.
Posted by Mad House | 24.02.10, 13:53 GMT
It's still early days kiddda, don't give up! If at first you don't succeed etc
Posted by T J McClean | 24.02.10, 13:40 GMT
Yeah Mary Peters said on the tea time news yesterday that she probably will not win anyway, What a thing say I am sure her parents were delighted hearing that.
Posted by joe | 24.02.10, 12:28 GMT
21 Comments