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

相关词汇

【超越】

chāoyuè

transcend

rise above or go beyond the limits of

【困扰】

kùnrǎo

nag at

pester, make … worry about all the time

时间回到2001年，高强度的职业运动生涯让迪安娜•斯特拉托•杜德克身心俱疲，饱受伤病折磨的她选择了退役；彼时，许多今天的花滑精英还没出生。

上周，40岁高龄的斯特拉托•杜德克携搭档马克西姆•德尚完成了一项不可思议的壮举：这位前退役选手击败了一众年龄不到她一半的高手，成为赢得世界花样滑冰锦标赛最年长的女性。

更难能可贵的是，她夺冠的项目是双人滑，以危险著称，比赛中女选手被搭档抛过冰面、单手举过头顶、抛向3米多高的空中，落冰前还要旋转好几圈。

斯特拉托•杜德克说，希望这场载入史册的胜利能激励他人，不限于滑冰选手，让他们看到从此刻开始追求理想还不晚。

周四晚上夺冠后她对记者说：“我希望人们不要停下脚步，去努力实现自己的潜能。希望我的胜利能激励从事其他职业的人们，不限于体育运动。”

花样滑冰运动包含各种危险的技巧，会带来残酷的伤病，因此运动员往往20多岁就退役了。

斯特拉托•杜德克曾经是一名单人滑运动员，在职业生涯的开始有过高光时刻，曾赢得1999-2000年国际青少年花滑大奖赛总决赛冠军，并在2000年世界青少年锦标赛上获得银牌。

但厄运接踵而来，她先后左脚踝骨折、右脚踝韧带撕裂、臀部严重受伤。2001年，17岁的她退役了。

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师，也结了婚，不再在国际赛场上尝试危险的三周跳。

但未竟的事业一直困扰着她。怎么知道她不是过早地放弃了花滑？或许在花滑领域她可以获得更大成就？

于是，穿上旧冰鞋，斯特拉托•杜德克开始尝试不可思议的事情 —— 学习如何在 30多岁时成为一名双人滑运动员并重返赛场。

单人滑项目是年轻人的游戏，因为完成四连跳或三连跳组合需要极好的体能，而双人滑也有不一样的危险。女子双人滑选手必须在空中稳定身体，而且需要控制力，完成强有力的抛接三周跳后稳稳落在冰面上。做不到任何一点都会导致灾难。

此外，寻找搭档也是挑战。2016 年，原本在芝加哥地区的斯特拉托•杜德克搬到佛罗里达州，与寻找新搭档的2014年奥运会选手内森•巴索洛梅一起训练双人滑。两人赢得了两枚全美铜牌，可惜巴索洛梅2019年受伤后这对搭档分手了。

斯特拉托•杜德克并不气馁，她给所有认识的教练都打了电话，请他们推荐合适的搭档。

这次她来到了加拿大，新搭档是比她小八岁多的魁北克人德尚。德尚也曾有过成功的青少年职业生涯，他坦言自己遇到过挫折，包括患有多动症。

斯特拉托•杜德克离开芝加哥，搬到蒙特利尔与新搭档一起滑冰。这场豪赌得到了回报，现在俩人分别以40岁和32岁的高龄登上世界冠军领奖台。

斯特拉托•杜德克在夺冠后说：“成为最年长的女子世界花滑冠军并不是我重返赛场的初衷。但我知道，如果梦想实现了，必然就会破这个记录，因为我在任何地方都是年纪最大的。”

对她来说，年纪最大完全不是问题。

她说：“这是令我骄傲的一点，我感到自豪。希望更多运动员拥有长久的职业生涯。”

(Translated by Debra)