Ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Canada’s iconic duo, will celebrate another Canadian hero at the Pyeongchang figure skating gala this weekend: Gord Downie. As per CTV, they’ll skate to “Long Time Running” by the Tragically Hip, performing a tribute to honour the band’s late lead singer.
“When I think about Gord and I think about the Hip and what they've been able to do, it's kind of the soundtrack to being Canadian almost,” Moir told the Canadian Press.
Off the 1991 album Road Apples, “Long Time Running” was also the soundtrack for a Virtue and Moir performance from last October, only days after Downie’s passing.
The duo also explained the connection they have with the song:
"We're both huge fans, and Scott just asked if we could somehow choreograph a little tribute and we thought maybe it would only be for that one competition, but it's been lovely to take the ice and to celebrate a Canadian hero, and it means a lot to us," Virtue said. "The lyrics of 'Long Time Running' also are easy for us to connect with for our career, but we're really looking forward to performing that on Olympic ice."
The gala is a free skate for Olympic medal winners, a non-competitive performance that usually allows skaters to have some more fun with their shows and this is definitely only more evidence that Virtue and Moir are the actual best of us. See: A Scott Moir playing hype man for Team Canada’s women’s team.
(H/T: CTV News)
