After one week of the Winter Olympics, most viewers consider themselves experts in all sports, but the server at The Beerhunter does not yet know the difference between short- and long-track speed skating and it’s causing Ted Turgeon some anxiety.
It’s 5:11 p.m. on Saturday and the men’s 1,500-metre race is scheduled to begin in four minutes. The projection screen around which Turgeon, his wife Theresa Delisle and almost 40 other people have gathered is showing short-track clips. Finally the scene cuts away to the Richmond Oval and Turgeon relaxes. He and Delisle take their seats in the centre of the crowd as he waits for his son to appear.
“My son is running in the Olympics and he ran the 500 and 1,000 already and now we’re getting together for the 1,500,” he explains. “The whole family is here and my grandmother, aunts, uncles, all the friends, everybody — they’re just here to cheer him on.”
Look at the roster of the Canadian speed skating team and you won’t see anyone by the last name of Turgeon. The man they are here to watch goes by a different last name, a symptom of divorce that has separated father and son for 14 years.
Kyle Parrott was born Kyle Turgeon at the Sturgeon hospital — “the old Sturgeon hospital,” Delisle points out — on Dec. 13, 1985. He lived in St. Albert until he was 10 years old, at which time his parents divorced.
“He started with hockey,” says Delisle. “He was quite into hockey. He went to hockey camp and everything. But he caught a bug. He saw someone at Lillehammer and that was that. He decided he wanted to be a speed skater.”
During the first week of the Olympics in Vancouver, the Turgeon clan, including extended family and friends, have gathered together in front of a television somewhere to watch Kyle skate. Today it’s the Beerhunter. A placard to one side holds a collage of black-and-white photos of the speed skater, while to the other a painted paper banner screams “Go Kyle Go!” in bright paint.
“It’s very emotional because I’m not there, but I’m there. I got the best seat in the house. The camera is only about 50 feet away … so I kind of view it that way,” Turgeon says. But Delisle interjects.
“There’s a big part,” of Turgeon that wishes he was there, she says. “His whole heart.”
The two haven’t even spoken since the divorce. Only recently did they trade a few messages on Facebook, but that stopped as Kyle started focusing on the upcoming Olympics. Turgeon refuses to despair. He is here to support Kyle, even if Kyle doesn’t know.
“He’s not forgotten about,” Turgeon says.
A roar erupts from the gathered family as Kyle skates to his starting position on the oval. To date he has finished 21st in the 500 metre and 23rd in the 1,000. He has won all of his heats, however, which is reason enough for everyone to celebrate.
But it has been very emotional for Turgeon. He is fiercely proud his son is in the Olympics, but he’s had to repeatedly explain why he is here in St. Albert and not in Richmond.
“This is a huge thing. You mention it to people and they would assume you’d be right on the sidelines or something,” Ted says. “There are people who know us, they know exactly the history of it. Those who don’t, I give them a brief. I just tell them we’re divorced and separated.”
The screaming and cheering begin as the gun sounds and Kyle takes off in a flash. Great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and former friends wave Canadian flags and urge Kyle on. Unfortunately for Kyle, this is not his day. He had earlier contemplated in the media not racing the 1,500 because he didn’t feel well but decided to lace up his skates. He loses his heat, his time good enough for 37th place. But when Turgeon turns around, there are tears in his eyes.
“This has been hard on him,” Delisle says.
“I want to see my kids,” Turgeon gasps, trying to hide his emotions with a laugh. Delisle says Turgeon will now spend most of the night Googling Kyle’s name and also sending him a Facebook message.
This is Kyle’s last race at these Olympics, but likely not his last Olympics. He’s only 24 and will likely compete at the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia. When asked if Turgeon might be there too, a grin breaks across his face.
“That’d be sweet. That’s actually a good thought. You put a bug in my ear. I hadn’t thought of that.”
