GANGNEUNG, Korea, Republic Of -- Patrick Chan soared eight revolutions through the air Monday -- and straight into the mix for an individual medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
The 27-year-old figure skater from Toronto unfurled two beautiful quadruple jumps and a season's best score as part of Canada's gold medal in the team event.
The three-time world champion, who will retire after the Olympics, has looked at times this season as if he's dragging himself to the finish line.
On Monday, he found another gear.
"We're really proud of Patrick, because he didn't have the fall that he wanted," ice dancer Scott Moir said. "A lot of people have counted him out, and I think with that skate today, he throws his hat back in the ring, and it's pretty fun to be a part of something like that."
Chan's autumn, indeed, was anything but ideal. After finishing fifth at Skate Canada International in October -- the first time he's finished off the podium at his home Grand Prix event -- he left his coach Marina Zoueva and Canton, Mich., and travelled cross-country to Vancouver, where he has lived and trained with several coaches since.
"Looking back to last summer when I was struggling, and after Skate Canada, of getting the national title and then making the team, and then doing the team event seemed so daunting, and so far away," said Chan.
A major move three months before the Olympics might seem like a head-scratcher, but Chan decided to make happiness his top priority for the final few months of his career.
"Now I'm standing here after all of that. I survived, and I get to enjoy a gold medal," he said. "It's amazing when you surround yourself with the right people, you can find a way to get it done. And that's something I can be proud of."
These are Chan's third Olympics. He was fifth in his Olympic debut in 2010 in Vancouver. And then, after adding a quad jump to an unparalleled arsenal of other skating skills, he was all but unbeatable for three seasons, roaring to three world titles.
"Patrick Chan, you can make the argument he's the best skater that ever was. I would definitely support that," Moir said.
Gold was virtually his for the taking at the Sochi Olympics, but he crumpled under the heavy pressure to finish runner-up to Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu.
Chan then took a season off, and returned to find a sport that had changed in his absence. Skaters can now reel off three, four, and even five quads in a program, leaving Chan eating their high-flying dust.
But there are questions about this Olympic men's field. Hanyu badly injured his ankle when he fell on a quad in November and hasn't competed since. American teen phenom Nathan Chen -- he of the five-quad long program -- fell twice in the short program of the team event, finishing a distant fourth.
Chan has held onto a "glimmer of hope" all season that he can skate to a medal, saying last month: "Every Olympics, we always end up having someone on the podium that we had no idea or we didn't expect them to be. So I'm hoping to be that person."
Asked on Monday if he felt he was back in the conversation, Chan said: "I think I've been in the conversation for a while, I've been sticking around for so long."
While it was his quads that helped carry Canada to gold in the team event, he fell on one of his triple Axels and popped the other. He'll need every technical point he can get if he's to climb the podium in the individual event, which gets under way Friday.
"The one common denominator now is the triple Axel, and it's been the challenge for me my entire life," he said. "Looking back, when I grew up, maybe it's the wrong technique I grew up with, or the body type I have. But I'm so determined to achieve this last challenge, and smoke a great triple Axel at the Olympics."
Moir, who won Olympic gold with Tessa Virtue at the Vancouver Olympics, said Chan was a big part of their goal to win the team event here.
"In a big way we want to do this for Chiddy," Moir said on Sunday. "But this isn't Chiddy's only shot. It is Patrick Chan, and we believe in him this week (in the team event), and we will believe in him next week (in the individual event). I think he's a real threat next week in a competition that maybe has a thousand quads, but his experience is going to shine through."
A day later, and moments after Canada had secured gold, Moir gleefully gloated to reporters.
"I will say though that Patrick I think proved something to himself today. We talked about that yesterday," Moir said. "I don't want to rub it in anyone's face but I called that yesterday!"
Chan, meanwhile, smiled after a program for the first time in awhile on Monday. Sochi's heartbreak is ancient history.
"Sure, I kicked myself for two years about it, and then I realized that this is just skating, and this is just the Olympic Games," he said. "Two weeks, three weeks from now, nobody is going to remember this. Individual (event), whether its good or bad, I'm going to have a great life."
