Team USA Ice Dancers Kaitlin Hawayek, Jean-Luc Baker Talk Olympics, More
The Winter Olympics Games have just begun in Beijing, China. There will be many stories of victory and defeat over the next two weeks.
In the sport of ice dance, one American team is making their Olympic debut. Representing the United States, Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker have waited 10 years for this moment.
Now, the two skaters will attempt to give their best performance in China, on the world’s biggest stage. Before heading to the Winter Olympics, the two skaters joined us on CYInterview.
On what the last 10 years of working toward this Olympic opportunity was like for them, they shared this:
Kaitlin Hawayek: “For us, I think that qualifying these past few weeks for the Olympic Games has just stood for the amount of resilience that we’ve proven to ourselves. And I think both of us just feel an immense amount of pride and appreciation for one another in just the amount that we’ve committed to our work.”
Jean-Luc Baker: “You mentioned, like we train so much for a few moments on the ice at the Olympic Games. I mean, it’s so funny when you say it like that because, I mean, it’s true. We spend years and years and years for just a couple moments. But those moments are ones that we will, I know we are gonna remember forever.”
What do Kaitlin and Jean-Luc want to accomplish at their first Winter Olympics?
Kaitlin Hawayek: “For us, art is kind of the foundation of our skating and even though we know we are athletes, we are first and foremost artists. So, we pour a lot of emotion and heart into our skating and I think more than anything, we hope that on the biggest stage in the world, being the Olympics, that, that can just be perceived, hopefully by a larger audience.”
Jean-Luc Baker: “I think that we’re just really going into this experience knowing one, it’s different being a covid year, but also we don’t have any expectations because it is our first Olympics. So, we just want to be able to enjoy and take in every moment on that Olympic stage. And hopefully just connect with each other, and with the audience, and with everybody at home and recognize how much they’ve helped us get to this point.”
The ice dance team has competed in Las Vegas, on a few occasions, during the pandemic. They have done so without an audience. Here are some thoughts from each of them on the Entertainment Capital of the World:
Kaitlin Hawayek: “One thing in hindsight, I wish we could have had an experience with is to compete with an audience in Las Vegas just because I’ve heard that the audiences in Las Vegas are some of the best in the world that you could possibly have. So, I really hope we get another opportunity to perform in Las Vegas with an audience.”
Jean-Luc Baker: “Maybe post Covid or when things lighten up a little bit, I think being able to go there and like check out the Strip, like we were bubbled in just the Orleans Arena and the hotel. So, it would be cool to go experience a little bit of Vegas. You guys have some of the best restaurants. I’m a huge foodie. So, I would love to go check some of those out.”
You can learn more about Team USA’s Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker by listening to the entire CYInterview below.
We wish the ice dancers the very best at these Winter Olympics, as they go for the gold. We hope to see them back here in Las Vegas very soon.
Listen to the entire Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker CYInterview:
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Check out Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker’s website by clicking here.
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Follow Jean-Luc Baker on Instagram by clicking here.
You can follow Jean-Luc Baker on Twitter by clicking here.
Photo credits: U.S. Figure Skating/Jay Adeff