Olympic bronze medalist Joannie Rochette has withdrawn from the upcoming world championships in Torino, Italy, according to ABC News. Here is an excerpt from the article:
"With everything that has happened over the past few weeks, I have missed a significant amount of training time," Rochette said in a statement. "That means I'm not prepared either emotionally or physically to skate well at these championships and once again challenge for the podium.
Rochette's mother Therese died the week Rochette skated in the Olympic games.
Rochette had planned to skate an exhibition performance in tribute of her mother for "Thin Ice" on ABC, but she may not be able to skate it. According to ABC:
"There is an ISU regulation in place to protect the integrity of ISU championships, which does not allow skaters to perform exhibitions where they have chosen to withdraw from an ISU event that conflicts or is in close proximity to the ISU event," Skate Canada CEO William Thompson said Monday. "ISU championships provide direct benefit to the skaters through television exposure and prize money. In this particular case, although it's a very worthwhile exception, with Joannie withdrawing from the world championships, we cannot issue the clearance for her to skate, without the ISU waiving its regulation."
Rochette will be replaced at worlds by Myriane Samson.