GANGNEUNG, South Korea – About an hour before the first of three races, Kim Boutin skated to claim her second bronze medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics, she came off the ice at the end of warm-ups and cried. The 23-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que., found herself overwhelmed by emotion being in front of a crowd for the first time since receiving threatening messages on social media following her bronze in the 500-metre Tuesday, awarded when South Korea’s Choi Minjeong was disqualified for impeding.
Boutin was trying to keep a lid on her feelings, but when team psychologist Fabien Abejean checked in on her, she broke down. “I was just scared for my security,” she said. “Everyone told me it was under control and don’t worry about that.”
Flushing her fears through those tears, Boutin settled her nerves and then went to work, finishing second in her quarter-final heat, second in her semifinal heat and then skating in the lead for much of the final before holding on in the end to finish third, 0.131 behind China’s Li Jinyu who won silver.
Claiming gold was Choi, the world record holder who has won three of the season’s four World Cup races at the distance, and whom Boutin hugged Friday in a touching and impressive show of unity when they crossed paths at a dining hall.
“I really like those girls and they’re completely amazing and the first time I saw Choi after that I took her in my arms and I said, ‘It’s not about us, it’s about other people and I don’t want to (divide) all the skaters,’” explained Boutin. “I think it’s important to be close with everyone.”
Choi’s reaction?
“She was pretty awesome,” said Boutin. “She asked, ‘Are you OK, do you feel good?’ I had a lot of skaters tell me, ‘Don’t care about this, you’re an Olympic medallist, enjoy.’”
Certainly Boutin now has plenty more to celebrate, and it goes beyond simply adding a second medal to the mix.
Since the threats emerged from South Korean skating fans angered by the referee’s decision to penalize Choi for impeding Boutin, handing her the 500 bronze, the short-track rallied around her to try and get her mind off things, even while security was heightened around her.
Veteran Marianne St-Gelais, who was penalized for impeding in the semifinals, was among those who worked to lift Boutin’s spirits, but also praised the Olympic rookie, saying, “She’s been showing that she’s stronger than everybody thought. I’m really proud of what she just overcame.”
The priority was to try and find a way to help Boutin continue skating the way she had all season long.
“That’s why we were so close to her, really protective – there’s no way something like that could break the Games, break her Games,” said St-Gelais. “I think the first race wasn’t easy for her, stepping on the ice, all the Koreans in the stands, I think she did something really great.”
Teammate Valerie Maltais said even though the threats were only posted on social media, everyone took them seriously. But she echoed St-Gelais in explaining how the team worked to keep the concerns at bay and allow everyone to maintain the focus on the 1,500-metres and the upcoming races.
“Kim was ready to perform,” said Maltais, who was also disqualified in the semifinals. “She’s a good skater, she’s strong mentally and is here to do business.”
Boutin credited that support network for helping keep her calm, but it wasn’t easy. She admitted to being “pretty shaken about what happened, it hurt me a lot” and all that bubbled up once back before a packed house at Gangneung Ice Arena that included South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
While the short-track team had prepared for a number of potential scenarios, including the possibility of an unfriendly greeting when her name was announced, none of that transpired, leaving her to overcome her fears and skate her race.
“We have some obstacles in our lives and I know it happened for a reason,” said Boutin. “Things happen and I don’t want to sit on them, just move forward.”
That she did, becoming the country’s first women to ever win a medal in the 1,500 and making Canada just the second country, behind China, to hit the podium in each of the sport’s eight disciplines.
Not bad for a skater who made her World Cup debut during the 2014-15 season and was working on a trajectory to become a contender in time for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Instead, she’s become one of the great Canadian stories here in Pyeongchang, as much for her courage and sportsmanship as for her success on the ice.
“I knew I could be on a podium and succeed but for me I wanted to take every step and not think about the results and that’s why I’m not thinking too much about (strategies for) my race,” said Boutin. “I just want to let the artist in me go, I wanted to learn a lot in these Games for next Olympics.
“So I’m pretty happy.”
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