By Dan Silkstone and Vancouver
CHELTZIE Lee performed her first ever Olympic routine to I Feel Good at Vancouver's Pacific Colosseum last night. This was the Michael Buble song, not the James Brown classic. The difference? She felt good, but she had not, necessarily, known that she would.
Not much had been expected of the 16-year-old, who only qualified for the Games at the last minute after Israel withdrew its skater, Tamar Katz, and she found herself the next reserve in line. Not even by herself.
Cheltzie Lee performs in the Ladies' Figure Skating Short Program.Credit: AFP
Lee has shaped as an athlete to watch for the future but got her chance earlier than expected - part of a youthful Australian team with one eye on Sochi in four years. She may have been lucky to be there but she did not skate like it yesterday, registering a score of 52.16 - a personal best - for a routine she pulled off almost flawlessly.
Afterwards she could not stop smiling, thrilled that she had done her best when it mattered most. ''It was just the best feeling when I did that program,'' she said. ''That's the best score I've ever got in my short program and it was pretty good to do it at the Olympics.''
It was, by some margin, the largest crowd she had ever skated in front of but the Sydney schoolgirl was far from intimidated. ''I hope there's more in the free skating,'' she said. Lee's goals coming in had been to achieve a personal best and to qualify for the free skating as one of the top 24 competitors. She achieved both and then some, sitting in 18th place and daring to chase after the best result ever achieved by an Australian figure skater, Joanne Carter's 12th place at Nagano in 1998.
She must wait now until tomorrow evening, Australian time, to compete in the free-skating phase but has plenty to keep her busy, including a stack of homework. ''I'm still trying to keep it up,'' she said of her studies.
Lee was watched from the stands by her mother Renita and father John - the man who first took her to an ice-rink more than a decade ago to escape the heat of an Australian summer's day.
They saw her score close to the maximum possible for her routine after nailing a series of jumps, including two triple axles. The score awarded by the judges surpassed her season's best by a whopping seven points.
Event favourite Kim Yu-na of Korea leads the competition from Japanese skater Mao Asada, going into the free skate. Joannie Rochette, the Canadian skater whose mother died of a heart attack while attending the Games last weekend, was given a standing ovation after deciding to compete. She was unable to hold back her tears but impressed the judges, ending the night in third place.