Speed skating, figure skating and pinch hitting en francais

(Radio-Canada journalist) Jacinthe Taillon: I have to go upstairs

Me: Is it bad?

Jacinthe: Ren lost his voice so I need to fill in. Youll have to do the interviews like I do and translate them after.

Me: Je ne sais pas si je suis capable de fairecJacinthe?

If you cant deal with the unexpected, live radio and TV is really not the business for you.

Radio-Canada and CBC are working together at these Olympic games. That means sometimes we do interviews in both languages and, sometimes, my French-language counterpart has to fill in for someone else at the last minute and I have to do what she does,or come close to what she does.

Jacinthe Taillonis a fluently bilingual sports reporter and former Olympian herself.

Working with her has been incredible. Ive already learned so much.

This situation was learning on the fly. Not all of the athletes we see in the mixed zone can speak English and French. More often than not, its English. In that situation, Jacinthe does the interview in English and immediately translates to French once shes thanked the athlete.

Sure, Ive done interviews in French before, and I consider myself to be bilingual, but its a special skill to translate an interview (even a short one) into French right after youve spoken with someone.

I wasnt going to let down my colleagues at Radio-Canada so I did what I had to do. Maybe it wasnt the greatest, but I tried.

I think I need a little more practice.

I was also at the womens 3000 metre long-track speed skating competition.

The two Canadians didnt fare so well, but its really not their event. It was actually a nice finish with the Russian skater OlgaGraf winning bronze.

The home crowd really doesnt care what colour medal it is.They went crazy!

• CBC's Sochi 2014speed skating coverage

Ireen Wust, the Dutch grand dame of speed skating, won gold. So, I was deliriously happy when she stopped to speak with the CBC/Rad-Can crew until:

Me: Congratulations on your gold medal win. You also won gold in Torino for the 3000m, how does it make you feel to be back on the podium?

Wust: I also won gold in Vancouver. . .

Me: (in my head) DOh!

But I was actually right. She won gold in Vancouver for the 1500 metres, not the 3000 metres.

I guess she thought I meantthe podium in general.

English isnt her first language, so I could have phrased that question better. My bad?

Martina Sablikova was also very gracious in accepting her silver medal and, even though she prefaced our interview by warning me about her English, it was great.

Now heres a little drama I noticed:

I was supposed to speak with the fourth place finisher, Germanys Claudia Pechstein.She is the world and Olympic record holder in the 3000 metres.

She has a closet full of Olympic, World Cup and World Championship medals. Her career has been a decorated one to say the least.

Almost immediately after her race in the 3000 metresin Sochi, she went to lie down on the therapy table that is located in the middle of the track at the arena. She is famous and infamous in the speed skating world.

Ill let you Google thatOK, done?

So, I see her coming towards where all of the reporters are standing. She looks at us and the Olympic official who says she has to pass through for interviews.

She starts speaking in German (which I can understand) and says she doesnt want to go alone.The Olympic official says her coach isnt allowed to go with her.

A burly man behind her says he is her husband and hes always with her for interviews (so NOW do you want to Google her name?).

The official says the mixed zone is for athletes only. Pechstein walked through the maze of reporters representing media from all over the world, including her own country, and said she wasnt going to talk.

It was an important interview that we missed out on, but apparently she spoke with media a little later when her husband was allowed to be with her. I had to scoot to another competition and it was a big one.

On to Team Figure Skating!

Canada was in a good position to medal.

Patrick Chan decided to pull out of the free program so it was up to Kevin Reynolds to keep Canada in the lead, or at least in medal contention. Just like Kaetlyn Osmonds breakout performance on Thursday, Kevin pulled off something great.

• CBC's Sochi 2014 figure skating coverage

He missed a jump that was supposed to be a combination, which is a pretty big deal since it could mean points are deducted from your score.

He not only made up for the jump and added it in into his program, the rest of his skate was fantastic.

He really pulled a rabbit out of a hat.Figure skaters practice their routines until they dont even have to think about it anymore.

To be able to reorganize his performance so he could make up the jumps he missed showed some real spirit. His score reflected it as well and he helped Canada win a silver medal in the first ever team figure skating competition.

Just getting to know the Canadian figure skaters has been a privilege.

Dylan Moscovitch and Kirsten Moore-Towers are such a hoot.

Theyre graceful and powerful on the ice, but they have a great sense of humour. When I asked Kirsten about a particular element in their program that didnt go well, she said, I had a brain fart."

I never thought I would hear those words from a figure skater!

Russia probably had the strong team for every discipline.The 15-year-old, Julia Lipnitskaya, is a phenom.

Theres not a whole lot wrong with the way that girl skates! They won gold and they deserved it.

The Americans were in a little danger from the Japanese, but pulled it out to win bronze. Gracie Gold is a real character. Aside from being a fantastic skater, shes a rabid pin collector.

She now has a CBC pin to add to her collection and the Chinese broadcasters also gave her one.

I bought some Canada pins before leaving and I think Ive given them all out to volunteers here. Im also learning how to say Thank You in many different languages.

Its helping me a lot!

Its late, I have to study for speed skating (both long and short track) and Im not sure what day it is anymore.

la prochaine!