MILAN, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Deanna Stellato-Dudek's long road to the Olympics culminated in Milan on Sunday, and the Canadian told reporters she was proud to be the oldest person to compete in figure skating at a Games in nearly a century.
Stellato-Dudek, 42, stepped away from the sport for 16 years before returning in 2016, and went on to win the 2024 world title in pairs alongside Maxime Deschamps.
"I'm always really happy to represent for the Millennials and the women in their 40s," she said.
"We're constantly underestimated and we're always told no. There's not one person that told me that I could achieve this when I started," she said.
"So the fact that I persevered and was able to be here, I hope gives other people courage to do something else in their lives when people are fighting against them."
The milestone moment, however, did not come with a clean performance.
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps suffered a costly, unexpected fall late in their programme and finished with 66.04 points, placing 14th heading into Monday's free skate, where 16 teams will compete for medals.
"It was a complete surprise because that has never even happened in practice," Stellato-Dudek said of the fall, which came on the exit of the reverse lasso lift.
"But I thought we recovered well. I am really proud of the performance considering all that we've been through, before that mistake.
"We're one of the best lifters in the world, so that was like so unfortunate for us in particular to have that error because that's usually where we rack up points, not lose them."
Stellato-Dudek's build-up to her Olympic debut was disrupted after she hit her head in training late last month, raising doubts about whether she would compete in Milan and forcing her to miss the team event last week.
Despite the setback in Sunday's skate, Deschamps said they would refocus quickly with the free skate approaching.
"It's a new day tomorrow," he said.
"We were really proud of everything we have done. It's unfortunate with the mistake, but we're just going to go out there again tomorrow, enjoy the moments, skate together as a team and enjoy that experience."
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in MilanEditing by Toby Davis)
