Is Scott Moir Team Canada or Team USA? Both, it turns out
The five-time Canadian Olympic medallist is in Milan coaching the Canadian and American ice dance teams
Is something about the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics activating saboteurs within our nation?
First it was Tate McRae—the pride of Calgary—in a Team USA ad. Then Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews popped up alongside Jon Hamm in a commercial for NBC, in which the actor instructs the US men’s Olympic hockey team to win “Canadian tears.”
Related: Is Canada’s Olympic men’s hockey team really leaving the village for a five-star hotel?
And now, five-time Canadian Olympic medallist Scott Moir has left us unsure of his loyalties after he was spotted wearing both Canadian and US team outfits in Milan, where he is coaching ice dance teams on behalf of both countries. (Is that even allowed?)
“I know he’s their coach but seeing Scott Moir wear Team USA gear is making me irrationally angry,” said one social media user.
In an interview with CP24 last month, Moir’s former skating partner Tessa Virtue said she was excited to head to the Olympics as a spectator for the first time. “I’m so looking forward to cheering on our Canadian contingent,” she said.
Moir was more nationality neutral and said, “I’m just honoured to be part of it as a coach—just to be there to support my athletes is going to be a huge honour for me.” Okay, so he’s not quite a saboteur, but to paraphrase another social media user, seeing him in US attire is messing with our brains.
We have nothing against the US athletes, and the Olympics are all about good sportsmanship. Plus, experts say it’s actually not that weird to coach two teams. But, Scott Moir, we need to know: Are you Canada down?
Related: Jay Baruchel and Sidney Crosby’s feel-good Olympics ad is the quintessential Canadiana we need
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
