A big role for Canada

SOCHI - Two Canadian men could sweep the medals in men's figure skating.

That apparent mathematical impossibility adds up because Canadian skater Patrick Chan is the favorite and Canadian coach Brian Orser, a two-time Olympic silver medalist, coaches two of the other leading contenders, Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan and Javier Fernandez of Spain.

A victory by any of those three would produce the first men's figure skating gold medal for his country - in Fernandez's case, any medal would be a figure skating first for Spain.

"I don't see any borders," Orser said Wednesday. "If an athlete is patient and willing to learn and they trust us, it doesn't matter what country they are from."

Orser has a track record helping foreign skaters make such national history: No South Korean ever had won an Olympic medal before he coached Yuna Kim to the women's title in 2010. He has worked with 2013 world bronze medalist Fernandez, 22, for three seasons, and with 2012 world bronze medalist Hanyu, 19, for two.

"They couldn't be more different," Orser said. "Yuzu is very dependent on his family, and he lives and breathes skating with not much of a social life. Javi is a little older, lives on his own, and is more of a free spirit."

Chan is the only one for whom anything less than a gold medal will be seen as a failure. He came to Sochi having won the last three world titles, and he is such a judges' favorite that many believe he benefits from "Chanflation."

The expectations have been building for so long that Chan has had time to get used to them before the Olympic men's competition begins Thursday with the short program.

"It's not like I became the favorite out of the blue," he said.

At the same time, Chan admits to struggling with the doubt that creeps into his mind after both subpar and good performances. December's Grand Prix final was a case in point: He skated a strong long program and still lost to Hanyu. And Chan finished third to the winning Hanyu in the short program of the team event.

"It is like I have a devil on my shoulder," Chan said. "I am thinking about, 'Oh, am I going to beat them even at my best?' "

Four-time U.S. champion Jeremy Abbott, who has struggled in big international events, trains with Chan at the Detroit Skating Club and fully understands the mental battle the 23-year-old Canadian is fighting.

"There is always that fear and always that doubt because you train so hard for one specific moment, and there is always a chance for success or failure," Abbott said. "It's the doubt that drives us to succeed. If we were all confident, we would probably be complacent."