Olympics-Figure skating-Canadian Schizas had good excuse for missing university assignment

By Lori Ewing

MILAN, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Canadian figure skater Madeline Schizas found herself juggling Olympic pressure and student life this week after realising a university sociology assignment was due sooner she thought.

Schizas said she discovered on Saturday that her course work deadline had been Friday, when she was competing in the women’s figure skating team event short programme.

The 22‑year‑old promptly emailed her professor to explain the mix‑up — then shared the moment with her 38,000 Instagram followers, posting a screenshot of her apology and plea for an extension along with a press release from the Canadian Olympic Committee announcing her participation at the Games.

“I was competing in the Olympic Games yesterday and I thought the (assignment) was due on Sunday, not Friday,” she wrote to the professor.

Schizas studies human behaviour at McMaster University in Hamilton.

“LOLLLL I love being a student athlete,” she wrote in her Instagram post.

She told the CBC on Saturday evening that she had not yet heard back from her professor.

“I didn’t expect anyone to really care,” she said about the reaction to her social media post. “I just thought it was funny.”

Asked how her professor might respond, she said: “I don’t know, I’m just shooting my shot on this one. We’ll see if I get to redo it or not.”

Schizas will compete in the free programme on the final day of the team event on Sunday evening. Canada are in fourth place, two points behind third-placed Italy.

(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Ken Ferris)