Olympic gold medallist Tabby Stoecker believes the skills she is learning on Strictly Come Dancing will help her at the next Winter Olympics in 2030. The 25-year-old skeleton racer, who won gold earlier this year in the inaugural Mixed Team Skeleton event, also credits her ability to turn her father's death into a motivational "superpower" for her can-do attitude.
Turning Loss into Motivation
Tabby's father died in a car accident when she was just one year old. She and her sister were brought up by their mother, Alison. Tabby says she has tried to turn the devastating loss into something positive.
"Having something like that happen changes your outlook and perspective on the whole world," she explained. "I've taken from it that I have to seize every moment and every opportunity. In the hard moments or days, when my feet really hurt and I don't know if I can do it, I remember that I can, and I want to enjoy it because you don't know what the next day holds. It's become a superpower, and I'm really grateful for that."
Aiming for the Glitterball
Partnered with new professional Mark Karmalita, Tabby is now one of the favourites to win the competition. She and Mark wowed with their paso doble last weekend, scoring 33 points. On going all the way, she says: "I mean, who wouldn't love that? My poor mum is going to explode. You've got an Olympic gold medal and then a Glitterball trophy - I don't know, I would have peaked. It's been the most insane year of my life, but really this is all about the journey for me. I just want the opportunity to keep figuring out who I am outside of everything I've done before. Already I don't recognise myself from eight weeks ago."
She believes the ballroom and Latin skills she is learning from Canadian Mark will be useful when she returns to skeleton. "I'm noticing my body changing so much, but I'm just kind of welcoming all of the change," she said. "I think it's going to be so valuable. I had a formula that I was following for skeleton that felt like it was the right way to do things, and this has taught me that actually you can welcome chaos - there's so much confidence to be had when you are really adaptable."
Broader Lessons and Fear
Tabby also feels she has learned wider lessons over the past two months. "My ability to advocate for myself and how I think and feel has grown throughout this process because in learning something new, I've had to be really vulnerable and open with people. In skeleton, being able to communicate more effectively what I'm thinking and feeling is going to stand me in really good stead."
A lifelong fan of Strictly, she admits that dancing live on TV is even more scary than her day job. "The way I feel fear, and the way I feel adrenaline are almost totally different. Even with 30 seconds before we dance, I have to do deep breaths to calm down."
This week, Tabby and Mark will perform a Viennese Waltz to Avril Lavigne's I'm With You, hoping to score highly enough to reach the iconic Blackpool Tower ballroom next weekend. She is thrilled by the audience's support: "How lovely is that? That's from people watching at home and feeling connected to everything we're going through. It makes me so happy and so much more determined to show everybody what we're capable of. It doesn't feel like pressure; it genuinely feels like a privilege."
Tabby adds: "Strictly gave me those moments growing up when I had a bad day and it brought sunshine, and the fact that we now get to be on the other side of that feels so special." Strictly Come Dancing: The Results airs on BBC1 on Sunday at 7.15pm.
