“Professor, can I postpone my homework? I was at the Winter Olympics yesterday.” According to CBC Television, the Wall Street Journal, and other media outlets on August, figure skater Skissas recently became unexpectedly popular online due to such an email, being called “the most irresistible reason not to hand in homework” by netizens and media.
Madeline Skissas
The 22-year-old student athlete Scissas, who is representing Canada in the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in figure skating, also needs to finish her studies at McMaster University, Canada. This “double identity” has brought her a little trouble: she forgot a sociology course assignment.
According to reports, Skissas wrote an email to Professor Satswich, who is in charge of the course, early Saturday morning after the competition ended, asking if she could postpone submitting this week‘s reflection report assignment. She said: “I participated in the Winter Olympics yesterday and thought the assignment deadline was Sunday, not Friday.” In the email, Skissas also attached a link to the Canadian Olympic Committee‘s press release confirming her participation. Subsequently, Skissas posted a screenshot of the email on social media, quickly attracting attention from netizens across countries.
The good news is that Professor Satzwicz has approved the application to postpone the submission, putting a perfect end to the matter. In an interview, Professor Satzwicz said that Skissas was very low-key, never mentioning that she was a world-class figure skater, and that he “respects the fact that Skissas did not ask for special attention on the grounds of this [participation in the Winter Olympics].” The professor also said that Skissas was able to think about her studies during the Olympics, “which shows her character.” Skissas responded on social media on 8th that “I didn’t expect so many people to care about this matter. It seems this is the result of standing under the ‘Olympic spotlight’.”
According to the Canadian Olympic team‘s website, Skissas made his first appearance at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, helping the Canadian team achieve fourth place in the group competition. (Lee Guozheng)