Joannie Rochette skates on Thin Ice — and some officials don't like it

Is Olympic bronze medalist Joannie Rochette on thin ice?

The Canadian figure skater, who captured worldwide attention for her courageous performance at the Vancouver Winter Olympics just days after her mother unexpectedly died, withdrew from next week's World Figure Skating Championships in Turin, Italy.

"With everything that has happened over the past few weeks, I have missed a significant amount of training time," Rochette said in a statement. "That means I'm not prepared either emotionally or physically to skate well at these championships and once again challenge for the podium."

"Whenever I compete I want to give my best to the fans, and to respect the competitive nature of the sport. I just would not be able to do that for either the fans or myself next week."

But the plot is a little more convoluted than that.

Rochette plans to skate a tribute to her mother in a made-for-TV show called Thin Ice, to be broadcast on ABC (Channel 13) later this week. But the International Skating Union has not sanctioned the event and Rochette did not have approval to perform. If she participates anyway, she could be banned from competition. But few observers believe the ISU would risk the public outcry that would result.

The world championships traditionally have a depleted field in years when the Winter Olympics are held as top figure skaters opt out of participating in two grueling competitions within six weeks. Olympic gold medalist Evan Lysacek, Johnny Weir and Russian ice dancers Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin also will not make the trip to Turin.