Olympics-Figure skating-Canada's Schizas granted university assignment extension due to Games

By Lori Ewing

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

Schizas said she discovered on Saturday that her course work deadline had been a day earlier on 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.

Her light-hearted post quickly went viral, and it paid off. She sent an update on Saturday evening saying she had been granted an extension.

"Since it seems everyone was quite invested, I did get my extension lol," she posted on Instagram.

Schizas is studying a degree in Environment and Society at McMaster University in Hamilton.

"I was competing in the Olympic Games yesterday and I thought the (assignment) was due on Sunday, not Friday," she had written to her professor.

She told the CBC on Saturday that the reaction to her social media post took her by surprise.

"I didn't expect anyone to really care," she said. "I just thought it was funny."

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