SkateFic Facts Figure Skating Trivia

Figure Skaters—The Jenkins Brothers and Heiss Sisters

If you were watching a men's figure-skating competition in the 1950s, chances were pretty good that the last name of the winner was going to be "Jenkins." American Hayes Alan Jenkins was the world champion from 1953-56. His elegant style and mastery of school figures led him to the gold medal at the 1956 Olympics. His younger brother, David, took home the bronze from that Olympiad and won his own gold in 1960. The shorter, more athletic David also had his own three-year reign as world champion (1957-59).

In the women's figure-skating competitions of that era, the Heiss sisters were among the best. Carol Heiss was the world champion from 1956-60, won a silver in figure skating at the 1956 Olympics, and took home a gold in figure skating from the 1960 Olympics. Younger sister Nancy never had the same degree of success, but she competed at the worlds three times and placed second to Carol at the U.S. nationals in 1959.

The two families came together in 1961 when Carol Heiss married Hayes Alan Jenkins. The couple settled in Akron, Ohio, and raised three children. In 1976, the Jenkins brothers and Carol Heiss were elected to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Skating Costume Designer—Jef Billings

What do Scott Hamilton and Cher have in common? Both often can be seen the creations of award-winning designer Jef Billings.

Besides designing for Hollywood celebrities, Billings is one of the top creators of figure skating costumes. He won an Emmy for his work on the A&E special "Stars on Ice 2004" and has been an integral part of the figure skating tour's creative team for several years. Extremely versatile, Billings' skating costumes have ranged from Hamilton's wacky outfit for his "Hair" routine to a sophisticated skating dress for Sarah Hughes' 2002 Olympic triumph.

After receiving his undergraduate degree from SUNY Oswego, Billings taught English at a high school and ran its drama department before going on to graduate studies in the fine arts at New York University. Early jobs included running a professional dinner theater and designing for television's "Carol Burnett Show." He has worked on several televised Disney-themed skating shows as well specials featuring Olympic Champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi and four -time world champion Kurt Browning. Billings' first Emmy was for the 1998 skating extravaganza "The Snowden Raggedy Ann and Andy Holiday Show," which featured Ekaterina Gordeeva and other notable figure skaters.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—Legends: Elvis Stoyko

Canadian powerhouse Elvis Stojko literally and figuratively took men's figure skating to new heights in 1991 when he became the first athlete to land a quad combo (quadruple Salchow, double toe loop) in world competition. He upped the ante again in 1997 by performing a quad followed by a triple jump.

In the early years of his career, Stojko was overshadowed at Canada's figure skating nationals by Kurt Browning. Stojko, however, had a breakout year in 1994—winning his first of seven Canadian figure skating titles, his first of three world figure skating titles, and a silver medal at the Olympics. A blackbelt since age 16, Stojko frequently incorporated martial arts movements into his figure skating routines. This style may have cost him the Olympic gold, as some judges gave him lower than expected marks for artistry.

The 5'7" Stojko returned to the Olympics in 1998 and again took home a silver medal. Though he kept his problems secret, Stojko was battling the flu and a groin injury during the competition and went directly to the hospital after the medal ceremony. He also competed in the 1992 and 2002 Winter Games, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.

While Stojko continues to figure skate professionally in shows such as Champions on Ice, he also is trying his hand at show business. He recently released a rock album and made his stage debut as disc jockey Vince Fontaine in a Canadian production of the musical Grease. He became a member of Skate Canada Hall of Fame in 2004.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov

The hottest ice dancing team for the past two years has been Russians Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, winners of the 2004 and 2005 European and World Championships. Their dominance continued in December 2005 when they placed first at the Russian Nationals as well as won their third Grand Prix Final. But just a few years ago, their potential was doubted.

Navka started as a singles skater but was encouraged to switch to dance when jumps became harder for her as she grew. Kostomarov was a world junior champion in ice dancing in 1996 with Ekaterina Davydova.

Navka and Kostomarov teamed in 1998 under ice dancing great Natalia Linichuk, winner of the 1980 Olympic gold medal with partner Gennadi Karponosov. After about a year, however, Linichuk decided that Kostomarov would be better with skater Anna Semenovich. Kostomarov tried the arrangement, but in spring 2000 he decided to return to Navka.

Navka and Kostomarov flourished under the guidance of Russian ice dancer Alexander Zhulin, an Olympic silver medalist with Maia Usova. Zhulin first coached Navka when she skated with Nikolai Morozov for Belarus. Navka and Zhulin married in 2000 and have a daughter. Kostomarov is married to Austrian skater Julia Lautova.

Navka and Kostomarov finished tenth at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. At the 2006 Winter Games, they are skating to Bizet's "Carmen."

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Evgeni Plushenko

Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko is the reigning Olympic silver medalist. His quest for gold at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, however, will not be easy. Despite winning his sixth national title and his fourth European title in 2005, the three-time world champion had to withdraw from the 2005 World Championships due to injury. In the spring, he had groin surgery.

Plushenko was born in 1982. He started skating at the age of 4 because his mother liked the sport and had friends at a nearby rink. That rink closed when Plushenko was 11, and he moved away to continue his training. He has been coached for many years by Alexei Mishin.

Plushenko landed his first quad at the age of 14. He has performed some spectacular combination jumps over the years, including a quad-triple-triple at the 2002 Cup of Russia. On the 2003 Champions on Ice Tour, he performed a five-jump combo (two triples and three doubles).

Known as one of the more flexible male skaters, Plushenko routinely performs a Biellmann spin. His short program for the 2005-06 season is "Carmina Burana." His long program is to music from "The Godfather."

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Scott Williams

While many figure skaters are defined by accomplishments during their amateur days, others find greater recognition when they become professionals. Scott Williams is such a skater.

This former junior world figure skating champion (1982) competed in the shadow of fellow Americans Brian Boitano and Christopher Bowman for much of the 1980s, taking home a silver from nationals in 1986 and bronzes in 1985 and 1987. He cracked the top ten in both of his trips to the senior world championships.

After not making the 1988 Olympic Team, Williams turned professional. The long-haired, Mel Gibson look-a-like became a fixture at competitions and shows, thrilling audiences with barrel rolls and other rousing moves. His desire to enable all professional figure skaters—not just those with marquee names—to have opportunities led him to create Turtle Island Productions, Inc. One of the group's major tasks is producing the American Open, a professional figure skating competition where participants do not need an invitation to compete.

Figure skater Michelle Kwan asked Williams to be her coach in October 2002. The two friends worked together for the 2002-03 season, and Kwan regained her world title. Williams also has coached Amber Corwin, Trifun Zivanovich, Tiffany and Johnny Stiegler, and others. Williams is divorced from figure skater Charlene Wong.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—Legends: Dick Button (The Later Years)

Though he stopped competing more than a half-century ago, Dick Button remains one of figure skating's most influential people. Since 1962, he has covered figure skating events for ABC's Wide World of Sports. With the mindset that his role is to educate audiences, Button does not hesitate to tell viewers what a figure skater needs to do to improve. Many figure skaters consider him a tough but fair critic and take his comments very seriously. In 1981, Button received an Emmy as Outstanding Sports Personality Analyst. Commenting with Button at many competitions is 1968 Olympic gold medalist Peggy Fleming, who has a softer, more optimistic style of broadcasting.

Button also is the founder of Candid Productions. The company is known for its numerous made-for-television sporting events, including The World Professional Figure Skating Championships, Battle of the Network Stars, and The Superstars.

Away from the sport of figure skating, Button has been an investor/producer on Broadway and is known as an authority on American furniture. He has been a spokesman for the Brain Injury Association of America since his own recovery from a brain injury following a spill on the ice in 2000.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Irina Slutskaya

Russia's Irina Slutskaya was the dominant figure skater of the 2004-2005 season. She captured her fourth national title, her sixth European title, and her second world title. She also won the Grand Prix Final.

Slutskaya has been coached since age 6 by Zhanna Gromova. Ballet has been part of her training from early on. Her great flexibility enables her to do moves such as the Biellmann spin with a foot change. She also is known as a strong jumper and was the first woman to land a triple Lutz-triple loop combination in competition.

In 1996, Slutskaya became the first Russian woman to win the European title. (The best female skaters in the former Soviet Union were usually directed towards pairs or ice dancing.) She also medaled for the first time at the World Championships that year, taking home a bronze.

Slutskaya placed fifth at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano. She won the silver medal at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Some Russians felt that she was misjudged in the free skate and should have won the gold over American Sarah Hughes. Nothing came of the protest. She went on to win her first world championship that year shortly after the Olympics.

Health problems have plagued Slutskaya in recent years. She missed most of the 2003-2004 season because of vasculitis. She did, however, compete at the World Championships and placed ninth. While the outcome may not sound impressive in the record-books, it was a major triumph for a woman who some doubted would ever be able to skate at the elite level again.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—Legends: Janet Lynn

Though known as one of the greatest freestyle figure skaters in history, American Janet Lynn never won a gold medal at an Olympic or world competition. Her nemesis was school figures—the figure-eight- or serptentine-shaped patterns skaters trace on the ice. She often would be so far behind after the school figures portion of the competition that it was nearly impossible to come out first overall. For instance, Lynn's chief rival, Austrian Beatrix Schuba, had such a lead after the school figures portion at the 1972 International Skating Union's World Championships that she won the gold despite being ninth in the free-skate.

While figures were a chance for skaters to demonstrate skills such as concentration and body control, they were not very interesting to watch. Thus, television stations often skipped the school figures portion of the competition and only showed the free skate. The home audience, not realizing there was more to the competition, became upset after witnessing breathtaking skaters, such as Lynn, finish behind less-enchanting performers, such as Schuba.

The outrage helped spur the creation of the short program, which requires a skater to prove mastery of certain skills, such as spinning and footwork, but is performed as a choreographed routine to music. With three components to the competition instead of just two, school figures became less important to the total score. It is very possible that if this system had been in place at the 1972 Olympics that Lynn would have been figure skating's Olympic champion.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov

Some complain that rankings in ice dancing take a very long time to change. Couples that stick around many years, however, may eventually find their way to the podium. Ukrainians Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov are such a team.

The two began skating together in 1990 when her partner went off to school and his had health problems. They placed fourth at the World Juniors in 1992 and won their first nationals at the senior level in 1999. They married in 1995.

Grushina and Goncharov were in the top ten at the Europeans each year from 1999-2003. They won a bronze in 2004 and a silver in 2005. They achieved their first medal at the World Championships in 2005 with a third-place finish after six previous seasons in the top ten.

Grushina and Goncharov have trained in the United States since their home rink closed after the 1996-97 season. Nikolai Morozov serves as both their coach and choreographer. Previous coaches include Tatiana Tarasova, Natalia Linichuk, and Gennadi Karponosov.

The duo made their first trip to the Olympics in 1998 and placed in the top ten at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Their free dance for the 2006 Olympic season is to Peter Gabriel's "The Feeling Begins."

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Brian Boitano

While some figure skaters change coaches so often that viewers are never quite sure who will be next to the athlete in the kiss-and-cry, this was never the case for 1988 Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano. Throughout both his amateur and professional career, Boitano was coached and managed by Linda Leaver.

Already an avid roller skater, Boitano turned to ice skating at age 8. His talent became apparent quickly during his weekly group class at the rink in Sunnyvale, Calif., and Leaver approached Boitano's parents about letting the youth take private lessons with her. The two became inseparable. He even spent much of his free time hanging out at Leaver's house with other kids from the rink, playing hide and seek or jumping on her trampoline.

Leaver was not a particularly well-known coach before taking on Boitano. Stories have portrayed her as a suburban housewife who coached at the local rink in order to help pay for her husband's expenses while attending Stanford University. But her honesty, work ethic, and ability to give constructive criticism struck a chord with the goal-oriented Boitano that kept him from switching to a more established instructor as he advanced. Leaver also coached Yvonne Gomez, a skater with dual citizenship who competed in the Olympics for Spain. Gomez and Boitano trained together for several years and became good friends.

Nowadays, Leaver is a figure skating judge. She is chair of the U.S. Figure Skating Association's Committee on International Judges and Officials.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Movies

Though many early figure skaters dropped out of the public eye once their competitive days were over, the fascination with three-time Olympic gold medalist Sonia Henie continued well beyond her amateur career. The Norwegian sensation headed for Hollywood and became one of the top-drawing stars of the World War II era. Between 1937 and 1945, Henie made 10 films, including One in a Million (1936), Thin Ice (1937), Sun Valley Serenade (1941), and Iceland (1942). The films paired her with some top leading men and (of course) provided plot lines that gave her a chance to display her figure skating talents.

Though American skating sweetheart Carol Heiss tried her luck at acting with the female lead in Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961) and Germany's Katarina Witt had a bit-part in Ronin (1998), big-screen appearances by notable skaters since Henie have primarily been cameos. Tai Babilonia, Randy Gardner, and Kristi Yamaguchi were among those cast as judges in On Edge (2001), a mock documentary about three atypical figure skaters vying to win their regional competition. Michelle Kwan and Brian Boitano play commentators in Ice Princess, scheduled to be released in March 2005.

Ice Castles (1978) and The Cutting Edge (1992) are perhaps the two best known big-screen films of recent times to deal with figure skating, yet neither featured an Olympic-level skater. Actress Lynn-Holly Johnson, who placed second at the novice level at the 1974 U.S. Championships, did do her own skating for Ice Castles—a story of a girl trying to continue her skating career after an accident leaves her blind. She is helped by her hockey-player boyfriend, played by Robby Benson. The Cutting Edge, a modern The Taming of the Shrew on ice, also deals with the romance of an injured hockey player and a figure skater (played by D.B. Sweeney and Moira Kelly, respectively) as they attempt to become a successful pairs figure skating team.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Sasha Cohen

Sasha Cohen is proving to be America's counterpart to Canada's Brian Orser. She just can't seem to win a gold medal in major competitions.

Cohen has been the world silver medalist for the past two years. She also has four senior national medals to her credit. Some of her best performances have been on the Grand Prix circuit, and she holds both a silver and a gold from the finals.

The smooth-skinned, doe-eyed Cohen is often considered one of the most beautiful people in the sport. She is known for innovative spins, amazing spirals, and incredible extension. Her routines tend to be to popular figure-skating pieces, such as "Carmen," "Swan Lake," and "The Nutcracker."

After stints on the East Coast with Tatiana Tarasova and Robin Wagner, Cohen returned to California and original coach John Nicks in preparation for a second shot at the Olympics. (She finished fourth in 2002 in Salt Lake City.) The 21-year-old's long program for the season will be to music from the 1968 film version of "Romeo and Juliet." Footwork master Nikoli Morozov choreographed.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang

One of China's best hopes for a figure skating medal at the 2006 Winter Games is the pair team of Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang. (They are not related.) The two are the reigning world bronze medalists.

Both were born in Harbin. Dan Zhang began skating at the age of 6 and was the national junior champion in 1997. She switched to pair skating at the age of 13. Hao Zhang began skating at the age of 4. He changed from singles to pairs at age 14.

Zhang and Zhang were the world junior champions in 2001 and 2003. They were the first pair ever to perform a quadruple twist at the event. In 2002, they won the Junior Grand Prix Final.

At the senior level, Zhang and Zhang were on the podium at nationals every year from 1999-2004, including a first-place finish in 2003. They also have been in the top ten at worlds every year since 2002. In 2005, they became Four Continents champions.

The team is known for its high double and triple twists. They practice a throw quad Salchow and may use it in upcoming competitions. They are coached by Bin Yao. Routines for the 2005-2006 season were choreographed by Lee Ann Miller and the ice dancing team of Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin

For Russian figure skaters Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, the 2005 World Championships were more than just a chance to defend their title. The competition was an opportunity to show the skating world that they had recovered from a horrific accident that happened months before.

At Skate America 2004, the crowd gasped as Totmianina fell head-first onto the ice during an axel lasso lift. She was unconscious for a time and was taken to the hospital. She has no memory of the fall.

Despite lingering dizziness, Totmianina recovered quickly. She and Marinin won their third national title, their fourth European title, and their second world title in 2005.

Totmianina and Marinin both began as singles skaters. They formed a pair team in 1996 and have been on the podium at nationals every year since 1999. They placed fourth at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

The duo trains in Illinois under Oleg Vasiliev, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist with partner Elena Valova. As they try to uphold their country's rich tradition of excellence in the pair event, Totmianina and Marinin will skate their 2005-06 short program to Sergei Sviridov's "Snowstorm" and their long program to "Romeo and Juliet."

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Andrée Joly and Pierre Brunet

In the years prior to World War II, pairs figure skating was dominated by the French husband and wife team of Andrée Joly and Pierre Brunet. The four-time World Champions captured Olympic gold in 1928 and 1932 but refused to defend their title in 1936 because the Games were being held in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany.

The Brunets made their Olympic debut in 1924 in Chamonix, France. They thrilled the home crowd with daring lifts and more spins and side-by-side jumps than any other couple in the sport's history. The judges, however, felt they did too many tricks and only awarded them the bronze. Younger pairs took note of the team, and soon the Brunet style of skating became common in the sport.

The couple moved to the United States around 1940. Their son, Jean Pierre Brunet, was the U.S. national pairs champ with partner Donna J. Popisil in 1945 and 1946. He died in a car crash in the summer of 1946. Devastated by his son's death, Pierre Brunet—a 10-time national singles champion in France--stopped coaching male skaters for many years. He made an exception for Canada's Donald Jackson, who won the World Championship in 1962.

Pierre Brunet was in his late 80s when he died in 1991 in Boyne City, Michigan. His wife died there in 1993. The two were inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1976.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Coaches—Frank Carroll

When it comes to coaching figure skating and the Olympics, Frank Carroll has been a perpetual bridesmaid but never the bride. The list of students he has taken to the Olympic Winter Games is impressive: Linda Fratianne, Christopher Bowman, Michelle Kwan, and Timothy Goebel‹but none of them brought home a gold.

Though the triumphs of Carroll and his students have been many, so have the disappointments. Two-time world figure skating champion Fratianne got the silver in the 1980 Olympics despite excellent performances, leading many in the sport to wonder if politics influenced the results. Two-time national champion Bowman had the makings of a figure-skating king, but his personal problems got in the way. Carroll led Kwan to four world titles and a 1998 Olympic silver medal before she stunned the figure skating world by dismissing her longtime coach just weeks before the 2002 Winter Games. Carroll went to that Olympiad with another student, Goebel, who took home a bronze. The two recently parted ways.

Carroll himself was a competitive skater in the 1950s under the direction of Maribel Vinson Owen. After he did not make the 1960 Olympic Team, he decided to join the Ice Follies. He also became a minor actor, snagging parts in some "beach blanket" flicks. Owen's death in the 1961 plane crash that took the lives of many U.S. figure skating greats helped him to realize that he wanted to pass on his knowledge of the sport to new generations.

Carroll lives and works in California. Last year's U.S. bronze medalist Jennifer Kirk and 2004 World Junior Silver Medalist Evan Lysacek are among his students. The United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame inducted Carroll in 1996.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Yuka Sato

One of professional figure skating's busiest stars is Japan's Yuka Sato. Originally a singles figure skater, she continues to perform solo routines, but she also frequently skates pairs with her husband, Jason Dungjen. The two have been married since 1999 and live in Michigan, where they do some coaching for the Detroit Figure Skating Club. As an amateur, Dungjen was best known for medaling several times at the national championships in the 1990s with partner Kyoko Ina. When the two parted ways, Ina joined with John Zimmerman and competed at the 2002 Olympics; the duo now skates professionally.

A stellar moment in Sato's career was the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships, where she won the gold in her home country. She also was the 1989 world junior figure skating champion. Her parents, Nobuo and Kumiko, represented Japan in figure skating at Olympiads during the 1960s. They coached their daughter to a seventh-place finish at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games and a fifth-place finish at the 1994 Olympics. Among their current students is 2003 world bronze medalist Fumie Suguri, who recently left and then returned to them.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas

The Lithuanian ice dance team of Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas has spent the last three years coaching, doing choreography for others, and performing in ice shows. But in September 2005, they announced that they would try to make a run for the 2006 Olympics in Torino. They obtained one of the few remaining Olympic spots by winning the Karl Schaefer Memorial in Vienna.

Drobiazko and Vanagas will be among the older athletes in the figure skating competition, she being born in 1971 in Russia and he in 1970 in Lithuania. They have competed in four previous Olympiads, with their best finish being fifth at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

The duo won their first of many national titles in 1992. From 1996-2002, they regularly made the top ten at the European and World championships. Their best year was 2000, when they placed third at both events.

Their final competition was the 2002 World Championships. Though they finished fourth, many believed they should have won the bronze medal over Israeli skaters Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski. The Lithuanian Federation filed a complaint. Many fellow skaters and coaches signed a petition requesting that the results be reviewed. Drobiazko and Vanagas are eager to see how they do under the new judging system.

The couple, who are married, will do their free skate to music from "Phantom of the Opera." They are being coached by Elena Maslennikova, with help from Rostislav Sinitsyn, Igor Shpilband, and Marina Zueva.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—Legends: Tom Collins

Canadian Tom Collins was a Northern Ontario novice skating champion in the 1940s who worked in the mines over the summer to pay for his skating lessons. Nowadays, he is the one offering career support to numerous up-and-coming figure skaters.

When Collins left the amateur ranks, he joined Sonja Henie's Hollywood Ice Revue. He later skated in Holiday on Ice and went on to become the tour manager and then the producer of this show. Sensing that figure skating audiences would respond well to more high-quality performances, Collins created The Tour of World Figure Skating Champions and Champions on Ice. Amateur figure skaters selected for the tour gain valuable performing experience as well as earn substantial money. Many of these skaters remain on the tour as professionals because of the positive bond they form with Collins.

Collins is a member of the Canadian, U.S., and World Figure Skating Hall of Fames. More information on his famous tours can be found in the book "Champions on Ice: Twenty-Five Years of the World's Finest Figure Skaters" by Christine Brennan (2002).

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Fiction

Modern Figure Skating Fiction, or Skatefic, started with The Strong and the Sequined in 1997 and exploded in popularity with the publication of the serial version of On the Edge in early 1998. By the end of 1998, a thousand readers waited on the every move of Sasha, Alexi and Elayne with baited breath.

Every four years, with the Olympic games, a new crop of authors and serials springs up like an elite skater launching into a triple toe-loop. The new authors venture bravely into new skating serials only to fall by the wayside before the next Olympic games.

Private Ice is one of very few sites which dates from the 1998 Olympics. Because Private Ice hosts four of the five most popular modern figure skating fiction serials, Private Ice remains the premier site for figure skating fiction. As long as there is figure skating, there will be SkateFic.

And skating fans will find figure skating fiction at Private Ice.

—Dejah

Figure Skating Disciplines—Synchronized Skating

Figure skating legend Dick Button is fond of saying that the goal of pairs figure skating is to have two figure skate as one. If this motto is further applied to synchronized skating, then the goal would be to have many skate as one. This fast-growing sport involves individually strong figure skaters coming together to perform formations and transformations as a group. Routines typically involve spins, step sequences, circle formations, kicklines, and pinwheels. Judges look for qualities such as unison, intricacy, and originality.

At the Senior level, teams are made up of 16 to 20 skaters. They perform two routines set to music during a competition. The short program, which lasts 2 minutes and 40 seconds, focuses on required elements. The free skate is four-and-a-half minutes long. Judges give scores for technical merit and presentation for both programs. No jumps of more than one revolution are allowed.

According to the United States Figure Skating Association, the first group of team skaters was assembled in 1954 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to perform during breaks of the University of Michigan ice hockey games. Official national championships for synchronized skating began in the United States in 1984. Ten years later, the International Skating Union recognized synchronized skating as a discipline, paving the way for the first official World Synchronized Skating Championship in 2000. The event drew 21 teams from 16 countries. Athletes involved in the sport hope that the next step will be to include synchronized skating in the Olympics.

A team from Lexington, Mass., known as the Haydenettes won the U.S. Synchronized Team Skating Championship in 2004 and finished fourth at the worlds. This past October, The Haydenettes became the first synchronized skating team ever to be honored by SKATING magazine with the Reader's Choice Skater of the Year Award.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Surya Bonaly

French skater Surya Bonaly ended her Olympic career on a memorable note. After placing fifth at the 1992 Winter Games and fourth at the 1994 Olympics, Bonaly made one last attempt at winning a medal at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. During her long program, however, she realized that she did not have a chance to win. She decided to throw in one of her trademark back flipsÑa move not allowed in the competition. As expected, the crowd cheered and the judges jeered. She finished in tenth place.

Despite her multiple French national titles and her five-year reign as European champion, Bonaly was often seen as a figure-skating outsider. In a sport dominated by clean-cut white athletes, Bonaly was a black skater who had never had a haircut in her life when she made her first top ten finish at the World Championships in 1989. Her adoptive white mother did not help matters. With an outspoken nature, a desire to micromanage her daughter, and a fondness for making up stories, she was nicknamed "Dragon Lady" by the press.

A national tumbling champion in her youth, Bonaly's gymnastics training helped her to be among the best jumpers in the sport. She won the silver medal at the World Championships every year from 1993-95. She will forever be remembered, though, for taking off her medal at the 1994 World Championships, where she believed she should have beaten home-country skater Yuka Sato.

Upon retiring from amateur competition, Bonaly competed in professional events and toured with Champions on Ice. She later received her U.S. citizenship and resided in Las Vegas, Nevada.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—The First Skates

The first ice skates consisted of polished, sharpened animal bones. Holes were made at the ends of the bones so that a leather strap could be threaded through and tied around the feet. Sometimes people put grease on the bottom of the skates to make them glide better. They also used poles to help, much like in cross-country skiing.

Bone-based skates later gave way to ones with wooden runners and then to iron blades. American Edward Bushnell is credited with inventing the first steel-bladed ice skates in 1850.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—Legends: Sonia Henie

While female skaters today are often considered to be figure skating's biggest stars, this was not always the case. When world championships for figure skating began in 1896, only men competed. A separate competition for women was created ten years later. Early female figure skaters competed in ankle-length skirts that were the fashion of the day. This clothing severely limited range-of-movement, but it would have been considered unladylike for a woman to jump anyway.

Everything changed when the enchanting Sonja Henie from Norway came on the scene. Being a young teenager, she could get away with wearing shorter skirts (with matching bloomers underneath). She also enjoyed jumping, and her ten world titles and three Olympic gold medals between 1927 and 1936 showed that the skating world was ready to allow women to develop their technical skills. At the peak of her career, Sonja Henie's hardest jump was a single axel.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Steven Cousins

The first British figure skater to land a triple axel in competition was Steven Cousins. During his amateur career, Cousins was an eight-time national figure skating champion and a frequent figure skating competitor on the international scene. His best finish at the World Figure Skating Championships was seventh in 1998. Cousins also competed at three Olympiads, placing 12th in 1992, 9th in 1994, and 6th in 1998.

Cousins has continued to gain recognition since turning professional. In addition to appearing in various television specials, he has been a part of Stars on Ice for six seasons. The tour's founder, Scott Hamilton, served as best man when Cousins married Canadian ice dancer Kristina Lenko in 2003.

In 2002, International Figure Skating Magazine named Cousins one of the "Top 10 Most Beautiful People in Skating." His Donny Osmond-type looks and ability to skate to everything from rock to ballads to country music have made him a favorite with figure skating fans. In 2001, Cousins appeared on the big screen as a figure skating judge in the fictional documentary On Edge.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Coaches—Tatiana Tarasova

While shoulder problems marked the end of competitive pairs figure skating for a young Russian athlete named Tatiana Tarasova, the injury hastened the start of a highly successful coaching career. Though only 19 when she began, Tarasova soon gained a reputation for training winners—much like her father, celebrated Soviet ice-hockey coach Anatoly Tarasov. Nowadays, the fur-clad Tarasova is a steady fixture by the boards of most international figure skating competitions.

Tarasova initially focused on coaching couples. After leading Russians Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev to Olympic gold in the pairs figure skating event in 1976 and 1980, she coached three outstanding Russian ice-dancing teams: Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin, Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, and Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov.

With a no-nonsense reputation on the ice and an eye for creating winning game plans at every step of the training process, Tarasova went on to coach back-to-back Olympic gold medalists in the men's event--Ilya Kulik (1998) and Alexei Yagudin (2002). Though it appeared her next great champion would be American Sasha Cohen, the two parted ways. Instead, Tarasova helped Japan's Shizuka Arakawa upset Cohen and fellow American Michelle Kwan to become the 2004 ladies figure skating world champion. Tarasova is married to Russian pianist Vladimir Krainev.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, Jr.

Both Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, Jr., have a history as singles skaters, but in 2000 they joined together to become one of America's leading pair teams. Inoue placed fifth at the 1994 Junior Worlds. She represented Japan at the 1992 and 1994 Olympics. Baldwin was the 1987 U.S. novice champion and the 1991 national junior champion.

Inoue began skating at age 4. Doctors thought it might help her asthma. Before skating with Baldwin, she skated pairs for a few years with Tomoaki Koyama.

Baldwin comes from a family of skaters and was on the ice by his first birthday. He decided to try pairs after never finishing higher than ninth at the senior level at nationals.

Inoue and Baldwin stood on the podium at nationals in 2003 as bronze medalists. They won gold in 2004 but dropped to second in 2005. They placed in the top ten at the World Championships in both 2003 and 2004.

Inoue is 4'11" and Baldwin is 5'9". They are the first pair in the history of figure skating to complete the throw triple axel in competition (2006 Four Continents). Inoue received her U.S. citizenship in 2005, making the pair eligible to compete for the U.S. at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Jill Watson coached the team for more than four years. Inoue and Baldwin followed her to Arizona when she took a job there, but they later decided they wanted to return to California. They are now coached by Peter Oppegard. Watson and Oppegard were the bronze medalists in the pairs event at the 1987 World Championships.

Inoue and Baldwin are both college graduates. He has been in the wholesale car business for more than 10 years. She may pursue a medical degree in the near future. The two donated their fees for appearing in the 2004 Champions on Ice Tour to the U.S. Figure Skating Memorial Fund.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Legends: Michelle Kwan

There isn't much in the amateur figure-skating world that American Michelle Kwan has not done. She has nine medals from the World Championships, five of them gold. Her nine national senior titles tie her with Maribel Vinson Owen for the most ever by a U.S. ladies singles skater. Readers of the U.S. Figure Skating Association's magazine have chosen her as their favorite so many times that the award has been renamed in her honor. She's been everything from the U.S. Olympic Committee's Sportswoman of the Year to one of "People" Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.

The one thing missing from her resume is an Olympic gold medal. The favorite going into both the 1998 Games in Nagano and the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, Kwan earned a silver and a bronze, respectively, as two teenagers (Tara Lipinski in 1998 and Sarah Hughes in 2002) with career nights pulled off stunning upsets.

The "old" lady of the sport at 25, Kwan heads into the 2006 Games in Torino for what will probably be her last Olympiad. Unlike her previous two appearances, she enters these Games without being a reigning world medalist, having finished fourth at the 2005 World Championships. Her health remains a question, as a hip injury forced her to withdraw from early Olympic-season competition. Nevertheless, Kwan remains a force to be reckoned with and a sentimental favorite for victory.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—The Zamboni

The 1960 Winter Games marked the first Olympic appearance of a new ice star—the Zamboni. Figure skating blades leave marks and chips in the ice. Before a man named Frank Zamboni invented his ice resurfacing machine, workers had to go out on the ice and fix it by hand every so often. It could take more than an hour of work before the ice was ready to be skated on again. The Zamboni, however, quickly shaves ice and spreads fresh water for a clean surface.

Among Frank Zamboni's earliest customers was figure skating legend Sonja Henie who bought two of the machines for her popular ice tours. Zamboni's contribution to the sport was recognized in 2000 with induction into the United States Figure Skating Association's Hall of Fame. Zamboni also is known in the sports world for developing a machine to remove water from Astro-turf.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Shizuka Arakawa

At the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan's Shizuka Arakawa was a young teenager who finished 13th. She is now a world champion and one of Japan's best hopes for a figure-skating medal at the 2006 Winter Games.

Arakawa was born in Shinagawa, Tokyo. She began skating at age 5 and was landing her first triples in elementary school. In 1996, she won her first of three national junior titles.

With an eighth-place finish in 2003, Arakawa cracked the top ten at the World Figure Skating Championships for the first time. The following year she flourished under new coach Tatiana Tarasova and landed seven triples on her way to the 2004 gold medal. (Previous coaches include Richard Callaghan and Kumiko Sato.) The victory made her the third Japanese lady to ever hold the title; the others are Midori Ito and Yuka Sato.

The two-time senior national champion finished second at the Grand Prix Finals in 2005 but ended up ninth at the World Championships. For the Olympic season, Arakawa is scheduled to skate to Rachmaninov's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" and Chopin's "Piano Concerto No. 1."

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Choreographers—Lee Ann Miller

Before she became one of the most sought-after choreographers in the world of figure skating, Lea Ann Miller was a successful pairs figure skater. With partner William Fauver, Miller took three silver medals (1981, 1983, 1984) and one bronze medal at the senior national championships. They were overshadowed in the United States by the brother-sister team of Kitty and Peter Carruthers, who consistently won the gold medal during those years.

Miller and Fauver competed four times at the world figure skating championships, with their best placement being seventh. They also represented the U.S. at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and finished tenth. Fauver had been to the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, with another partner, Alice Cook; the duo placed twelfth.

Miller and Fauver joined the professional ranks and skated with the Torvill and Dean World Tour and the John Curry Company. After four seasons as a figure skater with Stars on Ice, Miller moved on to doing figure skating choreography and directing the production.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Choreographers—Sandra Bezic

With a talent for creating figure skating routines using music and movements that seem to perfectly fit the strengths and personalities of the figure skaters involved, Sandra Bezic has made a name for herself as one of figure skating's top choreographers. Her first major success was the program that Canadians Barb Underhill and Paul Martini used to win the ISU's world pairs title in 1984. In 1988, Bezic created the powerful short and long programs of men's Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano. Boitano turned to Bezic once again when he reinstated as an amateur for the 1994 Olympics. Bezic also choreographed the routines of figure skaters Kurt Browning, Josée Chouinard, and Katarina Witt for that event.

Bezic began as a pairs skater with her brother Val. The two were Canadian champs from 1970 to 1974 and placed ninth at the 1972 Olympics. For many years, Bezic served as producer, director, and choreographer of the touring show Stars on Ice. She also has worked on numerous television specials, including the highly acclaimed "Carmen on Ice." Her book "The Passion to Skate" was made into a documentary.

A frequent television commentator in the United States and Canada, Bezic is perhaps best remembered in that capacity for her comments at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. When judges failed to give the Canadian pairs team of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier the gold, Bezic remarked that she was "embarrassed for our sport." Bezic also serves on the Board of Directors for Canada's Walk of Fame.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—Legends: Tenley Albright

The first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating was Tenley Albright, who edged out teammate Carol Heiss at the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. An accident during practice nearly forced Albright out of the competition. She severely gashed her ankle with her skate after hitting a bump in the ice of the outdoor arena. Her father, a surgeon, immediately flew to Italy to patch her up.

After an attack of nonparalytic polio, 11-year-old Albright turned to figure skating to gain strength. Her back and shoulders had been particularly affected, so she especially focused on their development. As a result, Albright developed one of the sport's most erect carriages, helping her to have a very graceful appearance.

Albright won her first of five national figure skating titles in 1952, the same year she took home a silver medal from the Olympics in figure skting. She became the first American woman to win the World Figure Skating Championships when she received a gold in 1953. Her second world figure skating title came in 1955. Albright was coached by the legendary Maribel Vinson Owen.

After her amateur career, Albright skated professionally just long enough to pay her father back the money he had spent on her figure skating expenses. In 1961, Albright received her medical degree from Harvard and set up practice in Boston. She was one of six women in a graduating class of 130. Like her father, Albright became a surgeon. She also excelled as a blood plasma researcher and an expert on sports medicine. Through work with the World Health Assembly, Albright has tried to rid the world of polio.

Albright is a member of the U.S., World, and Olympic Halls of Fame. She also has served on the President's Council on Physical Fitness, the executive committee of the U.S. Olympic Committee, and the board of directors of the American Cancer Society.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Jeffrey Buttle

Despite producing world-champion skaters such as Kurt Browning and Elvis Stojko, Canada has never had an Olympic gold medalist in the men's singles competition. Canadian Jeffrey Buttle is hoping to change that at the 2006 Games in Torino, Italy.

Buttle had a breakout year in 2005, winning his first national title and a silver medal at the World Championships. He also finished second at the Grand Prix Final. Prior to that year, his most notable international accomplishment was being crowned the ISU Four Continents champion in 2002 and 2004.

Buttle was born in 1982 and started skating at age 2. He won a silver medal at the Canadian Junior Nationals in 1998 and placed seventh at the world juniors in 2001.

After being coached by Doug Leigh and Wendy Philion for many years, Buttle moved on to study with Lee Barkell and Rafael Araturian. David Wilson does his choreography. Buttle's Olympic season short program is to "Sing, Sing, Sing." His long program is a tribute to Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.

Off the ice, Buttle studies chemistry at the University of Toronto and practices competitive dancing with his sister Meghan. Buttle serves as the athletes' representative to the Skate Canada Officials Advisory Committee.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—School Figures

Marks on ice may not mean much to figure skating's spectators, but they sure used to mean something to figure skating judges! For many years, skaters were required to perform movements called school figures (which is why the sport took on the name figure skating). School figures are patterns traced on the ice, usually in a figure-eight (two circles in a line) or serpentine (three circles in a line) or a loop (a small figure-eight with a tight turn at the top and bottom). The best way to see how well someone performs figures is to go out on the ice itself and look at the actual patterns.

While school figures were a chance for figure skaters to demonstrate skills such as concentration and body control, they were not very interesting to watch. Most of the audience preferred seeing freestyle performances that included jumps, spins, and musical interpretation. Television stations often did not broadcast the school figures portion of the competition. Sometimes a skater who performed well during the televised part had not done well in the school figures portion and did not medal. Viewers became confused and angry. They did not realize there was more to the competition than what they saw.

During the 1970s, school figures became less important to the total score. The final blow to school figures came in the 1990s when they were eliminated altogether. Without the obligation to perform figures, which took years of training to perfect, the face of the sport became increasingly younger, as witnessed by the quick rise of "jumping beans" such as Tara Lipinski and Sarah Hughes. Some figure skaters, however, continue to practice school figures because they believe tracing these patterns helps them to become better overall figure skaters.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Underhill and Martini

As the 1983 world bronze medalists, the Canadian pairs figure skating team of Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini were one of the favorites heading into the 1984 Winter Olympics. A heartbreaking fall on a simple side by side spin in the short program, dashed their hopes, and the duo finished seventh. The heartbroken pair decided to go ahead and compete in that year's World Figure Skating Championships and with the skate of their lives won the gold in their home country.

Underhill and Martini began figure skating together as teenagers in 1977. They became junior world champions in 1978 and won their first of five senior national figure skating championships in 1979. After retiring from the amateur ranks, they spent 14 years as professionals, including stints with Ice Capades and Stars on Ice. Audiences enjoyed their daring moves, especially their signature "leap of faith."

Their partnership of more than 20 years was capped off in a 1998 finale show called "One Last Time." Underhill and Martini performed some of their most famous routines, including "Unchained Melody" and "When a Man Loves a Woman." The two are members of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and of the Skate Canada Hall of Fame. A scholarship named in their honor annually helps young figure skaters.

Underhill is frequently seen on Canadian television as a commentator for figure skating events. She also does motivational speaking and skating consulting. She is a founder of the Stephanie Gaetz KEEPSAFE Foundation, which is dedicated to reducing childhood injuries. The foundation is named for Underhill's daughter who drowned at the age of eight months when she crawled outside and slipped through the pool gate.

Martini has coached a variety of young figure skaters, including the Canadian pair of Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon and Luc Bradet. Like Underhill, he also has commentated for Canadian television where he is known for his witty and incisive commentary.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Disasters—1961 Plane Crash

February 15, 1961, will forever be remembered as the saddest day in U.S. figure skating history. Mechanical failure caused the Sabena Boeing 707 carrying the U.S. Figure Skating Team to the World Figure Skating Championships to plunge into wooded farmland as it tried to reach the airport in Brussels, Belgium. All 72 people aboard the plane died, as did a farmer on the ground who was hit by debris.

Many of the 18 figure skaters killed that day had brought along family members and coaches, leaving several figure skating communities utterly devastated. The Owen family suffered the loss of 16-year-old Laurence Owen (the newly-crowned ladies figure skating champion), Little Maribel Owen (the U.S. pairs figure skating champion with partner Dudley Richards), and Maribel Vinson Owen (a nine-time U.S. ladies figure skating champion who now coached her daughters). Foreign coaches such as Carlo Fassi and John Nicks came to the United States to help the sport recover from the loss of its best. The U.S. World Figure skating team would never again travel as a group. Now figure skaters travel separately to and from figure skating events to prevent a disaster of this magnitude from reoccurring.

The World Figure Skating Championships, which were to be held in Prague, Czechoslovakia, were cancelled that year. The U.S. Figure Skating Association set up a memorial fund to honor the skaters. Money from it continues to assist aspiring figure skaters. Forty years after the tragedy, a five-foot-high stone monument honoring the deceased was erected in a farming community near Brussels. Also in 2001, many notable figure skaters participated in a figure skating tribute and fundraiser. The show was particularly poignant because it took place in New York shortly after the September 11 attacks.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Ron and Nancy Ludington

Figure skater Nancy Rouillard began her career as a solo performer, but she changed her focus to pairs upon meeting her future husband, Ronald Ludington. The Ludingtons became the dominant U.S. pairs team of the late 1950s and achieved international success with bronze medals at the 1959 World Championships and the 1960 Olympics. They coached together and had a daughter following their competitive career, but they later divorced. They were both inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1993.

Nancy Ludington Graham, as she is now known, is on the coaching staff at the Midcoast Recreation Center for the 2004-05 season. She has been actively involved in the development of synchronized figure skating, especially through helping the nationally known Haydenettes.

Ronald Ludington has coached figure skaters in nine consecutive Olympiads and 36 world championships. In 1984, he led the pairs team of Kitty and Peter Carruthers to a silver medal at the Olympics. Since 1987 he has been the director of the Ice Skating Science Development Center at the University of Delaware. This facility not only trains skaters and coaches but also works on learning new methods of performance enhancement and injury prevention. Ludington was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1999.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—Legends: Irina Rodnina

The only female pairs figure skater to win Olympic gold medals with two different partners is Russian sensation Irina Rodnina. She won her first gold in 1972 with Alexei Ulanov and her second and third gold in 1976 and 1980, respectively, with Alexander Zaitsev.

Rodnina's figure skating career reads like a soap opera. She split with Ulanov because he fell in love with another Russian pairs figure skater, Ludmila Smirnova, and wanted to form a team with her. After auditioning some 100 new figure skating partners, Rodnina chose Zaitsev. With a height difference of nearly a foot, the two developed dazzling lifts and also introduced side-by-side double Axels. They married in 1975 and briefly interrupted their ice skating in 1979 for the birth of a son. The couple later divorced.

Rodnina spent several years coaching in the United States. Her star pupils were the Czech pairs figure skating team of Radka Kovarikova and Rene Novotny, whom she coached to a International Skating Union world title in 1995. During her time coaching figure skating at Ice Castle in Lake Arrowhead, Calif., she helped future Olympic bronze medalist Timothy Goebel with his stroking and coached brother and sister pairs team Johnny and Tiffeny Steigler before their break. Rodnina later returned to Russia to live and to work on a new skating facility.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Paul Wylie

One of the biggest surprises of the 1992 Winter Olympics was the silver medal won by U.S. figure skater Paul Wylie. While known for excellent practice sessions, Wylie had a history of lackluster performances in competition, including a tenth-place finish at the 1988 Olympics. He squeaked out a silver medal at the 1992 nationals to earn a place on the Olympic team, but the U.S. rested most of its medal hopes in the men's event on national champion Christopher Bowman. However, Wylie's outstanding routine to "Henry V" in Albertville, France, made believers out of critics, and he almost bested Ukraine¹s Viktor Petrenko for the gold.

Wylie went on to an acclaimed professional figure skating career. He was a regular with Stars on Ice for many years and dazzled audiences with emotional routines such as "JFK" and "Apollo 13." A political science major at Harvard University during his competitive years, Wylie returned to his alma mater to earn an MBA in 2000 and was hired by Disney as a marketing executive, though he was recently let go. He frequently hosts and performs in the university's annual Evening with Champions, a skating spectacular that raises money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute¹s Jimmy Fund. He is married and has a young daughter.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Fiction Authors—Mary Mapes Dodge

Many youngsters become fascinated with ice skating after reading the classic book Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skatesby Mary Mapes Dodge. The story, which is set in nineteenth-century Holland, tells of a race to win silver skates. Some wealthy contestants have ice skates with fine steel blades, but Hans competes with hand-crafted wooden ones. Hans also has another mission in the book—to obtain help for his sick father. Along the way, Hans and the readers learn about family love and the kindness of strangers.

Dodge was born in 1831. Widowed in her late 20s, she started writing children's stories to support herself and her children. "Hans Brinker," first published in 1865, went through more than 100 editions in her lifetime. Though the book presented a vivid portrait of Holland, Dodge never visited Holland until she was almost 50.

Dodge's other major claim to fame is having been the first editor of the children's magazine "St. Nicholas." Her high literary standards helped attract submissions from well-known writers of the day, such as Mark Twain. Dodge died in 1905. The roller figuer skating jump, equivalent to the ice figure skating toe-loop is called the Mapses in her honor.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Carolina Kostner

The crowd in Torino is bound to go wild when Carolina Kostner of Ortisei, Italy, takes the ice. The two-time national champion is steadily becoming a fixture on the international scene. After finishing in the top ten during the previous two years, Kostner earned a bronze medal at the 2005 World Figure Skating Championships.

Kostner's mother was a figure skater in the 1970s, and her father played ice hockey on Italy's national team. Kostner began skating at age 4. She earned a bronze at the Junior World Championships in 2003 and finished second that year at the Junior Grand Prix Final.

Kostner trains in Oberstdorf, Germany, under the direction of Michael Huth. Her long program for the Olympic season will be to "Winter" from Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." She will be turning 19 shortly before the Games begin.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Choreographers—Sarah Kawahara

More than a billion people throughout the world watched the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The extensive amount of figure skating in these spectacles was choreographed by Sarah Kawahara. For her efforts, Kawahara received her second Emmy.

Kawahara¹s first Emmy for excellence in choreography on a televised show came in 1997 for "Scott Hamilton: Upside Down." The two have worked extensively together throughout Hamilton¹s professional career. She has created some of his most memorable performances, including his "Lounge Lizard" and "Walk this Way" figure skating routines.

Kawahara also has collaborated with many other figure skating notables. For the 2002 Olympics, she choreographed Michelle Kwan's long program, as well as her emotional "Fields of Gold" exhibition number. Kawahara also worked with Kwan on three Disney specials for television. Other television credits include "Nancy Kerrigan, Special Dreams on Ice" and the Oksana Baiul/Viktor Petrenko effort "Wizard of Oz." Her ability to use costumes, sets, props, lighting, and music to form a whole package on the ice has earned her praise from countless figure skaters. Peggy Fleming, Toller Cranston, and John Curry are just a few who have enlisted her services for their figure skating projects.

Kawahara regularly choreographs for the Champions on Ice tour. She also has created figure-skating routines for cruise ship ice skating shows and has helped the synchronized skating team from Miami University.

While growing up in Montreal, figure skating was just one of Kawahara's interests. She also played the piano and violin and studied ballet, jazz, and drama. She joined the Ice Capades as a figure skater at age 17, later moving to the role of resident coach and then head choreographer.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—Legends: Madge Syers

When the first Olympic medals for figure skating were awarded in 1908, Great Britain's Madge Syers brought home the gold as a singles skater and the bronze for her pairs performance with her husband, Edgar. She remains the only figure skater to receive two medals at a single Olympiad.

Perhaps her most groundbreaking ice skating performance, however, came years earlier. In 1902, Syers showed up to compete at the World Championships—something no woman had ever done before. The rulebook did not prohibit women from competing; it had never occurred to the International Skating Union (ISU) that a female would ever even try.

In her ankle-length skirt, Syers took the ice and finished second. Many people thought she should have won, including gold-medalist Ulrich Salchow, who reportedly took off his medal and gave it to her. Afterward, the organizers passed a rule prohibiting female ice skaters from competing against men. A separate world-level figure skating competition for women was created in 1906.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—Legends: Debi Thomas

The first African American to win a medal at a Winter Olympiad was figure skater Debi Thomas. Thomas received the bronze for ladies figure skating at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. While it was expected that the technically superb two-time US national champion (1986 and 1988) would battle East Germany's Katarina Witt for the gold, problems with her first jump combination left Thomas shaken and out of contention. Both women, coincidentally, skated to music from the opera "Carmen."

Thomas was a student at Stanford University when she won her first and only world title in 1986. Her studies remained a priority even after she embarked on a professional figure skating career, and she graduated with a degree in engineering in 1991. Thomas went on to pursue her dream of becoming an orthopedic surgeon—graduating from Northwestern University Medical School in 1997 and then doing surgical residencies at hospitals in Arkansas and California. She is married to sports attorney Christopher Bequette and is the mother of a young son. In 2000, Thomas became a member of the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Karen Kwan

When figure skating fans hear the name Kwan, they usually think of world champion figure skater Michelle Kwan. For many years, however, Michelle's older sister, Karen, trained with her at Ice Castle in Lake Arrowhead, California. Figure skating coach Frank Carroll mentored both girls, and Lori Nichol did their choreography.

Karen and Michelle both competed at figure skating's senior nationals in the mid-1990s. Karen's best finish was fifth place in 1996—the year Michelle won her first national figure skating title. At 5'8" tall, Karen stands about a half-foot taller than Michelle. Her long arms and legs added an elegant dimension to her skating.

Karen graduated from Boston University in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in communications. She interned with clothing designer Vera Wang, who is noted for deigning figure skating costumes. in 2004, Karen married Peter Oppegard, a three-time U.S. pairs figure skating champion with Jill Watson. They have a young daughter named Olivia.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio

The appeal of participating in an Olympiad being held in their own country led Italians Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio to announce in September 2005 that they were coming out of retirement to compete in Torino. Their last competition had been the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, where they took the ice dancing bronze.

The duo has been together since 1994. They won their country's nationals every year from 1995-2002 and placed in the top ten at Europeans each year during that time. In 2001, they became the first Italian skaters to win a gold medal at the World Championships. They also won their only European title that year.

During their few years of retirement, Fusar Poli and Margaglio remained involved in skating. She coached, and he served as a technical specialist. Fusar Poli had a baby with husband Diego Cattani, an Italian short-track skater.

Both over the age of 30, Fusar Poli and Margaglio will be among the oldest ice skaters in Torino. They believe their maturity will be an asset, and they are anxious to try out the new scoring system. Helping them in their quest is coach Paola Mezzadri, choreography Ludmilla Vlasova, and advisor Natalia Linichuk.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao

At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Chinese figure skaters Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao quietly became the first athletes from their country ever to medal in the pair competition. But their third place finish was rather overlooked as the world focused on the judging scandal that led to the awarding of two gold medals.

Shen and Zhao went on that year to become the first pair from China to win the World Championships. They successfully defended that title in 2003 and also won their second Four Continents gold.

The four-time national champions were expected to be among the top contenders at the 2006 Winter Games in Italy, but then disaster struck. Zhao tore his Achilles tendon while attempting a triple-triple jump in practice in August 2005. The injury required surgery and put the team off the ice for months. They missed all of the autumn competitions, and their status for the Olympics remained until the very last day questionable.

Shen and Zhao are both from Harbin. They have skated together since 1992. They are coached by Bin Yao. Originally known as athletic skaters with huge throws and twists, Shen and Zhao turned to Western choreographers such as Lee Ann Miller and Sandra Bezic to help with artistry--and it worked.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Stephane Lambiel

Despite being a 5-time national champion, Swiss skater Stephane Lambiel was not very well known among international ice skating fans when he competed at the 2005 World Championships. But he left the competition with plenty of exposure and a gold medal around his neck.

Lambiel was born in 1985. He began skating at age 7. His mom wanted him to play hockey, but Lambiel wanted to figure skate because he liked to jump. He came under the guidance of coach Peter Grutter in 1995.

Lambiel became the Swiss junior champion in 1999 and won his first national senior title in 2001. He finished ninth at the 2001 European ChampionshipsÑhis first international competition at the senior level. His best finishes at that event came in 2002 and 2005, when he finished fourth. He competed at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City and finished 15th. He cracked the top ten at the World Championships for the first time in 2003.

As with many Swiss skaters, Lambiel is known for excellent spins. His short program for the 2005-06 season is to "Malaguena" from the "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" soundtrack. His long program is to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." Salome Brunner is his choreographer.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski

The first ice-dance team to represent Israel at the Olympic Games was Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski. They finished 14th at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Four years later, they improved to sixth at the Games in Salt Lake City.

Chait was born in Kfar-Saba, Israel, but her family later moved to the United States. She fell in love with skating on a trip to the rink at Rockefeller Center. She began as a singles skater but later discovered she preferred skating with a partner.

Sakhnovski was born in Moscow and raised Jewish. Skating for Russia, he and partner Ekaterina Svirina were the 1993 World Junior Champions. He also skated for a time with Marina Anissina, who won the ice dancing competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics with partner Gwendal Peizerat.

Chait and Sakhnovski met at a rink in Israel. Chait's partner had retired, and Sakhnovski had left the Russian skating system with intentions to quit the sport. Despite his greater depth of experience, the couple hit it off and began intense training.

Chait and Sakhnovski placed 23rd at their first World Championship in 1996. By 2000, they were regularly placing in the top ten at both the World and European championships. Their third-place finish at the 2002 World Championships gave Israel its first-ever medal at that event.

The duo now trains in New Jersey under the direction of Alexander Zhulin and Evgeni Platov. Their free program for the 2005-2006 season is to Ravel's "Bolero," a somewhat risky choice given the music's association with ice dance legends Torvill and Dean.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Johnny Weir

Skate Canada 2005 was a scary event for American Johnny Weir. The reigning men's national champion sprained his left ankle during the long program but continued to skate even though it was obvious that something was wrong. Afterwards, he cried not only because of the physical pain but also out of the fear that his Olympic season might be over. Fortunately for Weir, the sprain turned out to be minor, and he soon was cleared to skate again.

Weir started skating at the relatively late age of 12 after seeing Oksana Baiul on television. His talent was evident after just three group lessons, and his parents were approached about private instruction. During his first year, he made it to the Junior Olympics as both a singles skater and as a pairs skater. He became the World Junior Champion in 2001.

Weir took home his first national medal at the senior level in 2004 and placed fifth at that year's World Championships. He successfully defended his title 2005 and moved up to fourth in the world. His strong performance at the latter event helped the United States earn three men's spots for the 2006 Olympic Games.

Weir is coached by Priscilla Hill. He also has received instruction and help with choreography from Tatiana Tarasova and Evgeny Platov. His free program for the 2005-06 season is to music by Maksim Mrvica, however just before the 2006 Olympic Games, he returned to a previous program to Otonal.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Choreographers—Brian Wright

Though his life was short, the impact choreographer Brian Wright had on many in the world of figure skating is long-lasting. Wright was HIV positive for 17 years and spent the last eight years of his life with fully-developed AIDS. He often came to the rink from the hospital and returned there at night. Periodically, he needed to stop what he was doing to inject a drug that kept blood clots in his legs from traveling to his heart. Nevertheless, he continued to do what he loved and created routines for some of the biggest name figure skaters in the sport, including Kristi Yamaguchi, Michelle Kwan, Scott Williams, and Michael Weiss. The United States Figure Skating Association selected Wright as Choreographer of the Year in 1994.

Despite not starting to skate until age 13, Wright proved to be a natural talent and made it up to the national championships at the novice level. He discovered, though, that he was not particularly interested in competing and all that is necessary to succeed at the upper levels. He gave up amateur figure skating to tour with Ice Capades, perform in A Chorus Line on Broadway, and put his flair for movement and music to use as a choreographer. Off the ice, Wright often spoke to groups about safe sex. He also is credited with helping the figure skating community deal more openly with the issue of sexual orientation. Wright died in 2003 at the age of 42.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—"Jumpin' Joe"Jozef Sabovcik

When people think of Czech figure skater Jozef Sabovcik, two things usually come to mind: amazing feats and rock n' roll. Often figure skating in jeans and a t-shirt to artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Meatloaf, Sabovcik has carved a niche for himself on the professional figure skating scene with his spectacular triples and quads and signature moves such as the delayed axel and a layout (straight-legged) back flip.

Figure skating fans popularly refer to him as Jumpin' Joe, a name he thinks was originally given to him by figure skater Scott Hamilton. While Hamilton took home the gold at the 1984 Olympics, Sabovcik earned the bronze. At the 1986 European Figure Skating Championships, many people felt Sabovcik performed figure skating's first quad, but the International Skating Union ruled that his free leg touched the ice on the landing and would not give the jump credit.

The amateur career of the six-time national and two-time European champion came to an end after the 1986 World Figure Skating Championship because of knee problems. His injuries healed enough over time to allow him to take advantage of the professional figure skating opportunities in the United States and Canada. In 2002, he figure skated in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Salt Lake City, the place he has come to call home. For a time he was married to Canadian figure skater Tracey Wainman, mother of his son Blade.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Jojo Starbuck and Ken Shelley

Getting to the Olympics in one discipline is quite an accomplishment for any athlete. Getting there in two is very rare. American figure skater Ken Shelley performed such double-duty at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. He finished fourth in both the men's competition and in pairs.

After being the bronze medalist in 1970 and the silver medalist in 1971, Shelley took his first national title as a singles skater in 1972. He also finished in the top ten at the World Championships during those three years.

Shelley began skating pairs with Alicia "JoJo" Starbuck at age 7. Under the direction of John Nicks, the two rose quickly through the ranks. As teenagers, they became the youngest pair team the U.S. ever sent to an Olympiad and placed 13th at the 1968 Olympics.

Starbuck and Shelley held the national title from 1970-72 and were world bronze medalists in 1971 and 1972. After retiring from eligible competition, they appeared both together and apart during the next decades. Shelley has served as a judge for various figure skating competitions. Starbuck's activities include figure skating commentary, coaching, and producing ice shows at Rockefeller Center. She was married to professional football player Terry Bradshaw in the 1970s, but the famous couple later divorced. The U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame inducted Starbuck and Shelley as members in 1994.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto

Going into the 2005-06 season, the ice dancing team of Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto had much going for them. They were two-time U.S. national champions and the reigning world silver medalists. But there was one problem. Tanith was from Canada. If she could not obtain her U.S. citizenship in time, the duo would not be able to skate at the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino.

With little time to spare, a bill to speed up the naturalization process was signed by George W. Bush on December 30, 2005. Belbin was sworn in as a U.S. citizen the following day. Weeks later, the couple took their third national title, this time both as Americans.

Belbin was born in 1984 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She excelled at ice dancing from an early age but had difficulty finding a partner her age to match her talents. She turned to pair skating for a time but longed to return to dance. Agosto was born in 1982 in Chicago. He skated from 1995-98 with Katie Hill.

The two met in 1998 in Detroit at a summer training camp. They clicked quickly, and 14-year-old Belbin moved to the United States. They generated positive responses from judges from the start and placed third at the World Junior Championships in 2000, moving up to second in 2001 and placing first in 2002.

Likewise, Belbin and Agosto rose quickly through the senior ranks, going from 17th in the world in 2001 to 2nd in 2005. In both 2004 and 2005, they were national champions as well as Four Continents winners. Fans have been charmed by their personality on the ice while skating to Elvis tunes and music from "West Side Story."

Belbin and Agosto are coached by Igor Shpilband and Marina Zueva. In February 2005, the duo organized Skate Aid for Tsunami Relief and raised $40,000 to help Southeast Asia.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—Legends: Maribel Vinson Owen

If American figure skater Michelle Kwan wins a gold medal at the 2005 U.S. nationals, she will tie legendary skater Maribel Vinson Owen for the most victories in the ladies¹ event. Owen won nine national singles titles, a silver and a bronze at worlds (1928 and 1930, respectively), and the 1932 Olympic bronze medal. She also competed as a pairs figure skater, winning two national titles with Thornton Coolidge and four with George Hill. The versatile Owen even had some success as an ice dancer with partner J. Lester Madden.

Owen remained active in the sport after her competitive days. She was the first female sportswriter for the New York Times and briefly skated pairs as a professional with husband Guy Owen. Her main activity, however, was coaching. Her star pupil was 1956 Olympic gold medalist Tenley Albright. Other notables include Ron and Nancy Ludington and, ironically, Michelle Kwan¹s first coach, Frank Carroll.

Owen was killed when the plane carrying her and others to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships crashed. Daughters Little Maribel and Laurence, whom she coached, also died in the tragedy. Little Maribel and partner Dudley Richards were the reigning national champions in pairs figure skating, and Laurence had just won her first national ladies¹ figure skating title. Owen was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1976 and the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2002.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—Legends: Dick Button (The Early Years)

The first American man to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating was Dick Button. He took the prize at the 1948 Winter Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and repeated as champion at the 1952 Olympics in Oslo, Norway. Button also captured seven U.S. national figure skating titles (1946-52)—the first at age 16— and five world figure skating titles (1948-52). He also was the European figure skating champion in 1948, the last year in which U.S. skaters were allowed to compete.

Early in his career, Button received the message that he had the wrong body type to become a successful figure skater. This mindset changed under coach Gustav Lussi, who both literally and figuratively pushed Button to greater heights. Button's Axel jumps sailed 20 feet through the air. Pictures of Button figure skating outdoors look as though he soared above the trees.

Button introduced many movements to the figure skating, including the flying camel. In 1948, he became the first skater to perform a double Axel. He performed figure skating's first triple jump in 1952 when he successfully landed a trip loop. Button was the first figure skater to ever receive the prestigious Sullivan Award for amateur sports. Button is also a graduate of Harvard University—Yale would not make the allowances needed for Button to pursue both figure skating and a university degree at the same time. When the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame inducted their first members in 1976, Button entered both.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Coaches—Tamara Moskvina

At 4'9", Russian coach Tamara Moskvina can barely see over the boards at some figure skating events. Her power, however, fills the entire rink whenever one of her impeccably trained pairs takes to the ice. The list of teams that have been coached by Moskvina reads like a who's who of figure skating: Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, Artur Dmitriev (with both Oksana Kazakova and Natalia Mishkutenok), Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev, Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov, and Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman.

Moskvina, who holds a doctorate in educational psychology from the Academy of Physical Education and Sport, starts with an image in her mind of what a team should look like and then works backward to make the figure skaters match her vision as closely as possible. During practices, she can be seen chasing the figure skaters around to improve their speed or moving their bodies to enhance positions. To help her figure skaters learn to be better performers and to appreciate the arts, Moskvina encourages them to study ballet and acting and to attend dance and music recitals. She takes an active role in all aspects of the figure skaters' career, from devising new moves and designing costumes to acting as a press secretary and translator.

Moskvina competed in singles during the early years of her own figure skating career and was a five-time national champion (1962-66). The State Sports Committee, however, did not think she could win a medal in international competition and refused to send her to the world figure championships. Her husband/coach, Igor Moskvin, suggested that she try pairs figure skating. Though both already in their 20s, Moskvina and partner Alexei Mishin formed a successful duo, finishing fifth at the 1968 Olympics, winning the Soviet title in 1969, and taking home a silver from the 1969 World Figure Skating Championships. Mishin went on to become a notable men's coach and currently trains Evgeni Plushenko.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating History—Legends: Elayne Zayak

The fact that figure skater Elaine Zayak was at the 1982 World Championships was rather miraculous. She began figure skating after losing part of her foot in a lawnmower accident as a toddler. Yet there she was at the highest level of figure skating doing more triple jumps than had ever been seen in the women's event.

Too many triples, some said. Though she won the event, her performance led the International Skating Union (ISU) to create what has been dubbed the "Zayak Rule." The rule limits the number of times each type of triple jump (Axel, Lutz, Salchow, toe loop, loop, and flip) can be performed in a figure skater's long program.

Of the six triple jumps Zayak performed en route to her figure skating world title, four of them were toe loops. A top-level skater today is still expected to perform many triple jumps in her long program, but she must demonstrate a greater degree of skill because she cannot rely on doing only her favorite jump. Nevertheless, Zayak's actions upped the playing field to a new level, requiring new generations of female skaters to improve their jumping abilities—quite a change from less than a century earlier when female skaters were not allowed to jump at all.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Lucinda Ruh

Though she has never ice skated at the Olympics and has never placed higher than 13th at the ISU World Championships of Figure Skating', figure skater Lucinda Ruh has made a name for herself in the sport of figure skating. In 2003, she skated to the world record for most revolutions in a spin by doing 115 rotations on one foot without stopping. She has been clocked at five rotations per second.

Ruh was born in Zurich, Switzerland, but her father's career took the family all over the world. She trained in Japan, Canada, China, and other places. Along the way, she became fluent in many languages. While Ruh lacked the ability to perform the hardest jumps in figure skating and while she never placed at international competitions, the 5'9" figure skater dazzled one and all with her blazing spins. Her crowd-pleasing skating led to touring opportunities with Champions on Ice and Stars on Ice.

Spine and disc injuries have hampered Ruh's professional figure skating career in 2004, and she has joined the figure skating coaching staff at Ice Castle in California. Not surprisingly, her focus is helping young figure skaters with spins and choreography. The 25-year-old also launched her own fashion company, Lucinda's Sparkle.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Todd Eldredge

American Todd Eldredge won his first senior title at the U.S. Nationals in 1990. His sixth and final win at that competition came in 2002. During the years in between, Eldredge experienced a realm of ups and downs. Among the ups were five world medals, including the gold in 1996. Among the downs were back pain, an untimely flu bug, and no Olympic medals.

By the age of 10, Eldredge had already been skating for five years and was ready to move away from home to train with Richard Callaghan. He won the national novice title in 1985, the national junior title in 1987, and the world junior title in 1988. When financial problems threatened to end Eldredge's career, his hometown of Chatham, Mass., raised money to keep him going. Later in life, Eldredge donated significantly to the town's funds for young athletes.

Eldredge made his first Olympic appearance in 1992, but back problems contributed to a tenth-place finish. His hopes of going to the Winter Games again in 1994 were dashed when he caught the flu before nationals and didn't make the Olympic Team. He returned to the Olympics as a favorite to medal in 1998 but ended up fourth. At the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, Eldredge was chosen to help carry the U.S. flag recovered from the World Trade Center rubble in the Opening Ceremonies. In competition, he finished a disappointing sixth, in part because he lacked a quad jump. He turned professional after that Olympiad to tour with Stars on Ice.

One of the most enduring images of Eldredge is of him placing his 1996 world gold medal around his mother's neck following the competition. His performances to "Swing Kids" and "First Knight" at that event are often considered to be among the best of his career.

Eldredge lives in Michigan, where he often helps Callaghan with his students. Eldredge had ankle surgery in the spring of 2005 but was expected to continue touring. In September 2005, he married professional cheerleader Megan McCrea.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov

Russian Maria Petrova had a promising career as a pair skater with Anton Sikharulidze. The two were world junior champions in 1994 and 1995. Then, Sikharulidze decided to end the partnership so that he could skate with Elena Berezhnaya. The two were the 2002 Olympic champions.

Likewise, Alexei Tikhonov had partner problems. His partner, Irina Saifutdinova, quit skating to get married. Unable to find another suitable Russian partner, he skated with Japan's Yukiko Kawasaki for a time. When they split, he joined Tatiana Tarasova's Russian All-Stars ice theater. While he grew artistically from the experience, he missed competing.

Petrova and Tikhonov began working together in 1998. They became European champions in 1999. In 2000, they defended that title plus became world champions. They also made it to the podium at worlds in 2003 and 2005 with a bronze and a silver, respectively. They have never won the Russian nationals but have finished either second or third every year from 1999-2005.

Petrova is five feet tall, while Tikhonov stands 6'2". Their short program for the 2005-06 season is "Sarabande" by G.F. Haendel. Their long program is to a selection of Fellini soundtracks. The duo is coached by Ludmila Velikova.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Choreographers—Christopher Dean

It is virtually impossible to think of British figure skater Christopher Dean without thinking about his performance with ice dance partner Jayne Torvill at the 1984 Winter Olympics. With their stirring performance to "Bolero," Torvill and Dean became the first non-Russian couple to win the Olympic gold medal in ice dancing and the first team ever to receive perfect presentation scores from all judges.

The four-time world champions went on to a highly successful professional figure skating career, which they briefly interrupted to compete in the 1994 Olympics. In a controversial decision, they placed third. The World Figure Skating Hall of Fame inducted Torvill and Dean as members in 1989, and the two were named Officers of the Order of the British Empire in 2000.

Nowadays, Dean is a sought-after figure skating choreographer. He has been involved with the Stars on Ice Tour for several years and is serving as both choreographer and co-director this season. He also has created several competitive routines for both ice dancers and singles figure skaters over the past few years, including Michelle Kwan's 2004-05 long program to "Bolero."

Since 1994, Dean has been married to 1990 ladies world figure skating champion Jill Trenary. They have two sons. Dean's first wife was Canadian-born ice dancer Isabelle Duchesnay who, with her brother Paul, won a Gold medal for France at the 1991 World Figure Skating Championships.

Christopher Dean was their choreographer.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Skating Costume Designer—Vera Wang

While Peggy Fleming was ice skating at the 1968 Olympics in a dress her mother made, fellow American competitor Vera Wang was lamenting that she failed to make the Olympic team. Decades later, however, Wang found her own niche in figure skating—creating skating outfits.

Already respected in the fashion world for her classy bridal dresses and evening gowns, Wang caught the eye of figure skaters and figure skating fans when Nancy Kerrigan sported elegant Wang creations at the 1994 Winter Olympics. More recently, Wang outfitted figure skating legend Michelle Kwan for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, including designing Kwan's stunning gold costume for her "Fields of Gold" exhibition routine.

Her years as a skater helped Wang develop a keen sense of how the female body looks and moves in one of her lovely figure skating costumes. Such elegance does not come cheap, however. The fabric alone for one of her figure skating outfits can run into the thousands, with additional costs for adding intricate details such as crystal decorations and hand sewn sequins and beads.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skaters—Brian Joubert

No figure skater from France has ever won an Olympic gold medal in the men's competition. Brian Joubert is hoping to do something about that at the 2006 Winter Games.

Joubert was born in 1984 and began skating at the age of 4. He wanted to play hockey but ended up doing ice dancing with his sister. He started gaining international attention as a singles skater in 2002 when he placed third at the European Championships, but he did not crack the top ten at that year's World Championships or Olympic Games.

Joubert's breakout year was 2004, when won his first European Championship and placed second at the World Figure Skating Championships. Though successfully securing a third national title in 2005, Joubert dropped to second at Europeans and fell to sixth at Worlds.

Joubert is coached by Andrei Berezintsev. He also is receiving help from spinning wonder Lucinda Ruh and 2002 Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin. For the 2005-06 season, Joubert is skating to James Bond music for his short program and to Lord of the Dance for his long. Off the ice, the handsome skater is well-covered by the French press, especially regarding his relationship with a Miss France winner.

—Beth Braccio Hering

Figure Skating Places—The World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame

The World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame is located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in the headquarters of the U.S. Figure Skating Association. This not-for-profit educational institution features a myriad of items tracing the history of the sport, including more than 3,500 films and videos, about 20,000 photos, and some 1,500 books. Its extensive collection of figure skating artwork includes donations from Sweden's Gillis Grafstrom, a highly decorated skater in the 1920s. The museum also exhibits costumes, medals, and skates. Other highlights include competition records and a memorial to the U.S. skaters and coaches who died in a plane crash in 1961 on their way to the world championships.

A crowning achievement for competitors, coaches, and officials is election into the U.S. and/or World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Each inductee is honored with a plaque and display showcasing his or her contribution to the sport. The World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame is a must visit if you're in Colorado Springs during a major competition. You never know who you might see walking around.

For more information on the World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame, see http://www.worldskatingmuseum.org or call (719) 635-5200.

—Beth Braccio Hering

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Figure Skaters—Yuka Sato

One of professional figure skating's busiest stars is Japan's Yuka Sato. Originally a singles figure skater, she continues to perform solo routines, but she also frequently skates pairs with her husband, Jason Dungjen. The two have been married since 1999 and live in Michigan, where they do some coaching for the Detroit Figure Skating Club. As an amateur, Dungjen was best known for medaling several times at the national championships in the 1990s with partner Kyoko Ina. When the two parted ways, Ina joined with John Zimmerman and competed at the 2002 Olympics; the duo now skates professionally.

A stellar moment in Sato's career was the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships, where she won the gold in her home country. She also was the 1989 world junior figure skating champion. Her parents, Nobuo and Kumiko, represented Japan in figure skating at Olympiads during the 1960s. They coached their daughter to a seventh-place finish at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games and a fifth-place finish at the 1994 Olympics. Among their current students is 2003 world bronze medalist Fumie Suguri, who recently left and then returned to them.

—Beth Braccio Hering

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