The rest is history. Gordeeva, just 14, became the youngest world champion in figure skating history. By the time he was 14, he was paired up with 11-year old Ekaterina Gordeeva. SKILLS. Tragically, he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1990 while on tour and died the following year. He placed 22nd at the 1994 World Junior Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado.He won the bronze medal at the British Figure Skating Championships in 1994, 1998 and 2003.. After his competitive career ended, he became a figure skating coach. Subscribe to @olympics: http://oly.ch/Subscribe With #Beijing2022 just around the corner, time to brush up on your #FigureSkating knowledge, and learn mo. His father took a second job to support Javier's training and also the training of his sister, Laura, who competed in ice dancing and ladies' singles. Under the glittery costumes is an extreme sport that requires precision, technical perfection and sheer strength. This greatest male figure skaters list contains the most prominent and top males known for being figure skaters. References Vote for Your Favourite British Figure Skaters, British ice dancer Christopher Dean is best known for his, Jayne Torvill is a celebrated professional English ice dancer whose gold medal-winning performance with Christopher Dean at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics became a talking point worldwide. With his sister, Jennifer Nicks, he is the 1953 World champion. Radford and Duhamel seem like a lock this month to nab one of Canada's three pairs spots for the 2018 games in this, their last competitive season. "The extraordinary rise and fall of Birmingham's Olympic champion ice skater", "Alone: The Triumph and Tragedy of John Curry by Bill Jones", "From the archive: Curry hits the gold standard Originally published on 12 February 1976", "Britain let John Curry's golden legacy at the Winter Olympics go to waste", John Curry Scheherazade 1980 (Professional Version), "On this day 1976: John Curry skates to Olympic gold", "Adam Rippon, John Curry and figure skating's complex history with gay athletes", "New Bio Outs Late, Great, "Gay" Alan Bates / Queerty", The Ice King-Dogwoof-Documentary Distribution, On this day 1976: John Curry skates to Olympic gold, Olympic champions in figure skating Men's singles, World champions in figure skating Men's singles, European champions in figure skating Men's singles, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Curry&oldid=1141508620, BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners, Figure skaters at the 1972 Winter Olympics, Figure skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics, Sportspeople from Birmingham, West Midlands, Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain, World Figure Skating Championships medalists, European Figure Skating Championships medalists, Officers of the Order of the British Empire, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2018, Articles lacking reliable references from February 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 11:54. He is a two-time Olympian, the 2008 World bronze medalist, a two-time Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2001 World Junior Champion, and a three-time U.S. national champion (2004-2006). His rivalry with another Brian, Brian Boitano, turned the 1988 Olympic games into a so-called "Battle of the Brians.". At the latter event, the pair won a bronze, and they went pro the next year. 26 Greatest Figure Skaters of All Time, Ranked | Stadium Talk Athletes Dorothy Hamill Isn't the Greatest Figure Skater of All Time By Brittany Alexandra Sulc, updated on March 1, 2022 AP Photo We all have our favorite figure skaters that we root for at the Olympics and other international championships. After his first competition in 2003, he quickly climbed the ranks. They also remain the only ice dancers to attain the lofty Super Slam title, having won every major competition in their junior and senior careers. John Curry, an English skater, originally wanted to become a dancer. In total, he won over 30 titles and medals. But he kept his sexuality a private matter until 2014, when the United States sent a delegation to Russia made up of high-profile gay athletes. He chose costumes that weren't typically worn by male skaters at the time, and he was never shy about making his position on social justice issues known. Instead, he went on to compete at Worlds in 1962, where he landed the first ever triple lutz in competition and won the world title. At age 45, he competed with his wife Madge Syers at the 1908 London Summer Olympics, coming in last but winning the bronze as only three pairs competed in this event, became the oldest figure skating Olympic medalist. He didn't hesitate to call out bad technique, like Morisi's quad toe, but also was very positive and supportive of the skaters. That same year, they won the silver medal at the European Figure Skating Championships and the bronze at the World Figure Skating Championships. He teamed up with Meryl Davis in 1997. Featuring Olympic medalists, openly gay skaters, and more, this list has them all! Athletes like Nancy Kerrigan, Michelle Kwan, Dorothy Hamill, and Randy Gardner wowed us all when they competed in the games years ago. [2][4] As a compromise, in 1957, he began to take figure skating lessons under the guidance of Ken Vickers at the Summerhill Road rink in Birmingham. From US champion Nathan Chen to the record-chasing Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, these are the athletes to look out for at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Tragically, he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1990 while on tour and died the following year. In the same competition, he was awarded a prize for inventing a new figure skating jump. Buttle took over the title in 2008, and the road to get there wasn't easy. He began skating at age 7 on hockey skates. Right IconThis ranking is based on an algorithm that combines various factors, including the votes of our users and search trends on the internet. Figure skating was first added to the Olympic lineup at the 1908 Summer Olympic Games (yes, you read that right) in London, and Salchow easily won gold. "I never felt like I needed to before, so whether people figured it out if I was gay or not, I had to make it official, why I had to come out publicly. Figure skating derives its name from the patterns (or figures) skaters make on the ice, an element that was a major part of the sport until recently. He came in second of the three participants in the special figures event at the 1908 Summer Olympics, earning him a silver medal. The couple finished seventh at the 1936 Winter Olympics. As he grew more serious about skating, his family relocated so he could join the Detroit Skating Club in Michigan. He also attended Yale with a major in statistics and data science, but he took a leave of absence to prep for the Beijing Olympic Games. Brian Orser, in an argument to keep a palimony suit private, once said Pockar came out professionally during a broadcasting career but was fired for doing so, according to Rainbow Ice. To succeed, skaters need access to year-round ice, experienced coaches and quality equipment all of which are challenging to come by in many countries. Olympic figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing starts on 4 February with the team event: rhythm dance and men's and pairs' short programs. Spanish LGBT media outlet dosmanzanas.com reported that . After his amateur career was over, he went pro, and later became a coach at York Region Skating Academy in Canada. Responsive Menu. The Spanish skater came in 25th place at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. Nathan Chen is great, but so are these other incredible skaters. He was a strong jumper throughout his figure skating career. Contents A Molly Aaron Yann Abback Jeremy Abbott Sarah Abitbol Julia Abolina Alexander Abt Alisa Agafonova Marina Aganina Gloria Agogliati Benjamin Agosto Nadine Ahmed Emilia Ahsan Olga Akimova Vadim Akolzin Naida Aksamija Melania Albea Margaret Albia Alibel Alegre Letizia Alessandrini Alisa Allapach Initially, he planned on playing hockey, but he became enamored with the concept of jumping on ice. "I don't know why there aren't more out skaters. Ted Barton is perfect for juniors; he never says anything rude about the juniors and doesn't talk during the programs. The British Figure Skating Championships take place in Sheffield this week and there is live coverage on the BBC on Saturday and Sunday. He was noted for combining ballet and modern dance influences into his skating. He took him down at the 2000 European Championships but fell flat at the world championships, placing fourth. He's only the second man to break the100-point barrier in the short program, the 200-point barrier in the long program and the 300-point barrier in the total score. A skater's performance is scored by a panel of judges and . [13], His skating was unusual in that his jumps were performed counter-clockwise but most of his spins (except flying spins) were performed clockwise. In the pairs competition he and his partner Ethel Muckelt finished fourth. With Dean, she won the World Professional Championshipfive times and the Challenge of Champions title thrice. The list British male single skatersincludes Steven Cousins, John Curry, Jack Dunn, Robin Cousinsand Henry Graham Sharp. He would go on to a world-class coaching career. His mother was a mail carrier, and his father was an army mechanic, so affording skating lessons was no easy task. It may not display this or other websites correctly. Additionally, he was the youngest male skater to win gold since Dick Button in 1948 and the first skater in history to land a quad loop in competition. He went on to win 10 professional competitions in a row, before turning to show skating. Welcome to British Ice Skating, the National Governing Body for the Sport of Ice Skating in the United Kingdom. ], In 2018 a documentary on Curry's life and career, The Ice King, was released by Dogwoof Pictures.[28]. The . 32 Best Male Figure Skaters of All Time, Ranked | Stadium Talk Athletes 32 Best Male Figure Skaters of All Time, Ranked By Brittany Alexandra Sulc, updated on May 16, 2022 Natacha Pisarenko / AP Photo Figure skating has long had the reputation of being a feminine sport. . Elvis Stojko was the last Canadian man to win a world title until Jeffrey Buttle came around. His sexuality would become a matter of public record thanks to a palimony suit filed in Canada, forcing the skater to come out in 1988, as reported by The Advocate. Elvis Stojko, a skater from Canada with Hungarian and Slovenian heritage, was named after Elvis Presley. B British male ice dancers (2 C, 27 P) British male pair skaters (1 C, 30 P) British male single skaters (2 C, 56 P) E English male figure skaters (3 C) Categories: Male figure skaters by nationality British figure skaters Brian Pockar, Canada, Men's SinglesThe Canadian skater represented his nation at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid. One of skating's greatest stars in the 1980s, Canada's Orser won silver at both the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo and the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, in the latter competing against Brian Boitano in the famous "Battle of the Brians." He was given the Lou Marsh Award, marking him as Canada's best athlete, to commemorate the achievement. He managed to land all his double jumps before the age of 10, five triple jumps by 12 and the triple Axel before hitting 13. Young Stars March. Adam Rippon, the eldest of six, hails from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Age: 82 (age at death . John Allen Wisden Nicks (born 22 April 1929) is a British figure skating coach and former pair skater. Australian who did commentary at the last 3 Olympics for the official olympic stream. A few years later at the 1991 World Championships, he made history, becoming the first person ever to land a quadruple-double jump combo. In 2014, he became one of the youngest male skaters to win an Olympic medal. Five-time World Champion. Her parents are among their coaches. [19] It caused a brief scandal in Europe at the time, but Curry's sexual orientation was generally ignored by the press and public for many years afterwards. Brian Orser, in an argument to keep a palimony suit private, once said Pockar came out professionally during a broadcasting career but was fired for doing so, according to Rainbow Ice. Alongside skating partner Tai Babilonia, Gardner represented the U.S. at the 1976 Olympics, placing fifth. Cumming was involved in a motorcycle accident in May 1914 after which he contracted tetanus and died. While he landed two-footed, he was still credited with fully rotating it. DISCIPLINES. Needless to say, it was a good call. Following the 2018 Winter Olympics, he enjoyed a winning streak through October 2021. In 1924 he finished fifth in the singles event. Dennis Alfred Silverthorne (1 February 1923 in Brighton, England 2 January 2004 in London, Ontario, Canada) was a British pair skater who competed with his sister Winifred Silverthorne. Slovak newspaper SME reports Nepela remains one of the greatest athletes in his nation's history. He had not only had given up on skating, but the skating world had given up on him when he decided to compete at. He has medaled at six world championships and is the only male skater aside from Jan Hoffman to win seven championship titles. 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