THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
Stojko speaks out on figure skating
Elvis Stojko admits it’s not a popular idea, but says it anyway:
“Figure skating is not a sport. It’s a highly skilled form of athletic entertainment.”
OK, now that the winner of seven Canadian men’s championships, three world titles and two Olympic silver medals has everyone’s attention, let him explain.
A sport can be measured, Stojko says, but while a small section of figure skating can be measured to a degree, it’s generally subjective.
What about boxing, he’s asked? It, too, is an athletic activity in which judging frequently determines winners and losers. That’s true, Stojko allows, but at least a boxer could control the outcome by subduing his opponent before the judges filled out scorecards.
Skating’s biggest problem is the scoring system that takes the “magic” out of it, he adds. Moving from the practice of deducting points from a perfect mark of 6.0 for flaws to a formula based on points for various manoeuvres and skaters’ ability to execute them has created a copycat skating world in which far too many programs look alike.
“Coaches, choreographers and athletes are pulling out their hair because they have made it so complicated,” Stojko says in a telephone interview from the practically brand-new home he and wife Gladys Orozco have bought near Peterborough, Ont.
Stojko is now 44 and 19 years past his last world championship, but he’s still a brand name in figure skating, part of a Skate Canada mentorship program and once again a cast member of Investors Group Stars on Ice, which makes 12 stops on a sea-to-sea tour.
He’s also still confident in his abilities, saying devotion to training and a good diet would allow him to compete with the 21st century athletes half his age, but he doesn’t want to do that.
Mostly it sounds as if he doesn’t want to do all that training again.
“I went through it already,” Stojko says. “I did the whole process, but I want to do other things.”
That list has included not only performing on stage in Chicago The Musical in Toronto in 2014 and in the 2016 made-for-TV movie Ice Girls, but also racing Go-Karts. Stojko finished third in the Rotax DD2 masters division of the 2015 Canadian championships at Bowmanville, Ont., and second in the same division of the U.S. Open at Las Vegas.
Now, though, he’s planning a hiatus from racing because there’s a load of landscaping required for that nearly new house. It could take a while, though, because Stars on Ice is on tour until May 21 at Victoria. It has been a decade since Stojko last skated with this troupe, so why do it now?
“Because I can,” he says. “My body feels good. I’m in shape. I don’t slot myself in as 44. I’m still doing stuff I did when I was in my 20s, (quadruple toe loops) and that stuff. I’ll try it on the tour for fun.”