Elvis Stojko

1972-

Canadian figure skater

During the 1990s Canadian skater Elvis Stojko (pronounced STOY-ko) revolutionized the field of men's figure skating with his athletic prowess. In 1991 he became the first figure skater to land a quadruple jump followed by a double jump at the world championships, and then in 1997 he surpassed himself by becoming the first person to land a quadruple-triple combination. Although Stojko was often hampered by judges who preferred dance-based, graceful programs to Stojko's athletic, often martial arts-inspired offerings, he still won the world championships three times, twice finished second at the Olympics, and earned the unofficial title "the King of Jumps" from sportswriters and fans.

Early Influences

As the family story goes, when Stojko was two he saw figure skating on the family television, pointed at the screen, and declared, "I do dat!" His mother, Irene, signed him up for skating lessons at age five, and within a few years he was jumping better than many adult skaters. At age 15 he became the Canadian junior champion; Canada's other male figure skating stars, Brian Orser and Kurt Browing, did not achieve that status at such an early age: Orser was 17 and Browing was 18.

Although Stojko's mother introduced him to skating, it was his father, Steve, who enrolled him in karate lessons at age nine. He earned his black belt a mere seven years later. Karate has long been nearly as much of a love for Stojko as figure skating, and the influence that martial arts have had upon him can be clearly seen in many of his programs. Over the years he has skated to sound tracks from martial-arts themed films and to the sounds of Japanese taiko drummers,

and his choreography owes much more to Bruce Lee than it does to ballet.

Taking on the World

When Stojko graduated to the adult level of competition, he quickly established himself as a force to be reckoned with there as well, finishing ninth at the 1990 world championships. He moved up in 1991, but only to sixth, despite landing an unprecedented quadruple-double jump combination. Then he suffered a major disappointment at the 1992 Olympics. In sixth place after the short program, he finished seventh despite being the only competitor not to make any mistakes during the long program. The international judges, who were used to elegant costumes, classical music, and ballet-style dancing on ice, "ridiculed" Stojko's uncut hair and the punk-inspired costumes that his mother sewed for him, he said. "I was told to get in touch with my feminine side," Stojko later recalled to Time magazine's Robert Sullivan. "I said, 'Buddy, I don't have a feminine side.'"

Two years later, Stojko returned to the Olympics and skated such a clean and athletic program that the judges were forced to give him a silver, if only because he was the only one of the major competitors who did not make any mistakes. It was certainly not because he had become more classical in his style: He skated to music from the sound track of the film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. A month later, skating the same program at the world championships, Stojko won the gold.

Quest to Stay on Top

Stojko retained the title of world champion in 1995, despite suffering a partially torn ligament in his ankle a few weeks before that prevented him from practicing many of his jumps until ten days before the competition. He failed to nail the landing of his quadruple toe loop early in his long program, so to compensate he added an extra, unplanned jump combination, a triple toe loop-triple Lutz, four minutes into his already strenuous program.

Stojko was the favorite going into the 1996 world championships, since they were held on Canadian ice in Edmonton, Alberta, but a poor showing in the short program put him in seventh place going into the long program. He gave a fabulous performance in front of a crowd that was shouting, clapping, and on their feet through much of his long program, but it was not enough. He finished fourth.

Stojko came back in 1997, again doing things his way: His music that year was from the sound track of the film Dragonheart. Stojko also had a new jump in his program, a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination. He was the only person ever to have landed this jump in competition, and even he had done it only once, a mere two weeks earlier. Still, he nailed the combination, and with a little help from the rest of the field-defending champion Todd Eldridge fell, and of the two Russian competitors one performed poorly and one withdrew because of an injury-Stojko reclaimed his world title for the third time in four years.

This would be Stojko's last major victory in an international competition. He competed in the 1998 Olympics, but he had a badly pulled muscle in his groin that prevented him from doing any quadruple jumps. He skated a clean program of all triple jumps, which earned him a silver medal. Stojko decided to remain an amateur and to take one more shot at winning an Olympic gold, but his career was slowly sliding, in large part because of a series of injuries. He managed a silver at the 2000 world championships, but he wobbled on several of his jumps at the 2002 Olympics, where he skated a reprise of his 1994 Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story program, and finished eighth. He retired at the end of that season.

Stojko did not appear in competition for the first time in over 20 years in the 2002-03 skating season. During some of that time, he was the star performer in a month-long professional skating tour called Canon SK8 with Elvis. Stojko said that he enjoyed having the opportunity to skate purely for fun, but that he had not ruled out skating in professional competitions in the future.

Chronology

Awards and Accomplishments

Doing His Own Thing

Throughout his career, Stojko remained faithful to his artistic vision, even though avoiding the typical, classical style of figure skating quite possibly cost him two Olympic gold medals. "If I skated like someone else because I was told to, that would be plagiarism," Stojko explained to Sullivan. When Stojko finally did win the world championships, skating in his own style, he was quite conscious of the prejudice that he had overcome and the rules that he had changed. In 1994 he declared to Maclean's Mary Nemeth, "I've opened the door for younger skaters to come up and do their own things."

FURTHER INFORMATION

Periodicals

Bellafante, Ginia. "Look Who's Standing." Time (February 23, 1998): 76-77.

Deacon, James. "Elvis Hasn't Quite Left the Building Yet." Maclean's (November 11, 2002): 89.

——. "Elvis Time!" Maclean's (February 16, 1998): 50-53.

——. "Leaps of Faith." Maclean's (February 9, 1998): 36-38.

——. "The Nagano Factor: Canadian Skating Slumps as the Olympics Approach." Maclean's (February 17, 1997): 64-65.

——. "Profile in Courage." Maclean's (February 23, 1998): 36-37.

——. "The Superstar Next Door: Elvis Stojko." Maclean's (December 18, 1995): 72-73.

——. "The World at His Feet." Maclean's (March 20, 1995): 45-46.

Jenish, D'Arcy. "Elvis Reigns Again." Maclean's (March 31, 1997): 52-53.

——. "Sharing the Podium: Browning and Stojko Win Silver and Bronze." Maclean's (April 6, 1992): 51.

——. "Talent under Pressure." Maclean's (February 3, 1992): 36-37.

Knisley, Michael. "Elvis Left the Building Unhappy." Sporting News (February 28, 1994): 12.

Lefton, Terry. "MasterCard Campaign Takes NHL Tack with Orr, Stojko on Ice." Brandweek (November 9, 1998): 16.

Martin, Sandra. "Elvis Thrills!" Chatelaine (September, 1994): 110-112.

Nemeth, Mary. "Hail to the King: Elvis Stojko Turns Innovation into Gold." Maclean's (April 4, 1994): 50.

——. "The High Price of Pressure at the Top." Maclean's (April 1, 1996): 62-63.

Starr, Mark. "The King of Jumps." Newsweek (February 16, 1998): 50-51.

Sullivan, Robert. "Is the King Going to Take the Crown?" Time (February 9, 1998): 90-91.

Swift, E. M. "They're the Tops." Sports Illustrated (March 31, 1997): 46-49.

Other

Canon SK8 with Elvis Stojko. http://www.skatewithelvis.com (January 5, 2003).

"SLAM! Presents Elvis Stojko." Canoe.ca. http://www.canoe.ca/SlamElvisStojko/home.html (January 5, 2003).

"Stojko Finishes Eighth in Olympics, Says He'll Go to Worlds." Canoe.ca. http://www.canoe.ca/2002GamesFigureSkatingArchive/feb14_king-cp.html (January 17, 2003).

Sketch by Julia Bauder