Champion skater ends illustrious career

Copyright 2001 Pacific Press Ltd.

Scott Hamilton, an Olympic champion, cancer survivor and beloved battler of the figure skating circuit, completed his last lutz as a touring pro Tuesday.

Hamilton, 42, brought the crowd to its feet when he appeared on the ice at GM Place in this season's final show of the 77-city North American odyssey that is the Stars On Ice circuit. He announced earlier this year that it would be his last with the tour.

Harsh judges' eyes were absent from the crowd of more than 14,000 people who filled the lower bowl and most of the upper level. Audience favourite Kurt Browning, another four-time world champion, and ice dance duo Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz drew loud screams, but the crowd saluted Hamilton with a standing ovation.

After the ensemble opening, Hamilton kicked off the evening as the godfather of good vibes with James Brown's I Feel Good.

Later, he played the clown as a duffer dressed in plus-fours and a peaked cap for his hacker golfer routine.

Fans like Joanna Baxter, 27, a Vancouver jewellery designer, responded to Hamilton's wackiness.

"I think he put a delightfully playful twist on the more traditional, staid sports theme. It was fun. It was upbeat. It was just delightful."

Hamilton has been with Stars On Ice since its inception in 1986. A headliner for 12 years, he joined the tour after being dumped by his previous professional outlet, Ice Capades

After the Vancouver show he said he's leaving on a high note.

"It's nice to go out when you can develop the next project and you still have the legs (to do it)," said Hamilton.

"(My feelings are) very mixed. I never expected to last this long."

Adopted by Ernie and Dorothy Hamilton of Bowling Green, Ohio, Hamilton was a normal and healthy kid until the age of five, when he suddenly stopped growing. The mysterious disease, which prevented his body from absorbing any nutrition from the food he ate, was never properly diagnosed, but at the age of nine, he began to grow again. He reached an adult height of five-foot-three-and-a-half inches, but was a giant in the figure skating world.

He won the fourth of four consecutive world championships in 1984, the same year he captured Olympic gold at the Sarajevo Winter Games.

Skate Canada's Louis Stong, the former coach of Hamilton's friend and rival Kurt Browning, said Hamilton's legacy looms large over the world of men's figure skating.

"He's been a clown, he's done serious stuff, he's done it all," Stong said. "I mean he's a survivor. I think his life story suggests that. His competitive legacy was terrific actually. He was a tremendous competitor as an amateur skater (but) his pro career is probably what most people remember best and it's been huge."

"We've all enjoyed his terrific performances," he said of Hamilton's 15-year professional career. "I hate comparing people really, (but) Kurt (Browning) and Scott (Hamilton) have lot of the same qualities. They're very personable and they're very vulnerable and they allow that. Neither of them is the most handsome people or the best shaped people, but there's an inner quality, an inner beauty in both of them, and they expose that, which is very charming."

Apart from his remarkable career on the ice, in 1997 he underwent chemotherapy and surgery in his battle with testicular cancer. After surgery in June of that year, he was back on the ice practising for the tour by September.

"I think what people will remember most is the fact that he became ill and that he survived that and he was able to come back from that and be as good as ever," Stong said.

Fans at GM Place said they were impressed with Hamilton as an athlete and a person.