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Razzle Dazzle
Whether as World Champion, Star on Ice or Reality TV contestant, figure skater Kurt Browning still has the flair that's entertained audiences worldwide. We chat with this prairie kid made-big as he returns West for his crowning glory.
| Source: |
WHERE Calgary |
| Date: |
March 2006 |
| Author: |
Laura Pellerine |
He's more than just another Canadian on skates:
He's a four-time World Champion,
Three-time Olympian,
Order of Canada Recipient.
He's the first person to land a quadruple jump in competition and he's
the first Canadian athlete to have his face on a cereal box.
Over the past two decades Kurt Browning has become a Canadian icon -
not just for the many accomplishments he achieved during his
eight-year amateur run, but because of his creativity, his ability to
entertain, to fill arenas, and not rest on his creative
laurels.
At age 39, twelve years into a robust professional career, he hasn't
slowed down; he's touring with the American and Canadian HSBC Stars On
Ice shows, is a mentor to Canadian Olympians through the Team Visa
program, and has starred on FOX's Skating with Celebrities. He is also
a devoted husband and dad who lives in Toronto with wife, Sonia
Rodriguez, a principle dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, and
their two-year-old son, Gabriel.
Despite all this, the kid from rural Alberta is still humble - a
"country boy" - who cherishes his western Canadian roots, from wearing
his favourite cowboy hat to betting on chuckwagon races. Browning
returns to the prairies to be inducted into the World Figure Skating
Hall of Fame during the ISU World Figure Skating Championships held
here in Calgary from March 20 to 26. He follows up with an HSBC Stars
On Ice show, at the Saddledome on May 5. He talks to WHERE about his
career ups and downs, and how he feels about being etched into world
history in the province he still calls home.
WC: So you grew up in Alberta?
KB: I was born in Rocky Mountain House. I grew up just 5 miles
west of Caroline - it's the closest town, more a village. When I was
there, grades kindergarten through 12 were under one roof. I was
raised on my Mom & Dad's farm - well, we didn't even farm it, so you
wouldn't call it a farm, but I was raised in the country, a country
boy.
WC: Was being a figure skater an issue growing up in a small
town?
KB: To be honest I had a duel identity. In Caroline, I wasn't
really known as a figure skater. I was the guy who was late for
school, or who was missing for a week to go do his strange skating
thing, but nobody really saw me skate. I didn't have to walk down the
hallway at school, and get that, 'Why are you skating? That's only for
sissies' thing.
WC: I heard you started out in hockey. How did you get into
figure skating?
KB: It was my mom's idea. Almost every kid in Caroline was on
the ice figure skating at that time because the rink was open, and you
could practice. I played hockey until I was 16, and I had my fair
share of high points and tournament awards. But if I had stayed any
longer, I think I would have gotten killed, cause it seemed that
everyone else remembered to grow, and I forgot.
WC: What memories do you have of Calgary?
KB: When I was aged 13 to 15, we spent the whole summer
there. I skated in the Max Bell Arena, and stayed in a camper in the
parking lot with my mom. Calgary was the big city; I loved going to
the zoo. And the Calgary Olympics in '88, were for me, one of the best
memories of my whole life.
WC: What made them so special?
KB: Well, it wasn't what I thought the Olympics were going to
be, because I had always thought that the Olympics meant that you went
to some far off exotic place. Getting in my 1973 Buick LeSabre and
driving for a couple hours to the Olympic games wasn't quite what I
had in mind. But once I got there I realized that we were the exotic
place for all the other people. And I was very proud that Calgary
played such a great host. I felt like a hero, you know a conquering
hero, when I wore my red jacket and my white cowboy hat and went
downtown and met people and walked into any restaurant and got a
table. It was just a huge, Canadian rock star experience.
WC: When you're in Calgary, where's your favourite place to eat?
KB: Well, this isn't very exotic, but I grew up a poor,
struggling skater, and wing night at Earl's was pretty important. The
restaurant that started out with like, papier mâché penguins and
parrots, has matured along with me. I feel like I'm doing a commercial
for Earl's, but you know what? I feel like I should be a shareholder
I've bought so much clam chowder soup and Albino Pale Ale. When I come
home, I want to do something that makes me feel like I'm in Alberta,
so I always go to Earl's.
WC: Where do you like to go shopping?
KB: [laughs] I don't shop. I make the big mistake of going
shopping once a year, I buy too much clothes, they're all the same,
they're all out of style, my whole closet looks bad. I have to change
that habit.
WC: What else do you like to do in town?
KB: If there was an event that I'd like to go to, it would be
dusting off my boots and putting on a hat (which I think I look rather
good in) [laughs], and going to the Stampede, and making dollar bets
with my brother on which chuckwagon is going to win. I was also an
honourary captain for the Edmonton Oilers, so going to an
Oiler/Calgary game with my brother would be a lot of fun because he
used to be an Oilers fan, but now he's a big Flames fan. So it would
be fun to sit there with a beer in our hands and yell at each other
about which team should be winning.
WC: What do you feel when you're on the ice and in front of a
crowd?
KB: Well, if I'm prepared, and if I'm confident with what I'm
skating, I feel great, I absolutely feel great. It's almost like a
first date every night.
WC: Is it better to skate first, or last?
KB: Sometimes it's great to skate first because you know the
guy behind you isn't very good at having pressure put on him. But if
the guy can handle pressure - like Elvis Stojko - skating before him
was never good because he would respond to the competition ten
fold.
WC: What's your favourite routine?
KB: I did a TV special and we rebuilt the street set from
Singin' in the Rain where Gene Kelly is, you know, literally singing
in the rain. It's the one time where I can watch myself skate and I'm
not fixing anything in my mind or wishing I had done something
different. It's just exactly the way I would have wanted it. It's been
over a decade now, and I have people still, all the time, coming up to
me going, "Singin' in the Rain is my favourite" and I have to look at
them and say, "You know what? It's my favourite, too."
WC: Twelve years into your professional career and sneaking up
on 40 - how do you feel about your skating?
KB: I'm still skating very well. What's difficult for me to do,
is to get through a whole year skating well. Last year, for example we
were on HSBC Stars On Ice and I'm skating great, and the night before
the Montreal show I decide to go to the gym and work out. So I ride a
bike for 10 mins - the next day I couldn't skate. I fell twice in the
show, and my leg seized up, and I screwed up my whole show. That's
what happens when you're 40 - you get hurt more often and it takes
longer to recover. I need to stay healthy so that I can give Regina,
or Saskatoon, or Edmonton, or Calgary the best the show can offer. I'm
glad to say that every once in a while I can still get out there and
be very proud of the way I'm skating, at this age.
WC: And backflips? Are you still...?
KB: I gave up backflips 10 years ago because I was always
touring with Scott Hamilton in the United States, and Brian Orser in
Canada, and they both have great backflips. I did mine for 5 years,
and hurt myself more than once, and as a wedding present to my wife, I
stopped doing them. [laughs]
WC: Recently you did the Skating with Celebrities show...
KB: [gruff, joking tone] Toughest competition I've ever been
in! Well my wife's a dancer and we got hooked on Dancing with the
Stars. Then the phone rang, and "we're doing the skating one, do you
want to do it?" We looked at each other, and I said, "well, yeah!" And
it was fun. Deborah Gibson was fun, we laughed so much, and she was so
enthusiastic and motivated.
WC: What has skating or sports, taught you about life?
KB: Sports have taught me you really need to take care of every
day as best you can because you never really know what it's going to
bring you. I thought for sure that as World Champion going into the
[1994] Olympic Games, I'd get a medal, because that's what happens
when you're top of the world. But then I slipped a disc and my back
went out, and I wasn't capable of skating to the level I
needed.
WC: It must have been tough with everyone expecting you to be
at the top of your game...
KB: I couldn't sleep. I felt awful, I cried often, I couldn't
believe my face was on the front page of the Edmonton Sun and yet, how
the hell was I supposed to skate when I was having trouble tying up my
own shoe? It was like a bad dream, but it was real. But you
learn. Scott Hamilton said the Olympics make everybody who goes a
better person, win, lose or draw. If you can get through that, man,
you gotta be a stronger person afterwards.
WC: You're coming here for the World Championships. Which
Canadians have a chance at a medal?
KB: Jeff Buttle, of course. Emmanuel Sandhu is a renegade
talent, but if he can control himself that week he definitely has a
chance. And Joannie Rochette is certainly an awesome skater who has a
wildcard chance.
WC: You're about to be inducted into the World Figure Skating
Hall of Fame. How did you achieve this honour?
KB: One of the best things that I think is being rewarded, is
longevity. If I would have been four time World Champion, and one time
silver medalist at Worlds - all those things I did when I represented
Canada - and that's all, I'm not so sure that that would have been
enough to put me there. I think I've been able to have integrity with
my skating, and this is something that I will brag about because I'm
proud of it.
WC: What do you mean by "integrity"?
KB: I think when people who like figure skating come see me they're
confident that they're going to get something worth watching. As soon
as people start losing that confidence, saying, 'He's slowing down' or
'his jumps aren't what they used to be', then it's time to get out. I
want to be remembered as someone who cared about his skating, and
sometimes that means getting your ass off the ice before you get too
old.
WC: How do you feel about coming home to Alberta for the
induction?
KB: I love it. My family will be there, and some of my friends
will get to come, and it will be at the World Championships. I think
the timing is wonderful to step out on the ice and be, just for a
second, on the ice at the World Championships once again, and to be
remembered.
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