|
|
|
Links for Amateur Years:
Early Years |
1986/87 | 1987/88 | 1988/89 | 1989/90 |
1990/91 | 1991/92 | 1992/93 | 1993/94 |
Back to Memory Lane
1988/89 Competitive Season
Placement at International Competitions:
- 1988 Skate Electric - 1st
- 1988 Skate Canada - 1st
- 1988 NHK - 3rd
- 1989 Canadians - 1st
- 1989 Worlds - 1st
1988/89 Competitive Programs and Exhibition Debuts:
- Short Program: The Cotton Club choreographed by Kevin Cottam - Light blue unitard/top part with white pin stripes and bow tie. This program featured a 3 flip, 3axel/2 loop combination, and double axel
- Long Program: Gaiette Parisienne/LeCid/Can Can choreographed by Kevin Cottam - Navy Blue unitard with double stripe going down side of pant legs/white turtle neck. The elements in this program varied from competition to competition, but usually included a 2 axel/half loop/3 sal combination, quad, 3 flip, 3 axel/2 loop combination, 3 axel, 3 loop, 3 toe/3toe combination, 2 axel.
- Exhibition: What a Wonderful World sung by Louis Armstrong - Black pants and medium blue, long-sleeved shirt. This program allowed Kurt to show his artistic side and has become one of his signature pieces.
- Exhibition: Sign Your Name/Dance Little Sister sung by Terrence Trent D'Arby - black pants, black muscle shirt, black leather coat, black hat, sweat band and sunglasses. This number is choreographically brilliant and delivered in a way that only Kurt himself could!! The finale of this program is a double axel over a chair.
- Exhibition: Tequila (The Pee Wee Herman song) - This program started out as Kurt's Short Program for the 1987/88 season, but soon became so popular that he kept it as an exhibition piece. This is the second year he performed this as an exhibition number.
Landing the quad at '88 Worlds in Budapest opened a lot of doors for Kurt. The figure skating world was now watching to see what he would do this season. Kurt knew he needed to take advantage of this opportunity.
With the help of choreographer, Kevin Cottam, they put together 2 new competitive programs that were not only technically challenging, but that also showcased Kurt's personality, humor and crowd appeal. Johnny Esaw, while commentating Canadian network CTV, can hardly keep from laughing throughout his programs ... especially his short program.
The 1988/89 season started with a bang. He took the Gold Medal at both Skate Electric and Skate Canada. A month or so later, he had to settle for a bronze medal at NHK, placing behind Alexander Fadeev and Petr Barna.
After skating a short tour in England, it was time to get ready for Canadians, which were held in Chicoutimi, Quebec. Kurt's main rivals were his good buddies, and fellow Royal Glenorians, Norm Proft and Michael Slipchuk ("Slipper"). In his LP, Kurt landed a picture-perfect quad which helped him to easily secure the Gold Medal. He was also named team captain for the World Championships in Paris.
Kurt's whole family was there for him in Paris at the 1989 World Championships. After placing 5th in figures, the "press" had pretty much written Kurt off. The US Networks seemed to center on Petrenko, Bowman and Fadeev as the forerunners for the medal. But Kurt knew that he had placed 3rd in the Freeskate (behind Orser and Boitano) at 1988 Worlds and he had a shot at this thing!
Kurt's Original Program went perfect. He landed a triple axel/double loop combination, triple axel and a double axel in the SP ... making him the first man in history to land 2 triple axels in the same Original Program. He received a total of eleven 5.9's (7 for required elements and 4 for presentation). This put Kurt in second place behind Fadeev going into the Long Program.
Kurt's LP was even more exciting! He landed his quad (though his freeleg slightly brushed the ice) and 7 triples. Five of the triples were triple-double combinations. Again, he received seven 5.9's for technical merit and four 5.9's for artistic impression. That was enough to take the Gold Medal! Kurt had gone from 15th in the World to Number 1 in the World in 2 short years ... and he also became only the 4th Canadian male to win a World Figure Skating Championship in 78 years. (Others were Jackson - 1962; Jenkins - 1963; Orser - 1987)
After winning Worlds in Paris, Kurt joined the ISU's European tour starting in France. When he finally arrived home, he was given a hero's welcome at Edmonton Municipal Airport from many Albertans, including about 100 kids from his home town of Caroline (about 1/4 of Caroline's population!) His mother commented about all the mail Kurt had received ... about 106 pieces! Little did she know then of the tens of thousands of letters Kurt would receive in the years to come!!
Quotes about Kurt:
1988 Skate Electric by Nicky Slater: "He kinda laughs at himself as he skates and he does everything and makes it look so easy."
1988 Skate Canada by Johnny Esaw: "He's pointing over to the spot where he had a little bit of trouble with the ice. You saw him point back over his shoulder. I mean, that's not part of the program?" Debbi Wilkes/Brian Pockar: "OF COURSE IT IS!!" Brian Pockar: "Yeah, and that's what makes it so neat ... because he's relaxed enough in the program that he's able to fool around a bit."
1988 Skate Canada by Johnny Esaw: "Kurt Browning brings down the house with a rousing encore where his talents are only matched by his personality on the ice, and that's sure to take him a long way."
1989 Canadians by Debbi Wilkes: And a triple flip! And there's just no preparation ... Nothing! He just *bangs* it out!"
1989 Canadians by Johnny Esaw: He's not just an athletic jumper. He's a talented, innovative, imaginative skater who puts everything between the jumps" .... "You can't put more into one program than Kurt Browning has just done. The world will now recognize that this is a million dollar skater with a million dollar personality and a talent that I think is unmatched today."
1989 Canadians by Johnny Esaw: "There's a big mob scene going on here at the exit gate waiting for Browning to come off ... because he is a national hero, well groomed, good looking and personality kid."
1989 Worlds during SP by Ted Reynolds: "Kurt's enjoying himself, playing to the audience and the judges. You can tell he's having fun."..... "He's always bubbly, this fellow, as you can see. He has all sorts of pazazz."
1989 Worlds - Toller Cranston when asked to analyze the top men contenders before the LP: "I can analyze them by comparing them to cars. I think Fadeev is very much like a Mercedes. Very trusty & a perfect machine. Bowman is a classic with style ... like a Jaguar. Maybe Browning is a kind of Lamborghini ... fast, dangerous and virtuoso. And of course there's a Ferrari out there in Victor Petrenko who is extremely incredible and virtuoso and an artist as well. Any of them can crash and any of them can win."
1989 Worlds - Toller Cranston during LP: "Two triples right in a row at the end of the program. I don't know how anyone is going to beat this. This is entirely dazzling skating ... dazzling technique ... dazzling virtuosity ... it's wild! I mean, if the skiers have the reputation of being the crazy Canucks, I think they have to pass it on to the figure skaters. Kurt Browning is the crazy Canuck. Everyone is standing on their feet here. The content was so spectacular that there hasn't been anything like it ever seen before."
1989 Worlds - Ted Reynolds after LP: "How they could conceivably beat it for technical content, I don't really know. There's absolutely nothing someone else could do out there ... unless they take off and fly. "
1989 Worlds - Chris Bowman in the K&C: "What did Kurt do?" .... Reply by his coach, Frank Carroll: "It's not what he did ... it's how he did it."
1989 Worlds - Scott Hamilton during Exhibitions (Dance Little Sister Program): "And you think of Kurt Browning as a great technical skater. He was the first man to do a quadruple jump in competition. I have never seen him do anything this choreographically wild. Very Impressive! Your first impression of Kurt Browning is that he's a hot prospect ... that he's *gonna* be great. But seeing the improvements and the maturity that he's gained this year, that *gonna* is GONE! This guy *is* great. And he's only gonna get better." .... "WHOA! He's headed for the chair ... and he jumps OVER the chair! That takes guts to do!"
Dewey Browning on Kurt: "When we first bought a pair of figure skates for him, he had been skating in hockey skates, and he had to go to Caroline that night for practice. And so we went down to the pond not too far from there and I said, 'Kurt, we'd better go down there and put on these figure skates so you won't make a fool out of yourself when you go to practice tonight and fall all over with those picks on the end.' He said, 'Aww, dad! I know how to skate.' And I said, 'Sure you know how to skate, but lets go down and try it.' So we went down, and he put them on and made 2 steps and fell flat on his face .. he took 2 more steps and ... flat on his face. So I remember that very well."
Harvey Northcott (Kurt's hockey coach): "He had a heart as big as a wash tub"
Quotes from Kurt:
Kurt during a TSN interview prior to '89 Canadians: "I think that's why I did become a skater. It's because of the ability to fly 10 to 15 feet through the air and land ... not crash ... I mean land controlled. And it's a lot of fun. It's a real rush."
Kurt during a TSN interview prior to '89 Canadians: "If I'm anywhere, I'd rather be in front of people doing something that I'm good at."
Kurt during a TSN interview prior to '89 Canadians: "It's not a good feeling to be in an arena full of 6000 people and everyone is looking at you ... and you feel all alone. It's very scary. It's almost like you're caught with your pants down. Ya know, it's not good at all. If you can get all those 6000 people on your side, then all of a sudden you have an army. And you're very strong ... you're very powerful ... and you skate very well."
Kurt to Coach Jiranek at 1989 Worlds just before the LP: "If I lose, it's not that bad. I've already accomplished one of my goals for the season. I didn't get a haircut."
Kurt (bewildered!) to Brian Williams after he realized he won 1989 Worlds: "I'm kinda lost right now. I know I'm sitting here and it's all over ... but .... yeah ... that kinda sums it up. I don't know what to feel right now. I'm kinda lost" .... "If I could like dedicate this one to anyone ... it's out there to Brian (Orser)."
1989 Worlds Interview when asked about winning the gold medal "too soon": "Every situation in every competition is different. An opportunity came up and I kind of enjoy opportunities. I like to jump all over them, so I sure took this one. It just seems like a guy could wait sorta a whole 4 year span without winning it ... So I don't care when it comes, I'm just so glad it came."
1989 Worlds - Kurt commentating his own LP: "It's a long way out to the center of the ice ... I gotta tell you that" ...... "There are parts of the solo where it's easier to let yourself go out to the audience and see their faces and get some reaction back ... and those are the great moments" .... "The trick is to make it look easy."
Kurt in "Dreams Do Come True" special on TSN: "When I started skating, most of my skating took place in Rocky Mountain House. So when I'm in this rink (Caroline), I think about hockey alot. Chasing little girls around, stealing their toques. The rink hasn't changed much. Everyone's still out there stealing toques. It's kinda nice. Guess I should have brought my skates, eh?"
Kurt in "Dreams Do Come True" special on TSN: "I woke up in the morning and my first thought was, "Champion du Monde" which is what it means in French, "Champion of the World" and it hit me in French, not English, which is really freaky. But it was such a weird feeling. It was like, What do I do now?" (Kurt quote submitted by Nancy in Vancouver)
Kurt in "Dreams Do come True" special on TSN: "I still don't think I've hit my dream yet. My dream is a really abstract one. It involves having a good skating career and using it to become a better person and to try to initiate some sort of base for the next section of my life. You know, it's just not one hunk of medal. It just doesn't sum it up for me. So even being World Champion is great. It's a stepping stone. It's not going to be the end." (Kurt quote submitted by Nancy in Vancouver)
Kurt in a CBC Interview after 1989 Worlds: "It's strange. Sometimes we step off the ice, and I have to ask my coach if I actually completed one jump or not. I will completely forget. I think it has to do with just going on to the next element in the program, so sometimes we step off the ice and I'm not even sure how I skated. But it's good that way. If you do make a mistake, it's forgotten immediately and you can just continue." .... Interviewer asks: Surely you know you did a quad last night." ... Kurt: "I remember that one!"
Did you know?
- Kurt arrived late at the 1988 Skate Electric competition because he went to the wrong airport and missed his flight! He also missed the bus (and thus his practice session) on the day of his freeskate! By the time Worlds in Paris rolled around, Kurt's good friend and World Team mate, Michael Slipchuk, was appointed Kurt's personal alarm clock! :-) (Kurt tidbit from Kirsten in PEI)
- After Kurt's gold medal at 1988 Skate Canada (his first gold medal at a major International competition), Kurt did something so "Kurt-like". After the medals, and flowers, and skating around, Kurt, last to leave the ice of course, motioned to the crowd with a "don't go yet" gesture and skated over to the boards, and returned to center ice with a camera. He wanted to "capture the moment" and took a picture of the crowd along one side of the arena. Well that started the ball rolling! Then the end section wanted a picture .... which he obliged. Then the other side section wanted a picture .... which he also obliged .... and then he ran out of film. Needless to say the crowd loved it, and I expect he made several fans for life that day! (Kurt tidbit submitted by Barb from Manitoba)
- Kurt and Norm Proft were jumped by 6 drunks on the way to 1988 Skate Canada and Kurt sustained a cut on his forehead.
- Kurt told his sister, Dena, to save her money and not go to 1989 Worlds in Paris because it wasn't his turn yet to win. Luckily, she didn't take his advice, and she got to see him win his first of 4 World Gold Medals ... an accomplishment that only 3 other men (Button, Jenkins and Hamilton) have matched in the past 50 years of figure skating.
- Kurt became the first man to land 2 triple axels in the same Original Program at 1989 Worlds in Paris. He completed a solo triple axel and then one in combination with the double loop.
- During a show called, "The Great Skates of the '80's" hosted by Toller Cranston, Toller said he *heard a rumor* that Linda Leber called Boitano from Worlds in Paris and said he should feel lucky that he retired and wasn't there to compete against Browning.
- In 1989, Kurt became the National spokesperson for The Muscular Dystrophy Association. He decided to lend his name to this particular charity because his best friend's father died from MD.
Many thanks to the following LKK Members for their Kurt contributions for this "chapter" of Memory Lane:
- Nancy in Vancouver
- Kirsten in PEI
- Barb L. from Manitoba
- Dawn N. from Ontario
Go To 1989/90
|
|
|
|
|
