Pain, presence, magic.

Full Text COPYRIGHT Maclean Hunter Ltd. (Canada) 1991

A concrete curb running parallel to Ottawa's Rideau Canal is only 18 inches high, but Kurt Browning--three-time world figure skating champion and one of the most athletic jumpers in the sport's history--can barely scale the step. "My back's really screwed up," says the 25-year-old Browning, wincing. Oblivious to onlookers and dressed in a jacket and tie, Browning demonstrates the jump that damaged his back. The problem, he explains as his black overcoat whirls about him, is that his right ankle no longer has enough flexibility to absorb the shock of landing--which instead is carried through to his lower back. Last week, Browning's injury sent jitters through the Canadian sports fraternity when media reports quoted the skater's doctors as having warned him to abandon his Olympic ambitions--or face permanent damage to his spine. But while he expresses confidence that his injury will heal in time for February's Games in Albertville, France, Browning admits to another nagging concern: the sheer intensity of Olympic competition. "Thinking about the Olympics gets a bit scary sometimes and it hits right here," he said, poking the pit of his stomach. "It's really weird and I don't like it."

Butterflies have never been Browning's nemesis. Unlike Brian Orser, Canada's silver-medal winner in the Calgary Games and the man he succeeded as Canadian champion, Browning has seldom wrestled with nerves on his way to winning his world titles. After an eighth-place finish at Calgary, Browning has seldom wrestled with nerves on his way to winning his world titles. After an eighth-place finish at Calgary, Browning went to the 1988 world championships in Budapest, where he became the first skater ever to successfully complete four aerial revolutions during a jump in competition. The mesmerizing "Quad," as it is known, instantly secured Browning's place in figure skating history.

But the trademark quadruple and other leaps in Browning's repertoire place a punishing toll on his five-foot, seven-inch frame. Years of enduring such pounding on the ice have left his tendons and bones bruised and fatigued--to the point that speculation was widespread last week that he may be unable to compete in the Olympics next February. Browning himself played down the concern, noting that he had experienced back troubles during the 1989 Skate America tournament at Indianapolis, as well as at the 1991 Canadian championships in Saskatoon--and even during the late-November Lalique Trophy competition at the Olympic rink in Albertville, where he took the gold. Still, the injury forced him to postpone the resumption of his training program. And Browning's competitors will watch closely to see how--or whether--he performs at his next scheduled appearance, a western Canadian regional championship that begins on Dec. 11 in Prince George, B.C.

For a time, however, Browning's off-ice charm threatened to overshadow his on-ice grace. Within the polite community of figure skaters, Browning's high-spirited lifestyle and public exhortations to teammates to "kick butt" marked a radical, if refreshingly colorful, departure from other skating personalities. Since capturing the world championship in Paris in 1989, Browning has made a conscious effort to restrain his behavior. "My interviews were becoming more interesting than my skating, and that was wrong," he now says.

But as Browning prepares for Albertville, he is again letting out the stops--at least on ice. Browning acknowledges that he has, on occasion, settled for "smart, businesslike programs that do not blow anybody's socks off." But the 143-lb. skater can pull off sich demanding feats as back-to-back triple jumps as well as his trademark Quad. In order to win the gold medal, he says, he will need all of his dazzling technique. "If I play it too carefully, I'll lose," he said matter-of-factly. "If you are timid or tentative in any way, it will outweigh two months of thinking that you are going to win."

Even though Browning describes his love for skating as "magic--just speed, power and fun," Albertville seems likely to be his last appearance in competition. As the high physical price of his extraordinary athletic achievements becomes more evident, he says, "I am tired of fussing with skates all the time, and I am tired of all the falls in practice." Added the Caroline, Alta., native: "I never remember thinking that an Olympic gold was my ultimate goal. I always looked to the short term, just a couple of months ahead." With the Albertville games now barely more than two months away, the only honor missing from Browning's career--Olympic gold--is moving within his short-term sights.