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Kurt Browning is a figure skater for the ages
| Source: |
Regina Leader-Post |
| Date: |
May 9, 2017 |
| Author: |
Rob Vanstone |
A biography of Kurt Browning on the Stars On Ice website refers to him
as "the Wayne Gretzky of figure skating."
The good name of Gordie Howe would also apply. After all, Browning has
emulated Mr. Hockey by remaining active in his favourite sport into
his 50s. The secret?
"Good genes - really stretchy jeans," Browning said with a
chuckle.
"There is a glide to my sport," he went on to say. "It's kind of like
golf. When you do it right, you don't feel the ball leave the
club. You think, 'That was the sweet spot.' So when you're gliding,
it's not like running. It doesn't pound. It's actually quite
smooth. You try to not fall too often because those really set you
back at my age."
The four-time world champion, who is part of the Stars On Ice troupe
that is to visit the Brandt Centre on Friday, turns 51 in
June. Longevity can lead to some challenges, such as those relating to
aerial manoeuvres.
"It's the quickness of the jumps," he said. "That's why a lot of
skaters can't do it at a certain age, because they lose that
super-fast snap that you need to rotate fast enough and then to
quickly come out and land it. That seems to be where I've been
lucky. I have my quick movement, still, and I don't know why. But I do
work hard. I have a trainer and I eat right and I take care of
myself. It's my job. It's what I do for a living."
And the crowds still love him. What's not to like? He is as personable
as he is accomplished.
While skating or being interviewed, Browning is quick to infuse some
humour. Consider his response when asked whether, as a 20-something
world champion, he could have imagined skating for this long.
"Back to the Future was 2015, right?" he remarked. "That was so far in
the future that it was not realistic. I remember when Prince was
singing about 1999 and that was not realistic. That was never going to
happen. Now I'm skating around as Michael J. Fox in the
future.
"I can have a bad show, but I can never alter my career now because it
has been so long. If age gets the best of me and the hamstrings hurt
that night, I know I still have other things to draw on to produce the
effect that I want for my audience and for the show."
An enduring rapport with the audiences is an essential
ingredient.
"I watched a younger version of myself, Scott Hamilton, who had that
in spades," Browning said. "What I didn't realize as a young man was
that he had been working the room for 15 years already. To be able to
cash your chips in on trust with your audience, that takes decades,
and that was my goal.
"When I watched Scott, I said, 'Some day, I want to be the elder
statesman of the sport and to be the one who the audience can rely
on,' so I hope I am one of those guys. Elvis (Stojko) is still
bringing it, and there's a few of us statesmen out there, but I was
hoping to be one of them and I've tried to prove that every
night."
Stojko, 45, is also on the Stars On Ice tour. Perhaps, in time,
Browning and Stojko will rival Donald Jackson. A bronze medallist for
Canada at the 1960 Winter Olympics, Jackson performed well into his
70s.
"People like me and Don and even Elvis, I call us lifers," Browning
said. "This sport has us by the heart and we can't find anything else
we want to do.
"Elvis is doing all sorts of competitive, high-level stuff with
martial arts and his race-car driving and his motorcycle riding and
his acting and singing. I don't know how he does it. I have my two
kids and I do a lot of choreography for people and speaking
engagements and hosting and commentating for figure skating. It's not
just skating, but somehow the glide is still with it and we still love
it and we have these opportunities, so here we are - like it or
not."
Fans typically like Browning for, among other things, his
down-to-earth nature. He carries himself without the airs associated
with some sporting legends.
"If you saw how I grew up, it was old-school stuff from the farm,"
Browning, who is from Caroline, Alta., said before a recent
show.
"I think there's something about being a skater because tonight … I
might step on the ice and fall four times. Patrick Chan could fall
four times. We get off the ice and look at each other and go, 'Well,
that happened.'
"It's not like a singer or an actor. We're just not protected. The ice
is slippery and the ice can chip out and you can be off and the lights
can hit you in the eye.
"My point is that we humble ourselves quite often, so not too many
skaters really get the chance to think that we walk on water and that
we're better than other people."
Browning is also humbled by the manner in which he is treated and
regarded by fans, with whom he has been phenomenally popular since
becoming the first skater to land a quadruple jump in competition in
1988 and winning his first world title a year later.
"It was at a time when the sport really spoke volumes to people,
before Twitter and cell phones and before 15 minutes of game,"
Browning said. "When you did something for the country, it resonated
with the country border to border. That's why Darryl Sittler still is
known. It was that kind of era where they held on to us longer, where
I think even humans are disposable nowadays, not just our water
bottle.
"I think it's harder nowadays for people and for sports figures to
really crawl into the fabric of the community and last, so I'm
lucky. I'm lucky I was in a wonderful era to be the person I was in
the sport I was in."
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