Athlete profile: Elvis Stojko

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

In Calgary, in Albertville and again in Lillehammer the world champion entering the Olympic rink was Canadian, but Brian Orser and twice Kurt Browning left without Olympic gold...but Stojko -- the 1997 world champion -- has embraced the favorite's roll as he tries to win Canada's first-ever men's Olympic figure skating gold..."It's a heavy load but I want that on my shoulders when I go in," says Stojko. "I've been the underdog and skated well. I've faced the pressure coming back, the pressure of defending, I've done the rounds. I wanted to go in as world champion, to have that pressure as another challenge. I want to do it while all the spotlights are on you, while everyone is anticipating what you're doing. That's the test, the real test, and it's something I'm ready for"...arguably the greatest athlete in figure skating history, Stojko has continued to push the limits of his sport..."Jesse Owens pushed his sport beyond all limits," says Stojko. "For 25 years I think, nobody broke his record. I really admire people like that -- the Muhammad Alis, the Bruce Lees and the Wayne Gretzkys. It's amazing. I love striving for that. That's what makes it so enjoyable"...since winning silver at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, Stojko has redefined skating's athletic landscape...his trademark quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination -- seven rotations in the air in a matter of seconds -- has upped the ante...Stojko first completed the landmark combination at the Champions Series Final in Hamilton, Ontario and then less than three weeks later at the World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland...at the Worlds, the combination highlighted a free skate complete with eight triple jumps, including back-to-back triple Axels...buoyed by the withdrawal of short program leader Aleksei Urmanov, Stojko climbed from fourth place and -- skating to music from "Dragonheart" - slayed the field for the third time in four years..."We have brought the quad combination to the table, and I think it's great for skating. It's raised the risk factor,"says Stojko's coach Doug Leigh. "Personally people sitting in there homes watching TV are just on the edge of their seat because the risk factor is so high"...add Stojko, "I always push forward to take it because that's what entails the challenge. If there is no challenge, then what is the point"...unlike in the past, Stojko has placed the quad further down in his free skate -- where it is more difficult to complete...questions continue to hound Stojko of his artistry -- meaning technical perfection is essential...at the 1998 Champion Series Final in Munich, Stojko fell on his quad and finished second to Russia's Ilia Kulik, who landed two hands down on his quad; both landed eight triples, but Kulik gained the higher artistic marks..."I'll be really honest with you," says Stojko. "Ever since I came on the (world) scene, I always found I had to do a little bit more than the next guy. And I always had to push"...Stojko is skating to "programs from my soul"...a dirt biker and martial arts aficionado, Stojko has always marched to the beat of a different drummer...his short program is a nonstop dramatic thumping of Japanese Kodo drums..."I'm very much into the martial arts in how I do things," explains Stojko, a karate black belt. "The short program is very much Japanese style. There's more of me out there, more of what I can do with technically driven steps in between. And the long program also has a hint of my Chinese-style martial arts. I go about the routine in a Zen martial-art sort of way"...Stojko's free skate is to music from the movie, The Ghost and the Darkness -- appropriately about slaying the lion...a friend of Stojko's -- a dirt biking buddy -- slipped the movie into the VCR to show Elvis the music..."I put the movie on and the music just hit me," he said..."One of the reason he looks for soundtracks is that there is a lot of orchestration in soundtracks," says his choreograger, Uschi Keszler (OO-shee KEHS-ler). "This music is extremely inspiriting and fit very well with what we were trying to do. It just happened by accident that one of his friends asked him to watch the movie"...in winning both Nations Cup and Skate Canada this fall, Stojko was lauded by for his footwork..."People are more accustomed to his phenomenal jumps now, so they're not just anxiously sitting there waiting and missing everything that happens before he gets to the jumps," notes Keszler. "They're more relaxed watching him, so they're seeing the things he's doing before he gets there (to the jumps)...what made last year's world title "so sweet" was Stojko's fall and rise at the 1996 Worlds in Edmonton...in the short program, Stojko crash-landed on his triple Axel -- failing to finish the combination -- and the then-two-time defending world champion found himself in sEventsh place...one Edmonton newspaper, headlined, `The King is Dead' while Elvis retorted, `Gang, I tried my best'...in the long program, Stojko skated majestically -- a Quad-double toe combination, six triples and vaulted to fourth place..."I've still got a pulse, I think"..."Even though I didn't get a medal that was probably the single most important part of my career, Edmonton," says Stojko. "I learned so much from that where my support comes from, where my strength comes from. And I am much stronger than I was before"...for Stojko believes his strength comes from himself, and that strength will guide him in Nagano...only once in the past six Olympics has the gold medalist been the world champion from the year before (Scott Hamilton, 1984 & 1983)...at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics -- as Browning sputtered -- Stojko gleaned silver and many thought he outdueled Eventsual gold medalist Urmanov -- but judges gave the gold to the more traditional Urmanov..."I know Olympic pressure," says Stojko. "And I may be world champion, but Urmanov, Eldredge can each win with great skates. I think the person is going to have to win gold. There will be no backdoor. And that fits my personality. And that's why I push limits"...a dirt-bike, jet-ski riding, kung-fu practicing skater was somewhat unheard of pre-Elvis...Stojko often is found practicing Kung-Fu style movements before competition -- and both this year and in 1994 Stojko's free skate was based on martial arts movements"..."Martial arts helps you control movements to vary them," says Stojko, who has six years of Kempo Karate and six years of Chinese Kung Fu under his black belt (note: Elvis was a black belt in Karate at age 16; there are no black belts in Kung Fu)....adds Stojko, "The combat motion can look like dance if you do it softly with finesse and when you put the strength back, it's combat"...Elvis is the son of two Eastern European immigrants whose toughness is embodied in their son...Irene Stojko fled Communist Hungary one dark night and Steven Stojko escaped Tito's Yugoslavia -- crossing the border surreptitiously with seven others one night...a bookkeeper by trade, Irene Stojko spent many years as a member of a Hungarian dance troupe...a former gymnast who likes to boast about the breadth of his shoulders, Steven Stojko once played an entire soccer game with a broken bone in his hand..."I stuck my hands between my legs and squeezed it and pulled it and we finished playing soccer," recalled Steven. "And I went to the hospital in the morning, and I guess he has a little of that in him too. He's is a tough kid"...Steven Stojko first noticed his son's strength when Elvis was 12..."He was into the martial arts for a few years already, and I was his punching bag," says Steven. "Every time he learned something new, he would come home and say, `Dad just stand there and let me show you what I learned,' so he put the boxing gloves on me and he would go in for it. One time, I just turned my head and dropped my gloves and said, `Go ahead.' And he broke my ribs"...early in his career Elvis gained a reputation as a technical skater who lacked artistry...in Albertville, Stojko was the only skater with a clean short and long program and only placed sEventsh -- even dropping a spot after the long...perhaps it was the figure skating cognoscenti who could not endear themselves to a skater who went against the grain -- big movie themes, techno music...perhaps it was that charisma -- not emoted feeling -- was long Stojko's connection with the audience...but the gregarious Stojko has long been taken aback by the feeling he is not artistic enough -- and the reason his high marks for artistry this fall were so rewarding...at the 1997 Worlds, Stojko, Eldredge, Urmanov and Kulik skated clean short programs -- and Stojko was fourth..."I've always taken the ridicule of, `He's only a jumper.' `His legs are too short.' `His body is too stocky.' `He will never become an artistic skater because of his body type, look at his dad,'" says Stojko with scorn. "For instance, I have had articles written about my dad, that he is short and that is why Elvis will never make it artistically. That he is just boring. I've had to push beyond that. Skating had to have lines. I had lines, but I was shorter than everybody else"...Stojko has "trimmed down quite a bit" and trimmed his shoulder-length locks, although he dismisses as "baloney" the theory that a Russian judge thought he looked unprofessional...Stojko also casts aside comments that he lacks artistry..."I'm a man, I'm going to skate like a man and I'm not going to be knocked for that," he says. "I'm not going to take that anymore. I'm not going to go out there and be `soft.' But I always laugh when people say I can't feel music. I grew up around music with my mom and dad. There was always classical music and opera playing at the house"...at the time Irene Stojko was pregnant with their second child (Elvis has an older brother, Atilla), Steven Stojko was in a music group..."We sang ballads," recalled Steven, who is a tenor in a Slovenian folk singing group. "I loved Elvis Presley and his ballads like `Love Me Tender'"...an Elvis Presley photograph adorns a wall in the Stojko home, and Elvis impersonators and `Elvis Lives' signs are in abundance when Elvis competes but Stojko is not fanatical about his more illustrious namesake..."I'm not a psycho, go-to-Graceland, buy-everything Elvis guy," says Stojko. "I like the older Elvis pictures when he's in the jeans and leather jacket"...Elvis, his brother and a sister grew up in Newmarkt, Ontario on a 50-acre farm his family used to own...although neither of his parents were into skating, Elvis soon developed the urge..."Mom and Dad say I nagged them all the time to go skating," he says. "It wasn't until eight or nine that I really got into it"...he began training under Leigh, who coached Orser..."Brian and I skate differently, but I saw his dedication every day in the rink and I carry that with me"...