Spotlight on Kurt Browning; As a Pro, Skater Stays Cool Under Pressure

Copyright 1997 The Morning Call, Inc.

Kurt Browning's publicist is on the phone. The four-time world champion skater has an unexpected few minutes to spare during a string of interviews with television and newspaper reporters. Can he squeeze this one in today, meaning now?

A moment later, Browning, the unlikely son of a Canadian cowboy, is on the line, friendly and unfazed. The 30-year-old turned professional in 1994 after a disappointing fifth-place showing in the Olympics. He soon found out that a pro skater is an altogether different animal than an amateur.

"You think you're prepared for it, but you're not. You're expected to skate well under extreme situations," Browning says before rattling off specifics:

Skating in 61 shows crammed into three months' time as a member of Discover Card Stars on Ice, which makes a stop in Philadelphia on Friday night. Appearing in a host of professional competitions that at times seem to blend into one another. Doubling as a skating commentator for NBC. Sitting through meetings with TV producers. Having powwows with sponsors. And somehow squeezing in practice time to maintain the triple jumps that fans have come to expect.

"As an amateur you gave yourself as much time as you needed to work on your skating," Browning reflects.

With more than two seasons as a pro under his blades, Browning says he's more comfortable than ever on the ice. He's won the NutraSweet World Professional Figure Skating Championship, the most prestigious of the pro events, two years in a row.

With the burden to win an Olympic medal -- something he failed to do three times -- gone for good, Browning no longer sees himself as the skater trying to land seven triples as music plays in the background.

Instead, he is Humphrey Bogart from "Casablanca" or Gene Kelly dancing to "Singin' in the Rain." His jumps now come more naturally.

"Sometimes doing something like that helps the jumps," Browning says. "You can become the character and the jumps become part of the character."

Lest anyone think otherwise, Browning says he still finds it frustrating to pop a triple. "It's just that the programs are so put together with the music. There are so many moments in the show that are accentuated with a great jump. When you slide through with beautiful lights on your rump, it's really anti-climatic."

For the sake of "quality TV," Browning concedes that he and other skaters have "redone" triples for taped specials. Sportswriter Christine Brennan outlined such an incident in her book, "Inside Edge."

Browning takes issue with Brennan's account of a taping of a Stars on Ice show. In it, she portrays Browning as forcing a "restless" audience to sit through four tries at a clean axel. "She made me mad," Browning says, adding that he was ready to give up trying, "but the audience wouldn't let me."

Browning appears in Stars on Ice with Olympians Scott Hamilton, Kristi Yamaguchi, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Paul Wylie and ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. He skates a solo number to Nat King Cole's "Serenade to Sonia," which is dedicated to his wife, Sonia, a dancer with the National Ballet of Canada whom he married last summer. The two first met years ago at a reception, then got together again when Browning began training with the National Ballet to improve his skating.