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Kurt Browning surrenders to 'pull of the ice'

Former world figure skating champ still enjoys performing at age 44

Source: Edmonton Journal
Date: May 24, 2011
Author: Chris O'Leary
EDMONTON — Skating on a dimly lit sheet of ice at the Royal Glenora Club on Thursday, Kurt Browning was back where he first hit the big time.

It's been 18 years since Browning has called the river valley sports complex his home rink and, in that time, a chapter or three have been written in the pages of the story of his life.

Since his days in Edmonton, Browning has become a husband, father and, in many respects, the ambassador of figure skating in Canada.

It's been 17 years since his amateur career came to a close in Lillehammer at the 1994 Olympics, but his name still carries a cache that generates a special kind of excitement in the world of figure skating.

While his 45th birthday will catch up to him on June 18, Browning is likely to remain a fixture in the sport, the same way that Gordie Howe is still Mr. Hockey or that Bill Russell is the unofficial grandfather of the NBA.

Browning, who was in town to participate in Ice Memories, the figure skating show held during the weekend to help celebrate the Royal Glenora's 50th anniversary, said the club was the launching point for the quadruple toe-loop jump that made the world take notice of him.

"When I first started working on the it, you could tell this could really be something," he said, describing a standout memory of his Edmonton days. "But I (practised) it late at night when no one was watching because I didn't want to be embarrassed."

The practice paid off in Budapest, Hungary, in 1988 when he became the first to land a quad jump at the world championships. Four world titles, four Canadian championships and three Olympic appearances made him a legend as an amateur. His 21-year professional career and numerous TV roles with the sport have taken him to another skating stratosphere.

After skating off the Glenora ice on Thursday, Browning sat poolside and reminisced on late-night hi-jinx with fellow rising skaters Michael Slipchuk and Kristi Yamaguchi. The weekend felt like a high school or university reunion, he said.

"We tried not to (grow up), but we did. Some have done better than others at it; they're still children. (Some of them) never lost their spirit and intensity and ability to love life every day. That's part of what made everybody special," he said. What makes Browning special is his passion for skating at this point in his life. He said he'd only seriously considered retirement once since turning pro.

"The only blip on the radar was 2006, 2007. I wasn't skating well, I was struggling with even the simpler jumps and I wasn't motivated. I think it was mostly my dad was passing away," Browning said of his father Dewey, who succumbed to cancer in 2008. "It was a hard time. I just didn't want to do it. And my knee was a mess. I got knee surgery and I was kind of thinking of quitting."

Through the surgery/rehab process, Browning found he still had the ability to skate well.

While family life beckons, he said he feels there's more work left to do on the ice first.

"I know I could quit tomorrow. I've got two kids that I haven't spent enough time with and a beautiful wife at home and I'd love to be there more," he said, mentioning his daughters Gabriel, 7, and Dillon, 3, and wife, Sonia Rodriguez.

"But my job is to be on the road, doing shows all over the world. If I ever quit, it'll be the pull of my family is stronger than the pull of the ice."

For the time being, the pull of the ice is as powerful for Browning as it's ever been. After landing a difficult jump in his practice on Thursday, with no more than three sets of eyes on him, he threw a non-descript fist pump. Browning the entertainer was very present, even when he was in street clothes and the music was in rehearsal itself, cutting in and out while he and his peers of old worked their way through segments of their respective routines.

"The logical answer is that this is my job. This is what I do for a living and I love my job," he said of what's keeping an accomplished 44-year-old this involved.

"The romantic answer is the entertaining people. I'm addicted. I like the thrill of finishing and knowing that you did something good for those people.

"They bought a ticket, they organized their day, they got a babysitter, who knows what they did, but they put enough faith in not necessarily me, because I'm never alone in the show, but in the show to do that.

"Your job is to thank them with your best and, when that happens, and there's this synergy between you and the audience, I'm addicted to that, I love it."

Browning said he's just thankful to be interesting enough after all of this time with a touring group of skaters.

"It's hard after all of these years — 21 years of Stars On Ice — to buy into something about this old body or this bald head or whatever, to make people not sit there and go, 'He's had a good run. Maybe it's time.' "

Unsure of when that time comes, Browning seems happy with the present. It was near 5:30 p.m. in Edmonton when Browning stood up from the poolside table to call his girls before bedtime.

The legend still look sharp — and had fun — as he worked on his craft in private.

"Good," he said as he pulled his iPhone out of his pocket. "I'll try and keep it that way."