|
|
|
Browning reminisces after induction into Hall
| Source: |
Slam! Skating |
| Date: |
March 23, 2006 |
| Author: |
Neil Stevens |
CALGARY (CP) - Kurt Browning wasn't given an opportunity to address
the crowd when he was honoured during a ceremony at the world figure
skating championships Thursday as a new member of the World Figure
Skating Hall of Fame.
So, in an interview afterwards, he was asked what words he might have
chosen.
"I would have quoted my dad who said, 'You're the luckiest kid in the
world because you're doing for a living what you did as a kid. You
make in a year what I made in my life and, if you let it go to your
head I'll kick you with my cowboy boots on,"' Browning said.
He's never been on the receiving end of Dewey Browning's
leather. Although he quit competitive skating in 1994, he remains an
ultimate entertainer in show tours.
"I hope that it looks like I appreciate my life, and the best way to
show that is to skate my ass off every time I perform," he said. "I
love figure skating."
Browning sat in with the ABC television crew covering the men's final
Thursday night.
The native of nearby Caroline, Alta., learned his craft at Edmonton's
Royal Glenora Club with coach Michael Jiranek. He was the first skater
to land a four-revolution jump in competition, which he did at the
world championships in 1988 in Budapest, and he won world titles in
1989 in Paris, 1990 in Halifax, 1991 in Munich and 1993 in
Prague.
A plaque bearing his image will be placed in the sport's Hall of Fame
in Colorado Springs, Colo.
"I've stuck around long enough and now they're asking me politely to
leave, I think," he said, in his usual self-effacing manner, of the
honour.
He thought he might never be selected because he never won an Olympic
medal.
"I guessed it was the Olympic thing, that there was none of this
hardware around my neck," he said, holding the medal he was presented
with Thursday. "But I've had a great professional career . . . with
memorable programs and funny programs and things that people like to
hold onto. I think that's why I'm here, I think."
It's possible the four world titles had something to do with it.
"I think it helped but it seems so long ago that I think I've
forgotten about them," he said. "The last 10 or 15 years, for me it's
been about entertaining. I feel that's why I'm (in the Hall).
"But being at these worlds has sort of made me feel better about those
titles again, seeing how hard these kids are working and how much
pressure there is. Your memory changes things and it becomes just a
line under your picture, but today it's not a line under my
picture. It's real, and I feel very proud."
He waved to his dad, his brother and his sister-in-law as he left the
ice.
"I was born two hours from here," he said. "This is where (the
ceremony) should be, and it's a medal. I love that it's just not a
plaque. I love that it's a medal."
He turns 40 on June 18, and another tour is soon to begin.
"What I didn't expect was to be 40 and still doing it," he said. "To
be a part of this sport, still, is a huge gift, then to be
acknowledged by your peers is everything."
Skating at the world-class level at first in teammate Brian Orser's
shadow was of great benefit to him, he said.
"I just assumed the judges and everyone else was going to show me
respect because I was Brian Orser's teammate," he explained. "That
mentality was huge.
"In Budapest, I knew I was going to land that quad. I hung out with
Brian that afternoon on purpose. He was shopping for vases. Who wants
to do that? But I hung out with Brian Orser because I just wanted that
energy."
A video showing him skating to world titles was shown, and the balding
champ giggled over his hairstyles.
"I would like the worst haircut I had back again," he said. "That on
in '91, that was a terrible haircut, but today I wanted it
back."
In the same arena in 1988, he competed in the first of his three
Olympics.
"I expected the Olympic Games to be something exotic, something far
off," he recalled. "To get in my 1973 70-foot long Buick LeSabre and
drive two hours and be at the Olympics was a disappointing to me -
until I got here. All that changed 180 degrees."
The previous autumn, he'd competed in the annual Skate Canada
International meet in the Saddledome.
"That was a huge step in my career. I almost landed the quad right out
there," he said, pointing towards the ice. "Calgary has been really
good to me."
During the closing ceremonies of the 1988 Games, Donald Jackson -
Canada's first men's world champion in 1962 - hopped out of the sled
in which he was riding to rush over to say something to Browning in
the McMahon Stadium infield.
"He said, 'Go to Budapest and land the quad and it'll change your
life.' He stopped the parade to tell me that. It took two seconds and
he ran back over to his sled."
The rest is history. Two of his greatest rivals were Viktor Petrenko
internationally and Elvis Stojko nationally.
"I loved competing," said Browning. "I loved the fact Viktor Petrenko
was an easy guy to compete against.
"I had so much respect for him. We had kind of an honour code
thing. He made me so much better than I would have been.
"Elvis was intimidating, and it wasn't as much fun to compete against
Elvis. Elvis was like, you didn't sleep the night before."
The Canadian skater who most impresses him today is Joannie Rochette,
he said. She has a physicality in her style, and has such great jumps,
and something else now, he said.
"It has melded so nicely with this new maturity. I'm becoming a bigger
fan every day."
Any regrets?
"I wish I'd done a triple toe instead of a triple flip (in the short
at the 1994 Olympics) in Lillehammer," he said, adding he also wished
he hadn't fallen on his double Axel in Albertville, France, at the
1992 Olympics.
Doesn't matter now.
He talked about stopping at a frozen pond in Ontario while driving
home alone to Toronto two years ago.
"I saw a lake and stopped and skated for 2 1-2 hours. As I was skating
backwards I was gouging the ice out, and the ice would come up and
make rainbows because the sun was shining.
"It sounds like a romance novel, but skating is going to be with me
always. After all this stuff is done and you guys don't want to talk
to me anymore and nobody cares, I can still - if I'm able - get on ice
and skate.
"It's a gift. I hope my kid learns to skate - not great - but I really
hope he can learn to appreciate how great skating is. I just love
it. I still love it."
|
|
|
|
|
