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Iconic Canadian Browning still loves to skate and perform
| Source: |
The Sudbury Star |
| Date: |
December 20, 2010 |
| Author: |
Laura E. Young |
It feels like I see Kurt Browning everywhere this fall, popping up on
television, Saturday afternoon sports, Battle of the Blades, and, now,
behind the black curtain at Sudbury Community Arena on Saturday
night.
Browning, 44, returned to Sudbury, leading the whirlwind 2010
Celebration on Ice tour complete with a touring beard and the aching
muscles that go with skating in a show that travels as fast as the
skaters do.
Being in Sudbury reminded him -- again -- of the time he won Canadian
championship (one coach suggested it was his toughest victory) way
back in 1990, back when he eked out gold from newcomer Elvis
Stojko.
Browning said as much at the start of the interview, thinking about it
as he took his bows Saturday night.
Browning went on to win four world titles, made three Olympic teams
and then spent the last 16 years on the pro circuit. His ease, quiet
blades and fabulous footwork continue to fascinate and baffle. How
does he do it?
At this point, management of the skater's quads comes between program
massages and stretches, jumping and bouncing and moving during our
interview.
Browning is married to Sonia Rodriquez, a principal dancer with the
National Ballet of Canada. They have two young sons. The iconic
Canadian skater will be commentating at the upcoming Canadian
championships.
You wonder how he keeps it all going in the sport he has done since
age eight.
"You don't stop," he said.
Unexpectedly, he had more than four months off this summer, without
skating, including dealing with a house fire. The three-alarm fire
started after a leaf blower he was using to dry his car seats ignited
the car. There was hundreds of thousands of dollars damage and a
destroyed home.
Fortunately, his family and their pets were safe, he says. He had just
been getting on the ice after "a really good long break.
"We're fine, but it's that not stopping thing. As soon as you take a
break over (age) 40 it's really hard to get the momentum back. I'm
just now at that point in my career where I just don't know, honestly,
when it is the last year or when the last tour of this kind, or when I
look at a schedule and go, 'Six shows in six days? I just can't do
that anymore.' But I'm not quite there yet."
He was missing his sons "intensely," he said. "I won't see them much
until late May."
He was trying to explain to his seven-year-old why he wasn't
home.
Still, as Browning reflected, "When you say goodbye to a career like
this, it's gone. It doesn't come back. So, yeah, I think I'm being a
little bit selfish and maybe staying on the ice a little bit longer,
but it's good."
For him, when you love what you do -- sports-wise and out in the big,
other world -- time flies.
"Being out there and making people laugh or, you know, just absorbing
the energy. My father used to say to me, 'you're doing as an adult for
a living what you did as a kid for fun.' How could you not? The only
reason I'm going to quit is because the kids become more important
than you. The body will quit and so will I".
As for the tricks, the element he's still happy to throw is his double
axel, two-and-a-half revolutions high above the ice. It's a move that
happens fast in a live show, which is truly the place to get a grasp
on figure skating.
"I just love flying through it. There's that split second when you're
still in outer space. It still feels like I'm young in that split
second," he laughed. "Then I land."
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