Todd Eldredge skates on into the professional circuit

Now that he has given up the competition circuit, skater Todd Eldredge can savor the perks of being a pro.

Chief among those is the chance to kick back and really enjoy himself.

"It's much more relaxing," he said in a telephone interview from his home base in Detroit. "You don't have the judges. You're just out there to please the audience and do your best every night.

"You can just go out there and do whatever you want to do. You don't have to do your programs exactly the same every night. It is definitely a much more relaxing atmosphere and much more fun."

Eldredge comes to the Huntington Civic Arena on Friday with the "Smucker's Stars on Ice" tour. The show also features Katarina Witt, Kurt Browning, Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman, and Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur.

The two pairs teams involved in the Salt Lake City Olympic controversy - Jamie Sale and David Pelletier and Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze - are also making their "Stars on Ice" debut on this tour, as is the 2002 Olympic men's champion, Alexei Yagudin.

Eldredge joined "Stars on Ice" midway through last season, after finishing sixth in Salt Lake. Despite a resume that boasts six national titles and one world championship (among many other accomplishments), he has endured the spotlight more for what he has not won - an Olympic medal - than for what he has. But that finally seems to be changing.

"It's kind of funny. After this year, things have kind of turned around," he said. "They don't mention it as much anymore. All the other successes and different things along the way have, I think, overshadowed that a little bit. There are a lot of great athletes who don't win medals. It's just who's good that day."

In an era when many world-class skaters go pro as soon as possible, Eldredge instead chose to work the competition circuit from 1985 (when he won the U.S. Novice Championships) to the 2002 Olympics, save for a 1992-1994 layoff while he was recuperating from a back injury.

"I think obviously the Olympic medal thing - and still trying to go for that - is what kept me there for a long time," he said. "I kept doing well and doing well and earning all sorts of other accolades along the way. As you do that, you realize that and say, 'Well, I'll keep going.'"

Would he ever consider a return to the competitive world?

"It's hard to say yes or no. I'm leaning at this point toward the professional ranks. That's what I've decided to do," he said. "I just want to enjoy being on the ice and pleasing the audience for however many years I do it and my body holds up.

"I'm 31. For a skater, that's getting up there, and I want to do other things in my life. I want to explore and at some point settle down, get married, have a family and the whole thing."

Eldredge envisions himself staying involved with skating at some level once he decides to quit performing for good. He may try to act as a mentor, "improving the sport, getting athletes of the future out there and easing their difficult time of getting to a certain level," he said. After all, he has been there.

"In my whole career, I've pretty much been through almost everything," he said. "I've been a national champion and then two years later been off the podium."

Or, he may opt for a different shade of limelight.

"I've done a little bit of television commentary in the past. Maybe [I'll] try to jump into that again. It was kind of fun being on the other side of the cameras."

One thing is for sure: The fanatic, six-handicap golfer plans to hit the links often in the future. "Maybe when I turn 50, I can try out for the Senior PGA tour," he said.

But maybe not. "By then, I think Tiger Woods would be just about on the tour, or age-eligible. So I don't know."

To contact staff writer Marina Hendricks, use e-mail or call 348-4881.

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