Brian Anthony Boitano (born October 22, 1963) is an American
figure skater from
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California.
Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the no ...
. He is the
1988 Olympic champion, the 1986 and 1988
World Champion, and the 1985–1988
U.S. National Champion.
He turned professional following the 1988 season. Under new rules by the ISU, he returned to competition in 1993 and competed at the
1994 Winter Olympics, where he placed sixth. He returned to professional status. In 1996 he was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
Early life
Brian Boitano was born in 1963 and raised in
Mountain View, California
Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376.
Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is th ...
. Boitano is a graduate of
Marian A. Peterson High School in
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California.
Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the no ...
.
[Who's Who in Santa Clara Unified?]
Retrieved September 6, 2006. He is of
Italian American
Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan area ...
descent, with family from northern Italy. As an adult he has lived in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
.
Figure skating career
Early career
Beginning skating as a child, Brian Boitano first made his mark on the international scene when he won the bronze medal at the 1978
World Junior Figure Skating Championships
The World Junior Figure Skating Championships (''"World Juniors"'' or ''"Junior Worlds"'') is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which figure skaters within a designated age range compete for ...
, beating future rival
Brian Orser for that medal.
Early in his career, Boitano was known primarily for his jumping. He, along with several other skaters, helped push the technical envelope of men's skating. In 1982, Boitano became the first American to land a
triple Axel
Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a "treble":
Sports
* Triple (baseball), a three-base hit
* A basketball three-point field goal
* A figure skating jump with three rotations
* In bowling terms, three strikes in a row
* ...
. In 1987, he introduced his signature jump, the 'Boitano triple
Lutz', in which the skater raises his left arm above his head.
He attempted a quadruple jump throughout the 1986–87 season and at the 1988
World Figure Skating Championships
The World Figure Skating Championships (''"Worlds"'') is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the categories of men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. ...
, but did not cleanly land the jump; he double-footed the landing on two occasions.
At the 1983 World Championships, he became the first skater to ever land all six triple jumps in competition.
He would eventually include and successfully land eight triple jumps in his free skate program, the maximum number possible (see
Zayak rule). He would jump two flip jumps and two triple Axels to compete with his rival, Brian Orser, who jumped one triple flip and one triple Axel.
It was not until failing to defend his World title in 1987 that Boitano focused specifically on improving his artistry. Toward this end, he worked with renowned choreographer
Sandra Bezic.
Boitano placed second at the 1984
United States Figure Skating Championships, earning a place in the
1984 Winter Olympics
The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games ( Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки иг ...
. He placed 5th at the Olympics, setting the stage for his success over the next four years.
World Champion
Following the 1984 Olympics, several skaters emerged as likely medal hopes following the retirement of
Scott Hamilton.
Boitano won the 1985
United States Figure Skating Championships, the first of his four titles. At the first
World Championships of the post-Hamilton era in 1985,
Alexander Fadeev won, with
Brian Orser finishing 2nd and Boitano 3rd. He had injured tendons in his right ankle a few weeks before the 1986 U.S. Championships but went on to win his second national title.
At the
1986 World Championships, Boitano took the title, while Fadeev had a disastrous free skate despite having been in an excellent position to win; Orser finished 2nd once again.
During the 1986–87 season, Boitano had introduced three new elements to his programs: the 'Tano triple
lutz and a quadruple
toe loop, as well as wearing a blindfold. Although he never succeeded in landing a clean quadruple jump in competition. The 1987 World Championships were held in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
, giving defending World champion Boitano a home-field advantage. The outcome of the event would set the tone for the 1988 Olympics. At Worlds, Boitano fell on his quadruple toe loop attempt and placed second.
After losing the world title to Orser at home, Boitano and his coach
Linda Leaver
Linda may refer to:
As a name
* Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named)
* Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer
* Anita Linda (born Alice Lake i ...
decided that some changes needed to be made if Boitano was to become the Olympic champion.
Boitano had always been good at the technical requirements ("The first mark"), but he was weak on the artistic ("the second mark"). He was a self-described "jumping robot." In order to help his growth as an artist, he hired choreographer
Sandra Bezic to choreograph his programs for the 1987–1988 Olympic season.
Bezic choreographed two programs that featured clean lines and accentuated the skating abilities of the 5' 11" Boitano.
The short program was based on
Giacomo Meyerbeer's ballet ''Les Patineurs'', in which Boitano plays a cocky young man showing off his tricks, using movements dating to the 19th century.
In one famous moment, Boitano wipes ice shavings, also called snow, off his skate blade and tosses it over his shoulder after landing a triple Axel combination. The free skating program was based on the film score, ''Napoleon'', detailing various phases of a soldier's life.
Boitano debuted his new programs at 1987
Skate Canada, held in the
Saddledome in
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada. This was the same venue in which he would compete against Brian Orser for the Olympic title three months later. Boitano's new programs were received with standing ovations by the audience. Although Orser won the competition, Boitano skated clean, landing seven triple jumps, including a footwork section into a jump. He did, however, pop his planned second triple Axel. Boitano, Leaver, and Bezic were so confident about the strength of Boitano's new programs that they omitted the quadruple toe loop, which if landed, could have put him a shoulder above Orser in technical merit.
The short program at the 1988
United States Figure Skating Championships proved to be a highlight. Boitano received marks of 6.0 from eight of the nine judges for presentation, the second mark. His free skate was flawed.
Due to delays, he did not skate until after midnight. Still, Boitano won the competition, and went into the Olympics as the national champion (U.S.), as did Orser (representing Canada).
1988 Olympics: Battle of the Brians
Going into the Olympics, Boitano and
Brian Orser each had won a World title and each had an excellent, balanced repertoire. Boitano was known as the slightly better technician and Orser as the better artist. Adding to the rivalry, Boitano and Orser were both performing military-themed programs. Boitano's was to the music of Napoleon.
The
Battle of the Brians at the
1988 Winter Olympics
)
, nations = 57
, athletes = 1,423 (1,122 men, 301 women)
, events = 46 in 6 sports (10 disciplines)
, opening = February 13, 1988
, closing = February 28, 1988
, opened_by = Governor General Jeanne Sauvé
, cauldron ...
was the highlight of Boitano's amateur career. Boitano and Orser were effectively tied going into the
free skating portion of the event and whoever won that portion would win the event.
Alexander Fadeev had won the
compulsory figures
Compulsory figures or school figures were formerly a segment of figure skating, and gave the sport its name. They are the "circular patterns which skaters trace on the ice to demonstrate skill in placing clean turns evenly on round circles". For ...
section of the competition, with Boitano second and Orser third. In the
short program, Orser placed first and Boitano second. The
free skating was, at the time, worth 50% of the score, and so Boitano's lead would not be enough to hold him in first place if he lost the free skate.
Boitano skated a clean, technically excellent long program, with eight triple jumps, including two Axels, and a triple flip-triple toe loop combination. Landing his second triple Axel jump cleanly was probably a critical factor in the battle. Orser made one small mistake on a jump and omitted his planned second triple Axel. Boitano won the Battle in a 5–4 split. It was later discovered that the Canadian Figure Skating Association had engaged in "vote trading" with several countries on the judging panel, particularly East Germany and the USSR. This ultimately backfired, as the Soviet judge refused to follow this agreement and voted "with his conscience" and placed Boitano first. Had he followed his federation's directive, Boitano would have lost the gold medal. The judge was promptly suspended by his federation. Experts questioned why the scores were so close between the two skaters because Boitano had 2 triple axels, 2 triple flips and a triple triple combination, elements that were not included in Orser's program.
With his win, he became the first Olympic champion to land the full complement of six types of triple jumps. Boitano won the gold medal, wearing skates with American flag appliqués. These are now part of the collections of the
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...
at the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
.
Following the Olympics, both Orser and Boitano went to the World Championships, which Boitano won. Boitano turned professional soon after.
Professional career and return to amateur standing
Following the Olympics, Boitano went on to dominate competitions in the professional ranks, winning 10 straight professional competitions, including 5 consecutive World Professional Championship titles and 4 consecutive wins at the Challenge of Champions. Boitano also appeared in ''
Carmen on Ice'', for which he won an
Emmy. However, Boitano wanted to return to amateur competition and make another run at the Olympics.
In June 1993, the
International Skating Union
The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen ...
(ISU) introduced a clause, commonly known as the "Boitano rule," which allowed professionals to reinstate as "amateur" or "eligible" skaters. Many others joined Boitano, including Ukrainian
Viktor Petrenko, 1988 bronze medalist and 1992 gold medalist. The ISU decision was the result of Boitano's active involvement during the early 1990s, when the International Olympic Committee lifted the remaining limits on athletes' remuneration. Previously, the Committee had been accused of rejecting Western professionals, while allowing Eastern Bloc state-sponsored "amateurs" to compete. Boitano reinstated as an amateur to compete in the
1994 Winter Olympics in
Lillehammer,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
.
Boitano competed at the 1994
United States Figure Skating Championships, led after the short program, but lost to
Scott Davis in the long program in a 6–3 split decision. Boitano was named to the Olympic team. Going into the Olympics as a medal favorite in a strong field, Boitano missed his triple Axel combination during the short program for the first time in his career. This mistake proved extremely costly, and knocked Boitano out of medal contention. He skated a good long program and finished 6th.
Boitano returned to the professional ranks afterward. In 1996 he was inducted into the
World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the
United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
[Brian Boitano]
. sports-reference.com
Personal life
In December 2013, Boitano was named to the United States delegation to the
2014 Winter Olympics
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games (russian: XXII Олимпийские зимние игры, XXII Olimpiyskiye zimniye igry) and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (russian: Сочи 2014), was an international ...
in
Sochi,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
. In conjunction with that appointment, Boitano publicly
came out as gay.
The Sochi games and Russia were the targets of criticism and
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term i ...
activism because of a
Russian anti-gay "propaganda" law passed in June 2013.
In January 2014, Boitano told the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...
that he had never wanted to come out until he was named to the delegation.
Boitano's older brother,
Mark Boitano
Mark L. Boitano (born July 19, 1953) is an American politician and real estate agent who served as a member of the New Mexico Senate for the 18th district from 1997 to 2012.
Early life and education
Boitano was born in San Francisco and graduat ...
, is a real estate agent and former politician. He served as a member of the
New Mexico Senate from 1997 to 2013.
Celebrity and popular culture career
''South Park'' song
A
caricature
A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...
of Boitano as a
superhero appears as a semi-recurring character in the
cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...
series ''
South Park''. The film ''
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut'' (1999), features a musical number titled "
What Would Brian Boitano Do?". He was also featured in ''
Jesus vs. Santa
''The Spirit of Christmas'' is the title given to two adult stop motion animated short films created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The two films were released at different periods—the first in 1992, and the second in 1995—and form the basis f ...
''.
Food Network show
On August 23, 2009,
Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...
debuted a new series entitled ''
What Would Brian Boitano Make?'', which borrows both its name and opening musical theme from the ''
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut'' song. The show features Boitano preparing meals for his friends. The series was picked up for a ten-episode second season.
Other television and film appearances
* Boitano starred, along with
Katarina Witt and archrival
Brian Orser, in the 1990 German
dance film
A dance film (also known as screen dance) is a film in which dance is used to reveal the central themes of the film, whether these themes be connected to narrative or story, states of being, or more experimental and formal concerns. In such film ...
''
Carmen on Ice''; Boitano played Don Jose. All three won an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for "Outstanding performance in classical music/dance programming".
* He was featured in the
Super Bowl XXVI halftime show "Winter Magic", along with
Gloria Estefan and
Dorothy Hamill.
* Boitano had a
cameo in the 2007 film ''
Blades of Glory'' as a world skating federation judge.
* He and fellow figure skater
Michelle Kwan had a cameo as themselves in the 2005 Disney film, ''
Ice Princess'', appearing as
commentators during the Sectionals competition.
* He appeared on ''
Giada at Home'' for one episode.
* He appeared as a guest judge on ''Top Chef Masters'', Season 4 episode 3. The episode is titled "What would Brian Boitano Make?"
* He appeared on Fox Business Network's ''Stossel'', episode "Spontaneous Order" (February 10, 2011).
* He appeared in an episode of ''
Check, Please! Bay Area'', a restaurant review program which airs on
KQED-TV in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
.
*He hosted a series on HGTV, called ''The Brian Boitano Project'', which premiered January 16, 2014, in which he purchased a near derelict ancestral home in Northern Italy, home to many Boitanos. During the series he gives the home in
Favale di Malvaro a sympathetic restoration/renovation and shops flea markets with two nieces to find decor and furnishings. Local artisans, carpenters, masons and painters create a gem where he can live part-time and host Boitanos from afar.
The Brian Boitano Project
hgtv.com
*Boitano appeared as a guest on Season 18 of the reality series '' Hell's Kitchen'', where he along with Gordon Ramsay and Traci Des Jardins co-judged the team challenge in the episode "Hell Freezes Over".
Programs
Results
References
Further reading
*
*
* Beisteiner, Johanna: ''Art music in figure skating, synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics / Kunstmusik in Eiskunstlauf, Synchronschwimmen und rhythmischer Gymnastik''. PhD thesis by Johanna Beisteiner, Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
2005, (German). The PhD thesis contains an extensive description and analysis of Carmen on Ice (Chapter II/2, pages 105–162)
Article about the PhD thesis
of Johanna Beisteiner in the catalogue of the Austrian Library Network. 2005. (German and English)
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*
*
*
Brian Boitano's Gold-Medal Skates at the National Museum of American History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boitano, Brian
1963 births
American male single skaters
American male writers
American writers of Italian descent
Figure skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics
Figure skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics
Figure skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics
Figure skating commentators
Food Network chefs
Gay sportsmen
LGBT figure skaters
LGBT people from the San Francisco Bay Area
American LGBT sportspeople
Living people
Olympic figure skaters of the United States
Olympic gold medalists for the United States in figure skating
People from Mountain View, California
Sportspeople from Santa Clara County, California
World Figure Skating Championships medalists
World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists
Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics
21st-century LGBT people