Peter Allen Oppegard (born August 23, 1959 in
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...
)
is an American retired
pair skater
Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...
and coach. With his partner
Jill Watson
Jill Marilynn Watson (born March 29, 1963 in Bloomington, Indiana) is an American retired pair skater and coach. With her partner Peter Oppegard, she is the 1988 Olympic bronze medalist and a three-time U.S. national champion.
Watson was initi ...
, he is the
1988 Olympic bronze medalist and a three-time
U.S. national champion.
In May 2022, Oppegard was suspended by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for misconduct.
Career
Oppegard initially paired with Vicki Heasley. He began competing with Watson in 1985. In their career, Watson and Oppegard won three national titles, a
world
In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...
bronze medal, an Olympic bronze medal, and various other medals. During Watson and Oppegard's free skate at the 1988 Olympics, a photographer dropped his camera bag onto the ice and an usher walked onto the ice to pick it up while the pair was performing an overhead lift.
Oppegard later skated with Cindy Landry for a short time. Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard were inducted into the
U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2004.
As a coach, his skaters have won 10 national singles and pairs titles. The Professional Skaters Association and US Figure Skating has named Oppegard "Choreographer of the Year" and "Coach of the Year"
He coached at the East West Ice Palace in southern California until 2018.
Personal life
Oppegard is married to
Karen Kwan, sister of world champion figure skater
Michelle Kwan
Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired competitive figure skater and diplomat serving as United States Ambassador to Belize. In figure skating Kwan is a two-time Olympic medalist (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002), a five-time W ...
, and they have 2 daughters, Olivia Colett Oppegard and Sophia Oppegard. As of 2021, they are estranged.
[
]
Abuse allegations and suspension
In February 2021, ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' reported that Oppegard had been under investigation by the United States Center for SafeSport
The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2017 under the auspices of the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017. SafeSport is tasked with ad ...
since July 2020 for allegations of physical abuse, including throwing coffee and hot water at skaters he coached at the East West Ice Palace. American pairs skater Jessica Pfund
Jessica Pfund (born January 9, 1998) is a retired Swiss-American pair skater who represents Switzerland. With skating partner Joshua Santillan, she is the 2015 Autumn Classic International bronze medalist and has competed at two Grand Prix even ...
also alleged that Oppegard bit her on the upper right arm during a training session in 2013, when Pfund was 15 years old.
Results
With Watson
References
External links
Watson and Oppegard competition results
Landry and Oppegard competition results
Heasley and Oppegard competition results
Watson and Oppegard at pairsonice.com
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oppegard, Peter
1969 births
American male pair skaters
American figure skating coaches
Figure skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics
Living people
Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in figure skating
Olympic medalists in figure skating
World Figure Skating Championships medalists
Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics
Sportspeople from Knoxville, Tennessee
20th-century American people
21st-century American people