As beautiful as figure skating looks, it needs much more skills and charm than any other sport would require. Johnny Weir, a well-known figure skater from the 2000’s lives up to the beauty of the sport. With charm, flamboyance, and skill, it’s apparent that Weir is one of the few figure skaters who embodied these words.
He may have had humble origins, but they never stopped him from achieving his dream of being the best figure skater. Originally starting as an equestrian, Johnny already had a taste of what having good body control could do. Through his inspirations, such as Kristi Yamaguchi and Oksana Baiul, he became invested in the sport and soon started training in his house and nearby skating rinks.
Weir went on to participate in the Nationals, which brought him immense fame and exposure. This was nothing compared to what he achieved at the Winter Olympics in the year 2006 and 2010. With coaches like Priscilla Hill and Galina Zmievskaya, he was able to bring out his potential, which made him one of the best figure skaters at that time.
Despite his great skills, Weir was often the target of mean comments due to his flamboyant outfits and love for Russian things. People started to question his sexuality, but he eventually came out in the year 2011 and attended the LA Pride parade as a Grand Marshall. He has carved his name as the youngest person to compete in the Nationals and the first-ever skater to win the title thrice in a row.
Johnny’s Origins: Discovers Figure Skating
The figure skater was born in the countryside of Pennsylvania in the year 1984. His parents were both Power Plant engineers and were of Norwegian descent. As his father was a great Equestrian, Johnny ended up learning it growing up and even competed in several competitions. In 1992, When the cornfield behind his house had frozen overnight, Johnny decided to try his hand at figure skating after his parents bought him a used pair of skates.
He was 12 at the time, making him much older than most famous figure skaters start at. The inspiration for him and his parents were seeing Kristi Yamaguchi compete for the first time, since then, Johnny did his best to train rigorously, and when there was no ice outside, he would practice in his basement with the help of roller skates.
All his efforts were of good use as, with the help of his coach Priscilla Hill, he was able to compete and win the South Atlantic Regionals. The years from 1997 up to 2003 were full of great achievements for Johnny Weir, as he won fourth place at US Nationals, Second place at Junior Grand Prix, and the World Junior Championship.
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The Hardest Times Of Johnny’s Life: The 2002-2003 Season
Things were going well for Weir until he competed at the 2003 US Championship. As soon as he started the performance, he fell and hit the walls. After the referee gave him a second chance, the same happened, and he injured both his back and knees. The year was the lowest for Johnny, and he had to withdraw from the Nationals. To add to the series of unfortunate things, his financial supporter, Helen McLoraine, had passed away. This created a sense of failure within Johnny, and US Figure skating gave up their hopes of Johnny ever competing again.
Despite this, Johnny never gave up his love for the support and tried his luck at the next competition, which was the Finlandia Trophy. He started to train with Tatiana Tarasova, a Russian coach that has trained many Figure skaters globally. The Finlandia Trophy was the only competition he was able to compete in at that time since no one had great expectations from him. He proved all of these people wrong as he was able to secure a spot in the nationals again in 2004.
Where Is Johnny Weir Now?
In the year 2011, Johnny wrote a book about his life called Welcome To My World, which talked about his life as a person with an American body and a soul that was Russian since he had spent so much time training there. In 2014, he and his husband, Victor Voronov, split due to various personal issues.
He retired from the sport in 2013 and joined NBC as a commentator for Figure Skating competitions a year later. Most recently, in 2023, Johnny has been appearing on NBC along with Tara Lipinski, a Gold medalist in the Olympics.
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