Search For Elusive Gold Stojko Could Give Canada Long-Awaited Olympic Title

Elvis Stojko, like many other North Americans living above the 49th parallel, is keenly aware of an embarrassing little Olympic fact.

Eight times in the past 11 years a Canadian man has won the world figure skating championship. But in the three Winter Olympics held during that same period, there has never been a Canadian gold medalist. And the reigning world champion at every one of those Olympics was a Canadian.

On second thought, Stojko (pronounced STOY-ko) is perhaps more keenly aware of these facts than other Canadians since he’s been asked about it almost every day for 11 months, dating to his victory at the March 1997 worlds in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The pressure “is people coming up to you and saying ‘Hey, win the gold for us. Bring it back for us. We’re all counting on you,”’ said Stojko, 25, who will skate Thursday in the men’s short program at the Nagano Winter Games.

“Elvis is one of the main guys going for Olympic gold,” said Todd Eldredge, the ‘96 world gold medalist and current U.S. national champion. “You’ve got him, Ilya Kulik, Alexei Yagudin (both Russians) and myself. We’re all going for it. It’s not nailed down for any one person or any two people.”

Stojko knows this is serious national pride stuff in Canada, where figure skating doesn’t carry the “women’s sport” stigma that it does in the United States, where the national figure skating association is the largest in the world, and where the bureaucrats who work on Parliament Hill in Ottawa skate to work winter mornings on the Rideau Canal.

The really embarrassing part for Canadians is that, unlike in ice hockey, where for years the country’s best athletes were excluded from the Olympics because they were in the NHL, Canada has frequently sent the best skaters in the world to the Winter Games.

But Barbara Ann Scott, who won at the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics, is the only Canadian woman with an Olympic title. And there has never been a Canadian male champion.

“It would be amazing for Canada if he won,” said Brian Orser, a Canadian who won the world title in 1987. “He would be a huge hero. He’d easily be another Wayne Gretzky in popularity if he were to win a gold medal.”

Orser could have had that kind of fame. Skating on home ice at the 1988 Calgary Games, Brian Boitano edged him for the gold in the long program. Then three-time defending world champion Kurt Browning went to Albertville in 1992. He flopped in the short and finished sixth. Browning staged a comeback, winning the ‘93 worlds in preparation for Lillehammer in ‘94. Again he faltered in the short. The gold went to Russia’s Alexei Urmanov, the silver to Stojko in a close, disputed decision.

With that dubious national lineage, Stojko will go quad-to-quad in a competition that should feature the most jumps ever. Among the favorites, only Eldredge hasn’t landed a four-revolution jump in competition.

Stojko said he has left the pressure in Ontario; that no Canadian has prepared himself so well for an Olympics.

He’ll need to be, since he has the most technically difficult programs of any skater. Although he has been working on a quad Salchow, the quad he plans to use in the Olympics is a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination.

His artistry has always been questioned. The long program Stojko will skate Saturday may get the fans in the White Ring excited - it’s performed to Japanese drum music - but his martial arts-oriented themes of the past have turned off some judges.

He said he won’t change his artistic approach even for the medal Canadians desperately want him to win. And he said that skating his way is more important than winning the gold.

“I’ve already dealt with the situation that anything can happen here,” he said. “Whether I skate two clean performances and come in fifth, two clean performances and come in second, I will be able to deal with all those situations.

“If you want to win big, you’ve got to be prepared to lose big. That’s a pressure situation. That’s a challenge.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: MEDAL CONTENDERS Elvis Stojko, Canada Age: 25. It’s a fact: Named after the other Elvis. Credentials: Three-time world champion. What he needs to do: Skate two clean programs, including landing his quad-triple jump combination.

Todd Eldredge, United States Age: 26. It’s a fact: Won Skate America after dislocating his shoulder during warm-ups. Credentials: Won four nationals since 1990. What he needs to do: Land a quadruple jump.

Ilya Kulik, Russia Age: 20. It’s a fact: Missed the European Championships in January because of a bad back. Credentials: Won ‘96 world silver medal. What he needs to do: Repeat his first-place performance at ‘95 Europeans and land his quad toe jump.

Alexei Yagudin, Russia Age: 17. It’s a fact: He’s the European champion but has never won the Russian nationals. Credentials: 1997 world bronze medalist. What he needs to do: Try to stay calm.

Michael Weiss, United States Age: 21. It’s a fact: His father was an Olympic gymnast; his mother a national gym champion. Credentials: Has come closer to landing a quad than any U.S. skater. What he needs to do: Wait four years.

-San Jose Mercury News