Elvis Stojko, a former Olympian and one of Canada’s most renowned competitive figure skaters, and his wife Gladys Orozco offered the local figure skating community a rare opportunity to refine their skills and learn new techniques during a Skate Virden seminar on Feb. 24 & 25 at Tundra Oil & Gas Place. With the walking track open, numerous Virdenites dropped by for a glimpse of a skating legend.
The couple, who reside on an acreage near Bowmanville, Ontario with their three canine companions, worked with different levels over the two days, including Can-Star 1, Star 2 & 3, Star 4 & 5 and Star 6 & up. While Stojko spent the bulk of his time on the ice, Orozco and local resource people worked on fitness and yoga in the Sunrise Banquet Hall.
Stojko said that the focus is about more than just jumps, spins and fancy foot work.
“I think a lot of it is self-confidence,” he said. “We’ll teach them stuff they may never have done before. Just above their level, they may think, but by the end of the session they’re actually getting the steps or getting the movements and when they come in thinking “I’ll never be able to do this,” all of a sudden, they do it and they have this sense of confidence and accomplishment in a short period of time.
“It’s really about getting rid of things they don’t need. The doubt, the fear, all of these negative things in their mind. Even if they don’t get it immediately, they can get it.”
Seminars like this one keep the husband and wife team busy during the year.
“We do this quite a bit,” he said. “The next three weekends are in different places. Usually it’s this time of year that we end up doing seminars...anywhere from January to April...usually during carnival season. The odd time we’ll do them at the beginning of the skating season, like September or October.”
I just loved the spinning and the jumping and the sliding…” - Stojko
The pair joined enthusiastic parents, skaters and their coaches in the Sunrise Banquet Hall for a question and answer session. Stojko was asked about aspects of his life as a professional figure skater from his formative years, his most memorable moments on the ice and more.
He recalled being drawn to the sport at a tender age.
“I watched television when I was two and a half...someone spinning,” he said. “My parents took me when I was four. I just loved the spinning and the jumping and the sliding and the whole thing, because it was athletic. One of the many things I was into when I was a kid. It was just about the flow and the speed of it all.”
Stojko keeps up a regular regimen in order to prepare for shows and performances.
“I’m on the ice almost every day, except for weekends,” he said. “I’m still training and staying in shape because I’ll end up getting requests for shows. Six months out is pretty short notice for a show, but up to a year (in advance) a club will hire me to come out to perform. It could be a rink like this, some smaller places, right up to Stars on Ice, which I do every spring. There’s also a Stars on Ice winter tour in November and December, (with) smaller venues of similar size to this that we could fit in from 2,000 to maybe 5,000 people. Summers are a little less intense for travel. Once I finish tour in May, I focus on my racing season because I race cars.”
Yes, there’s more to Elvis Stojko than lacing up the blades.
“I started dirt bikes when I was seven,” he said. “I was always into motorsports...riding something, anywhere from an ATV to a jet ski to snowmobiles. When I was still living in Mexico, I started racing shifter carts because it was really inexpensive to race and drive there. When we were coming back to Canada, I was racing a ROTAX series in Ontario, different styles of carts, and worked my way up. Within a year and a half, I was second in Canada in my division and then raced in the states, in Vegas, in Mexico, all over. I did that in the 90’s and early 2000’s and continued all the way through because I knew one day I wanted to get into that on a full-time pro level basis.”
Stojko has observed and experienced lots of changes during his long tenure in figure skating.
“The system changed in 2005. They went from the six zero perfect score system to now just adding points. It’s very different now compared to when I was skating. There’s always positives and negatives. No matter what they change in the scoring or marking system of the sport, it’s always going to evolve.
“Even the technology of the skates. They’re almost half the weight of what I used to skate in back in the day. That also changes the feel and what the kids see now.
“Back in my day you had to tape it and then go back and watch it on VHS or Beta. Now you can easily watch yourself skate and watch other skaters around the world and see technique and break things down.
“I was sharing with the kids that skating is a perishable skill. It’s not like riding a bike. I can hop into a race car (after) being out of it for a little while, have two sessions and all of a sudden Boom! I’m back in. I may not have the endurance, but the feel’s there.
“If I’m not skating, it goes away so quickly. My style itself has not changed, but everything I’ve done keeps getting more refined.”
Elvis Stojko’s accolades include back-to-back Olympic silver medals at Lillehammer in 1994 and Nagano in 1998, three world titles and seven national titles. He was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 2011.
With a partner who also loves the sport, skating has been a constant in Stojko’s life.
“I’ve been doing it for 48 years,” he said. “I’m really blessed because if it wasn’t for my wife, I don’t know if I would be still doing it. We do it together. We love doing these seminars. I love working with the kids, but it is a lot of work. It is emotionally draining so to have my wife with me here, it makes it a lot easier.”
However, Stojko’s focus is shifting toward a sport that was once just a hobby.
“Motorsports was always in parallel with my skating. More and more people are hearing about my love for motorsports and that it’s now not just a hobby. Life is short, and we want to be able to enjoy as much as we can. I’m going to do things that fill my soul and right now the skating fills my soul a little bit but not like it used to because I’ve done it for so long. I enjoy passing on my knowledge so it’s paying it forward and I fill my soul with car racing.”
