Brian Boitano

Brian Anthony Boitano (born October 22, 1963) is an American figure skater from Sunnyvale, California. He is the 1988 Olympic champion, the 1986 and 1988 World Champion, and the 1985–1988 U.S. National Champion.

Boitano 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. 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. Boitano is a graduate of Marian A. Peterson High School in Sunnyvale, California. He is of Italian American descent, with family from northern Italy. As an adult, he has lived in San Francisco.

Figure skating career Early career Beginning skating as a child, Brian Boitano won a gold medal at the Junior U.S. Championships in 1978 and first made his mark on the international scene when he won the bronze medal at the 1978 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, 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. 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, 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. 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. At the 1986 World Championships, Boitano took the title, He 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. Adding to the rivalry, Boitano and Orser were both performing military-themed programs. Boitano's free skate was set to music from Napoleon and Josephine, the television miniseries. For his free skate, Boitano wore a blue stretch suit with red braids and epaulets, and used military gestures and postures as much as his music allowed.

The Battle of the Brians at the 1988 Winter Olympics 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 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 voting "with his conscience," placing 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 two triple axels, two triple flips and a triple triple combination, elements that were not included in Orser's program.

With his win, Boitano became the first Olympic champion to land the full complement of six types of triple jumps. Boitano also appeared in Carmen on Ice, for which he won an Emmy. He performed with Champions on Ice for many years. He wanted to return to amateur competition and make another run at the Olympics.

In June 1993, the International Skating Union (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. 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.

The Sochi games and Russia were the targets of criticism and LGBT activism because of a Russian anti-gay "propaganda" law passed in June 2013. In January 2014, Boitano told the Associated Press that he had never wanted to come out until he was named to the delegation.

Boitano's older brother, Mark Boitano, 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 of Boitano as a superhero appears as a semi-recurring character in the cartoon 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.

Food Network show On August 23, 2009, Food Network 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 Carmen on Ice; Boitano played Don Jose. All three won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding performance in classical music/dance programming". 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. 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. 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 Season Short program Free skating Exhibition 1993–1994 Carousel WaltzRichard Rodgers Appalachian Spring/Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copland Elegy For Harp And StringsLee Holdridge 1987–1988 Les Patineurs (Meyerbeer) Silent movie Napoleon (Carmine Coppola / Francis Ford Coppola) Adventures of Don Juan from the Errol Flynn movie Parlami d'amore Mariu (Italian love song)

Results International Event 78–79 79–80 80–81 81–82 82–83 83–84 84–85 85–86 86–87 87–88 93–94 Olympics 5th 1st 6th Worlds 7th 6th 3rd 1st 2nd 1st Skate America 3rd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd Skate Canada 1st 2nd NHK Trophy 3rd 1st St. Ivel 1st Nebelhorn 3rd St. Gervais 3rd International: Junior Junior Worlds 3rd National U.S. Champ. 1st J 8th 5th 4th 4th 2nd 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st 2nd