Elvis Stojko

‘People in the gay community have to realize they’ve got to take themselves out of it. It’s not against anybody. It’s about what people can identify with when they’re watching the sport’

SOUNDBITES — “If you want to open up figure skating to another audience, you need to create something that’s going to allow everyone to watch. If you have a male masculine person watching it, they need something to relate to. Other guys relate to Johnny Weir’s thing. You need to have guys doing jumps, so a person who also watches NASCAR can identify with it and say, ‘Hey that’s awesome — how many rotations is that?’ or “How fast did he spin?” instead of, ‘How pretty was that guy?’ … People in the gay community have to realize they’ve got to take themselves out of it. It’s not against anybody. I’ve been getting heat for this, but there are people behind me saying that they appreciate it. It’s about what people can identify with when they’re watching the sport. It doesn’t have anything to do with gayness. Effeminate men can identify with effeminate skating. Masculine men can’t identify with that. When I watch it, I can’t identify because I don’t move like that. My consciousness doesn’t feel like that. … Johnny is one of these skaters who is obviously unique. He has his own sense of style, and doesn’t care what anybody thinks, and he’s not always trying to impress. He’s like, ‘I don’t care if you like it or not, just watch me.’ He’s not my style of skating, but he’s a talented skater — otherwise he wouldn’t have been on the podium at world’s.” —Three-time figure skating world champion (and the first to complete a quad jump during competition) Elvis Stojko on the new Shiznit in skating (via)

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