Kurt Browning: He’s going to be big

Canadian figure skater Kurt Browning was the first skater

to land a ratified quadruple jump in 1988.

Source: Facebook/Skate Canada Patinage Canada

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He was the first skater to land a ratified quadruple jump in history, and would go on to win four world men’s figure skating championships.

Yet, the first time I heard of Kurt Browning was not on TSN, or the CTV National News. Instead, it was the lounge on Tenth Kelsey in 1987 when I was in my first year of university, and the world was preparing for the Winter Olympics in Calgary.

He was simply referred to as “My friend Kurt”, by one of my floormates.

She said he would go on to do great things and she was right.

I saw Kurt Browning on television the other day, promoting reverse mortgages in a commercial. It reminded me of that time so long ago, when he was just starting out.

1988 Olympics
All the talk leading up to the 1988 Olympics in Calgary was about the “Battle of the Brians” for figure skating gold.

Canadian Brian Orser was the defending world champion, defeating American Brian Boitano in 1987 at the championship in Cincinnati. Boitano who was the 1986 men’s figure skating world champion, defeating Orser at the championship in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1985, at the world championship in Tokyo, Orser had taken silver and Boitano bronze.

So these two skaters knew each other well.

Their duel would be one of the closest finishes in Olympic history, with Boitano besting Orser.

There was excitement for Canadians in women’s figure skating as well.

Although East German skater Katarina Witt was pretty much pre-ordained as champion, the silver medal was up for grabs.

As usual there were two American skaters, Debi Thomas and Jill Trenary, vying for the title, as well as Japan’s Midori Ito.

Given an outside chance was Canadian Elizabeth Manley.

It was electric the night of the final skate. Witt had already locked up gold, but Ito skated a brilliant performance, to the surprise of many.

Then Manley was up.

She proceeded to turn in the skate of her life, leaving it all on the ice, captivating the crowd and sending them into a frenzy when she finished.

Manley won the free skate and, against the odds, took home the silver medal, on home ice, for Canada.

My friend Kurt
At that time I was in my first year of university, living on the 10th floor of Kelsey Hall. One of my floormates was Shannon Richards, a dental hygiene student from Grande Prairie.

While we watched the Olympics, periodically she would talk about this friend of hers.

He was from Caroline, Alberta but had moved to Grande Prairie, and was currently skating at the Royal Glenora in Edmonton.

“Watch out for him,” she said. “He’s going to be big.”

“His name is Kurt Browning.”

Ice time
He finished eighth at the Calgary Olympics. Then, as Shannon predicted, he made it big just a couple months later. In March of 1988, at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary he landed the first ratified quadruple jump in competition, a quadruple toe loop.

A year, later at the 1989 World Championship in Paris, Kurt Browning won gold. He repeated the feet in 1990 in Halifax, 1991 in Munich and 1993 in Prague.

He also won the Canadian championship in 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993.

As the 1980s ended, Kurt Browning was just getting started.

Parting thoughts
Kurt Browning went on to a lot of success as a professional figure skater and entertainer.

He was always a very positive upbeat person, especially when he took a lot of criticism for not winning a medal in the Olympics when he had already won multiple world championships.

I always thought he handled everything with a lot of class and grace.

Whenever I see him, like I did on that reverse mortgage commercial, I think about all the great performances he turned in, as well as all the creativity he showed on the ice. The routine that sticks out is his “Casablanca” skate. It’s just genius.

I also think that Shannon was right.

He did make it big.