Quadruple Closure: Goebel Leaves Fairfax for Columbia University

By Lois Elfman

As he prepares to start the next chapter of his life, 2002 Olympic bronze medalist, two-time World Championships medalist and 2001 U.S. Figure Skating Champion Timothy Goebel, known in skating circles as the “Quad King,” is taking a lingering fond look at the community he has called home for the past 19 months.

“I’ve really enjoyed the time I’ve spent in Fairfax,” said Goebel. “Training with Audrey (Weisiger, his coach at the Fairfax Ice Arena) was a great opportunity. Even though I didn’t accomplish all of my goals, I still feel I learned a lot from Audrey and her staff.”

Goebel, 25, is the first American to land a quadruple jump in competition and the first skater in the world to land the quadruple salchow (in 1998). He is the first skater to land three quadruple jumps in a program (1999 Skate America), a feat he also performed in his Olympic medal winning free skate in Salt Lake City in 2002. He withdrew from the 2004 U.S. Nationals citing boot problems and never really regained his momentum after that. He did finish second at the 2005 U.S. Championships and 10th at the World Championships, but he did not qualify for this year’s Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.

Since finishing seventh at the 2006 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis in January, Goebel has been planning his future while also enjoying his surroundings. He has made a point to frequently visit Washington, D.C. and soak in the atmosphere. His Fairfax apartment is located right near a Metro stop, and he revels in being able to get virtually wherever he wants to go without getting in his car. He’s checked out the Spy Museum, the Cézanne exhibit at the National Gallery and several exhibits at the Smithsonian.

“As well, I really like walking around Georgetown,” he said. “There are a lot of great restaurants and little stores that are not your typical shopping experience.

“I’ve gotten spoiled by the accessibility of everything on the East Coast from living here,” he added. “I hate driving. It’s been really great to have public transit right at my back door. It was a good learning experience so that New York won’t be so overwhelming.”

In September, Goebel, who is originally from Chicago, will begin studies at the Columbia University School of General Studies in New York. He had previously taken courses at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles (where he trained from mid-2000 to December 2004) and Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio (where he trained from the early 1990s until mid-2000). He said he plans to major in finance and he may pursue a career in investment banking.

While his connection to skating is by no means done, Goebel said his performing days are over. His final performance was on June 25 at the Fort Dupont Ice Arena in Washington, D.C., where he skated a benefit for Kids on Ice, a program that provides skating lessons for inner city kids.

“I plan on staying involved in skating, but I won’t actually be skating myself,” he said. “I’m hoping to do a little bit of coaching and consulting work.”

He has recently become a nationally rated technical specialist, a crucial part of the judging panel under the new Code of Points system. The caller identifies the jump, spin or footwork and assigns it a value level. The judges then determine the grade of execution.

“I hope to be working events in the near future to get experience,” Goebel said. “Hopefully, sometime I can take my international exams and be a technical specialist at international competitions.”

Goebel said he’s been mentally preparing for the end of skating career for some time. Four years ago, he told himself he would stop competing at the end of the 2006 season. His legacy includes the 76 successfully performed quadruple jumps in competition.

“I’m going to miss skating on some level, but I’m excited to move on,” he said. “I did everything that I could really do. Let’s be honest, I was never much of a show skater. Definitely, my strength was competition skating. I was never really the type who wanted to perform for years and years after my competitive career was done.

“There’s not much for me anymore. I got dropped from tour (Champions on Ice) this year. Beyond that, there aren’t that many opportunities to perform.”

Now, he will pursue a new kind of quadruple success, a 4.0 average.