Skater Johnny Weir ready to entertain again in Delaware
Johnny Weir’s focus has always been on entertaining people.
That was the case as a three-time U.S. national champion and two-time Olympian during his figure skating career. Weir, now 31, spent the vast majority of time training at the University of Delaware and at The Pond in Newark.
And it’s the case now as a figure skating commentator for NBC alongside friend and former Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski. Weir, who retired from competitive skating in the fall of 2013, is also very active in social media.
“My whole adolescence as a skater taught me how to be a great athlete, but also how to entertain people,” Weir said in a phone interview last week. “That’s what I know how to do. I’m terrible at math. I’m terrible at science. So what my training has led to is entertaining people. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Weir will do this Friday and Saturday nights at the Skating Club of Wilmington, where he has trained over the past two years since he moved back to his parents’ house following his divorce from husband Victor Voronov.
The Art2Skate 2016 Spring Ice Show will be held Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for teenagers and $10 for kids. Premium seats are $70.
Weir said the show is his way of giving back to a skating center that has gone out of its way to accommodate his hectic schedule, that often has him traveling to Japan or Russia, for instance. Recently, Weir had to drive 2 ½ hours up to New York City for a TV shoot. He spent a few hours doing that, then drove back to Delaware late at night, stopping at the rink to get a workout in. Weir often posts videos of his workouts at the Skating Club of Wilmington on Instagram.
“When I came down here to be with my parents, I needed to skate and prepare for all the performances and tours and shows that I was skating in,” Weir said. “The Skating Club of Wilmington was so wide-open arms to me, and it was like, ‘Johnny, anything you need, we can help you.’ That’s such a wonderful thing.
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“Even if my schedule only allows me to skate from 1 in the morning until 4 in the morning, they make it happen for me … If I can give back to my rink in any way, I want to.”
The skating club embraces Weir. The show, which Weir said he hopes to do annually, is a bonus.
“We’re just over the moon about this,” said Melinda Weinstein, the skating club’s vice president. “It’s beyond our wildest dreams. Johnny is great with kids, and they’re twinkly-eyed when they see him. Everybody is really looking forward to seeing him perform.”
This admiration is a main reason why Weir takes his second act as a skater just as seriously as his first. There are no medals at stake when Weir is performing around the world in figure skating shows. It’s all about his pride and making sure his fans come away entertained, whether it’s through his graceful skating, his flamboyant costumes or the outrageous things he might say.
For Weir, the exhibitions aren’t about showing up for an hour or so, going through the motions and collecting a paycheck.
“I still try to keep myself in the best shape possible because I luckily still have so many opportunities to tour the world and perform for people,” he said. “Of course, I’m not performing at an Olympic level. But I’m still doing all of my jumps. I’m still very creative, and I take a lot of pride in my costuming and the overall appearance of what I’m doing.”
A second career
Weir takes the same approach to his TV work. He has never been shy around a camera or in front of a microphone. He had a reality TV show in 2010 and 2012 called “Be Good Johnny Weir.” He famously wore a wedding dress on the TLC show “Say Yes to the Dress.” Weir has often appeared on magazine covers and at fashion shows. In 2006, while still skating competitively, Weir visited The News Journal newsroom to critique fashion at the Academy Awards.
Weir said he enjoys his commentary work on NBC because it allows him to expound on a sport that has meant so much to him ever since he first took up skating at UD at the age of 12.
“NBC has given me a really great platform to not just be a crazy gay guy who wears funny clothes,” Weir said. “I can actually have a very professional and profound platform to stand on with figure skating.”
Weir and Lipinski, who also trained at UD before winning the gold medal in 1998, made their debut as NBC’s top figure skating commentary team at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. They most recently called the World Figure Skating Championships in which Ashley Wagner won the silver medal. Wagner spent a few years early in her career training at the Skating Club of Wilmington.
“She has an incredible work ethic and she’s very talented,” Weir said about Wagner. “She put it all together in Boston and she was able to skate strong performances and rely on mistakes by some of her competitors … It was very encouraging to see her have that breakthrough moment. It’s a shame that such a great skater doesn’t get the attention she deserves in her country.”
Weir then gave his opinion about the state of figure skating in the United States today, compared to when he was skating.
“The level of skating is certainly better [today],” he said. “They’re doing difficult elements, far more difficult than anyone in my generation was doing. I remember in our generation we were kind of in a malaise, just because the generation that was before us was the Michelle Kwans, Oksana Baiuls, Tara Lipinskis, Nancy Kerrigans – the 1990s, basically. Those skaters had so many touring opportunities, so many opportunities to work and make money.
“They were rock stars, really. Then because of a judging scandal at the 2002 Olympics and a new scoring system that came out because of that, and the fact that there’s been no great American star, skating has lost some of its [luster] in America ... The skaters themselves are at a level that’s higher than anything I’ve ever seen. They just don’t have a lot of opportunities to skate and work and perform.”
This is why Weir said he does most of his exhibitions overseas, primarily in Russia, which has long been his favorite foreign country, China and Japan.
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But Weir and Lipinski have also branched off into commentating on other sports and entertainment. They recently spent more than a week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, preparing for their Summer Olympics assignment. They have also done the Oscars, the Kentucky Derby, the Westminster Dog Show and the Super Bowl when the New England Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks in Feb. 2015.
Weir admitted that was the first and only football game he has watched from start to finish. But he said he also got a newfound appreciation for football players.
“It’s not just guys in spandex throwing a ball around,” he said. “Those guys have so much pressure on them, and I was really honored to be on that side of the sport and talk to the athletes.”
“Tara and Johnny are a very authentic team,” Jim Bell, the executive producer of NBC Olympics, told the New York Times in 2014. “They’re fun and fresh. They’re not afraid to offer strong opinions and come back and take a selfie on Instagram.”
Concern for skating in Delaware
Still, for Weir, everything comes back to skating.
That’s why he wants to help the state of Delaware get back to its run of glory back when Weir and Kimmie Meissner, who trained at the University of Delaware, were seen as the brightest stars in figure skating.
Meissner won the World Figure Skating Championship in 2006, a month after skating at the Olympics. She no longer skates competitively. Weir skated at the Olympics in 2006 and 2010.
“Skating in Delaware was such a big deal when I was living down here,” he said. “Every training center, whether it was The Pond, the Skating Club of Wilmington, or the University of Delaware or Iceworks in Aston, Pa., had top coaches, and everyone had top skaters.
“And just from being back in the area for a couple of years now, I’ve seen that so much talent has either gone to waste or gone someplace else.”
The Skating Club of Wilmington was the first of those elite training centers, built in 1964. It was the training home for the Peter and Kitty Carruthers, who won the silver medal at the 1984 Olympics; Calla Urbanski and Rocky Marval, who skated at the 1992 Olympics; and most recently, Wagner, who skated in the 2014 Olympics.
But those elite skaters aren’t as prevalent anymore, either lured away into other sports, or reluctant to spend the thousands of dollars it takes each year in lessons, coaching fees and travel to competitions.
“It’s such a huge commitment,” Weinstein said. “Now, there are a lot of things that kids can do. There’s more competition for those dollars, with girls especially. We’re trying to deal with that.”
That’s why she said having Weir perform is such a great opportunity for the rink. He has the name recognition with the skaters, both as a national champion and Olympian, and as a national TV personality.
And Weir said he hopes that can help the Skating Club of Wilmington, and skating in general in the state of Delaware.
“The Skating Club of Wilmington is the biggest heritage point,” he said. “It’s the oldest of the rinks. It has the most history to it. And I really want their program to step up a little because they really have great coaching and everything that a skater needs to succeed.
“I want people to remember this place because if people stop supporting them, they’ll die.”
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
Skating Club of Wilmington Spring Ice Show
7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Skating Club of Wilmington, 1301 Carruthers Lane
Wilmington. Tickets from $10-$70. For info, visit http://skatewilm.com/event/art2skate-2016-spring-ice-show/.