Elvis Announces His Retirement

[lotusland]

At the Mariposa Gala tonight, and in a television interview that was aired on the news, Elvis announced tonight's performance was his "final public performance," he is officially hanging up his skates.

Of course, he also took advantage of the moment to plug his soon to be released CD.

Funny, I never thought in a million years, both Brian Orser and Kurt Browning would outlast Elvis Stoyko in the professional skating arena. :??

Best of Luck to Elvis as he turns the corner and strikes out in a new direction! :)

[Tigger]

Actually...I'm not that surprised. Surprised he did this w/not a lot of warning, but not surprised he's retiring now. I never did think Elvis would make it as a Pro, because he was always more of a compeitor. Not a lot of chances to do that in the Pro world these days sadly. However, it didn't escape my attention or that of others at the two Celebration On Ice receptions I've attended the last two years that the man can't walk w/out a limp after doing a show. The legacy of Nagano showing itself and at Elvis' age, that's sad.

I wish him all the best in his future endevours.

[singerskates]

Woah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe Elvis should have gone pro after Nagano instead of staying around until 2002. All those triple axels and quads he was doing after his injury didn't help his body any. Anyway, did Elvis sing a bit at the Mariposa show? What are his pipes like?

It's a good thing he's got singing and acting to fall back on and also doing TV skating commentating because to push it any farther with his body is asking too much. His mind and spirit may be sharp as a wip but his body ain't that 21 body it once was.

Good luck to Elvis in the music buz. It's more fierce than any skating competition.

singerskates

[jazzpants]

I sure am curious to know what his "5 years in classical voice training" has brought him. Anyone has a small sample audio clip of him I can sample. (I've read somewhere else he was singing a duet with one of the Canadian Idol? Should I cover my ears???)

[Kay]

Hey guys,

it was for sure surprising when Elvis took the microphone and announced that that was his last performance. He skated to a dramatic song I believe was called "The Show Must Go On" as that seemed to be the most repeated line in it. He didn't even mention his cd or that he would be singing, he simply said that he had future careers to look forward to.

To those that were in attendance of the Mariposa Charity Gala, did anyone else find his speech a little odd / not fitting of the event? He started out well, but it just went down from there. He went on for about fifteen minutes, thanking everyone from childhood friends, to his acupuncturist, and at one point he even seemed to be ditching on skating when he mentioned that skating wasn't always what his family wanted him to do but hopefully they would be happy with what was to come instead. He didn't inspire or add excitement to the sport of figure skating, if anything he sounded a bit spiteful at times. Instead speaking of his travels, the interesting people he got to meet, the joy of competing, and all that figure skating had taught him (which would have made for a good speech) he talked about how skating on tour just wasn't for him and he would do better things in the future.

To me, the Mariposa Charity Gala has traditionally been about celebrating the achievements of past and present talents, and previewing the up-and-come-ers of tomorrow. It is normally an enchanted evening filled with a variety of skating styles and levels. Perhaps it would have been more appropriate for Elvis to have held a farewell show in Barrie separately if he indeed did want to skate his last performance in Barrie.

Did anyone else feel the event lacked magic or that Elvis seemed a tad off base?

[slusher]

I didn't go to Mariposa but was in Hamilton when Elvis retired in 2002? and he went on and on and on. It became uncomfortable.

[Bailey]

Thanks for the interesting information. Does it surprise me - no. IMO, Elvis has never really gotten "it." In all the years people were encouraging him to expand his skating, he stubbornly insisted that it was all about the jumps. He has such a competitive, goal oriented personality that I doubt he can really enjoy the sport without that aspect. He continues to neglect that skating is just as much about the "performance" than the technical aspect of the sport, as was very obvious in his commentary during the most recent Olympics. And, maybe tour life isn't for him but I wonder if he is disappointed that he never really recieved the opportunities that Kurt, Scott, Brian Boitano received - because he is not nearly as versatile as these other great skaters.

That said, though Elvis has never really done it for me since the early 1990's, I do wish him success in his life after skating.

[jp1andOnly]

Not competing has been difficult for him. It's almost like losing a best friend. I know (from close sources) that he was depressed for awhile. Not depressed as in "I need meds" but really down in the dumps. Heck, I would be too if I dedicated my entire life to skating. Honestly, I think he was lost a bit of a lost soul.

He has never been the showman type and I think doing pro shows would bore him to tears. Hopefully he'll be able to explore other options and move on. I think when he's ready he'll be involved somehow in coaching.

Thanks for the interesting information. Does it surprise me - no. IMO, Elvis has never really gotten "it." In all the years people were encouraging him to expand his skating, he stubbornly insisted that it was all about the jumps. He has such a competitive, goal oriented personality that I doubt he can really enjoy the sport without that aspect. He continues to neglect that skating is just as much about the "performance" than the technical aspect of the sport, as was very obvious in his commentary during the most recent Olympics. And, maybe tour life isn't for him but I wonder if he is disappointed that he never really recieved the opportunities that Kurt, Scott, Brian Boitano received - because he is not nearly as versatile as these other great skaters.

That said, though Elvis has never really done it for me since the early 1990's, I do wish him success in his life after skating.

[playwright]

Elvis was a favorite of mine and I will miss him! :bow: I'm sorry to hear that he was depressed. :cry: I hope that singing, or martial arts, whatever he does in the future will bring him happiness. :)

[singerskates]

Elvis was a favorite of mine and I will miss him! :bow: I'm sorry to hear that he was depressed. :cry: I hope that singing, or martial arts, whatever he does in the future will bring him happiness. :)

Elvis was why I got into figure skating as an adult. If it wouldn't have been for Elvis, I would have become a fat couch potato figure skating spectator. I'm glad that he once said on TV, that if people think it's easy, they should try it for themselves. I hope Elvis gets involved in Canadian Adult Skating someway to help promote it. I'm not saying that I want to see him compete in it but to come out and support us. Who knows, maybe that adult contempary CD of his will be good for an interpretive FS or two.

I really loved his masculine style of skating under the 6.0 system. I really think though if Elvis' body would not have let him down in the months leading up to Nagano, Elvis would have won the Gold Olympic medal and also would have kept on competing to this day even under the COP system and still would have done well. Elvis would have wipped Emman's and Jeff's butts technically but Jeff woud have wipped Elvis' and Emman's butts with the components marks. It would have been awesome to see the contrast at reg. Canadians. But now we just have the memories of Elvis on ice, on DVD and VHS tape. Bring on the audio CDs Elvis.

Brigitte Laskowski

[icedancer2]

It's good that he left skating when he did. He's bald8O:?? , chubby:P , ugly:frus: and dull now. No charisma at all. Who would want to buy his CD except maybe relatives and die-hard fans. I'm not surprised he gave a rambling, self-absorbed speech at the gals. He is a strange, ego-ridden dude.

And you are.... who?????????????:twisted:

[crazyaboutelvis]

This person has been going around to diffrent forums bashing Elvis using diffrent user names.:roll: I loved Elvis' skating.He was a inspiration to alot of people.:)