Skating: Tim Goebel still ‘Quad King’ 10 years later Tim Goebel had been so swamped with his work as an analytic consultant for Nielsen that he was not going to have a chance to leave his office base in Stamford, Conn.
Photo Courtesy: skateforlove.org - Dubbed the “quad king,” Tim Goebel competed at all top levels of figure skating.
Tim Goebel had been so swamped with his work as an analytic consultant for Nielsen that he was not going to have a chance to leave his office base in Stamford, Conn., to soak in the national skating championships in San Jose, Calif.
Crunching figures, instead of tracing them as he once did, is his way of the world these days.
That’s not to say that he didn’t check his computer frequently to check on the results. And he spent his few breaks catching up on video replays of the competition. Pulled in two directions, between his “real-world” job now and his passion for his sport, Goebel realized he needed a 36-hour day to cram in everything he needed and wanted to do in 24.
In the 10 years since Goebel leaped his way to a bronze medal in Salt Lake City, a lot has changed for the one-time U.S. men’s champion and two-time world silver medalist. Goebel, who was 21 when he competed in the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games, is now 31, graduate of Columbia University and a member of the American workforce now employed at a media and information conglomerate. He remains involved in the sport of figure skating, serving as a technical specialist on judging panels at various competitions.
But the skater who broke ground in the sport as the “Quad King,” no longer laces up skates.
"I really miss competing sometimes,” Goebel said. “But I am not skating now. Not at all.
“The last time I skated to do jumps was two and a half years ago. In the summer of 2009, I was teaching pretty much every day and I would have an hour break and I would just skate. I went home to Chicago to judge at a competition and I went to skate. I had one of the worst falls of my life on a triple flip. I was basically horizontal in the air. I told myself, ‘I’m done. I quit.’ ”
And with that, the skater who made history by becoming the first in the world — and the first in Olympic competition — to land three quadruple-revolution jumps in one program, came off of the ice and hasn’t looked back.
Yet the sport remains a big part of his life. He enjoys watching young skaters rising through the ranks and is especially intrigued by a young woman named Gracie Gold, who claimed the junior national crown in January. Like Goebel, Gold is a natural jumper, and he believes she could be one of the top American contenders less than two years from now when the next Winter Games take place in Sochi, Russia.
It’s hard for Goebel to believe that 10 years ago, he was one to watch when he was competing in the Olympic Winter Games.
