Jeffrey Buttle (born September 1, 1982) is a Canadian figure skater. He is the 2008 World Champion and 2006 Winter Olympics bronze medalist. Buttle is the first Canadian men's world champion in 11 years following his gold medal performance in Sweden on March 22, 2008.
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Biography
Jeffrey Buttle was born in Smooth Rock Falls, Ontario, and he began skating at age two and competing at age six. He also competed in ice dancing with his older sister Meghan.
Buttle won the silver medal on the junior level at the Canadian Figure Skating Championships in 1998. The next year, he placed in the top ten at his first senior nationals. He rose steadily through his ranks, gaining valuable experience on the junior level. He made his senior international debut in the 2001-2002 season, making his mark immediately by winning the silver medal at the NHK Trophy behind Takeshi Honda. At the Canadian Championships, Buttle made his first run on the podium and placed third. It earned him a trip to Korea for the 2002 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, where he won his first gold medal.
Buttle's bronze medal finish at Nationals caused him to be named first alternate to the Canadian 2002 Olympic Figure Skating Team. However, silver medalist Emanuel Sandhu withdrew too late from the competition for Buttle to replace him, so Buttle did not compete. Instead, he went to the 2002 World Figure Skating Championships and placed high enough to earn Canada two spots to the next World Championships.
The next season, Buttle repeated his podium finish at Nationals, but was unable to defend his title at Four Continents. He worked to turn things around in the 2003-2004 season. He won his first gold medal on the Grand Prix of Figure Skating circuit and his second silver. Buttle qualified for the Grand Prix Final, but was forced to withdraw. After that setback, he had a disappointing Nationals and did not earn a spot to Worlds. Buttle was instead sent to the Four Continents Championships, which he won for the second time. Buttle decided he needed a change of scenery and spent that summer training in Lake Arrowhead with Rafael Arutunian, and Arutunian is still his secondary coach, after Lee Barkell.
Buttle recovered in the 2004-2005 season. He qualified for the Grand Prix Final a second time and won the silver medal. He went on to win his first National title. He finished the year with a silver medal at the 2005 World Figure Skating Championships.
In the 2005-2006 Olympics season, Buttle won Trophée Eric Bompard and came in second at Skate Canada. With a gold and a silver medal, he qualified for the Grand Prix Final and captured his second consecutive silver medal at that competition. He went on to win his second National title and went into the Olympics as the reigning World silver medalist. While not a favorite to win, he was a favorite to medal.
At the Olympics, Buttle skated a flawed short program that left him in sixth place going into the free skate. Two days later, during the free skate, Buttle fell on his attempt at a quad toe jump and then put a hand down on the ice after a triple axel. After this inauspicious beginning, he pulled himself together to pull off a personal best and place second in the free skate, third overall, winning Canada's first bronze medal in men's figure skating since Toller Cranston in 1976. Buttle later said that he kept thinking of winning a medal in his short program but later focused on simply enjoying himself in the free skate program, and it paid off.
After the Olympics, Buttle went on to the World Championships, held in Calgary. However, he was unable to perform at his best in front of a home audience and fell to sixth place.
Buttle being thrown by Evan Lysacek at the 2008 Four Continents gala
Buttle withdrew from the 2006 Grand Prix series due to a stress fracture in his back. He began his season at the 2007 Canadian Figure Skating Championships, where he won his third consecutive national title. After Nationals, Buttle went on to the 2007 Four Continents Championships in Colorado. He was the leader after the short program, but a disappointing free skate in which he only did a double axel without combination and a single on the second attempt left him with the silver medal, behind American Evan Lysacek.
Buttle then competed at the 2007 ISU World Figure Skating Championships. In his second international competition of the season, Buttle was second after the short program with a new personal best. He placed eighth in the free skate, dropping down to sixth place overall. His placement, combined with that of Christopher Mabee, earned Canada two spots to the 2008 World Championships.
For the 2007-2008 season, Buttle competed on the Grand Prix, placing third and fourth at his two events. At Nationals, he lost his title to Patrick Chan. At the 2008 Four Continents Championships, Buttle won the silver medal.
At the 2008 World Figure Skating Championships, Buttle surprised many when he won the Gold medal by a nearly 14 point margin after placing first in both programs.
Off the ice
While Buttle's family is not French-Canadian, Buttle went to a French language school as a child and is therefore perfectly bilingual in English and French.[2] He studied chemical engineering at the University of Toronto part-time before taking time off to focus on his skating.
In 2002, he was named one of the top ten "Most Beautiful People in Figure Skating" by the International Figure Skating magazine.
Buttle is the athlete representative on the Skate Canada Officials Advisory Committee.
Buttle has choreographed programs for Kim Yu-Na and Lauren Wilson.
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Blushing over gold
GOTEBORG, SWEDEN -- Jeffrey Buttle couldn't stop blushing yesterday.
"It's been just overwhelming," he said.
"Everyone keeps calling me 'World Champion'. I keep blushing. My name is Jeff."
He said he kept doing it over and over like he did when a capacity crowd of 9,751 fans were introduced to the final skater at the event-ending gala and it was him.
It all really hit home when the P.A. announcer said: "The new world champion, from Canada, Jeffrey Buttle!"
That was an exceptional feeling, one even better than winning a bronze at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games.
"I knew it was going to be crazy. That's definitely a feeling I'd never had before. I was just hoping I could skate after that," he said. Buttle's first day as world champion here yesterday was a dream.
MOST LIKABLE
Perhaps the most likable person on the Canadian team for the past five years said he didn't take his cellphone to the Scandinavium Arena for his free skate final the night before.
"I left it in my room. When I got back I had 40 messages. The first one was from my sister. They're all wonderful. I still haven't been able to call most of the people back."
Asked if one of them was from the prime minister, Buttle laughed.
"No. I'd feel terrible if the prime minister called and got my voice mail."
Is there a town anywhere in Ontario that won't be laying claim to Canada's new world figure skating champion?
"Smooth Rock Falls," began Buttle of where he was born. "Kapuskasing, London. Timmins, Sudbury, Barrie," continued the 25-year-old, who became the first Canadian to win gold at the event since Elvis Stojko 11 years ago.
"My dad worked for Ontario Hydro. We moved a lot. I've been all over. There's someone at every one of those places who offered me something."
He's especially looking forward to walking into the Mariposa training centre in Barrie, "where they have banners for all the medal winners internationally."
Buttle said being world champion was the last thing to hit home when he sat in Kiss 'n' Cry and his scores came up.
"I was so happy when I skated, I wasn't thinking world champion. I couldn't believe I laid it all down, all the pieces.
"It was such a great win. It was not a questionable win. I had a great skate. I beat the defending world champion who had a great skate."
One minute he spoke of that and the next he was being asked about Vancouver 2010 by three Canadian journalists yesterday.
"I'm ready for it," he said of the build up and attention he just guaranteed he'd receive on the road to Canada's homecountry Olympics.
While many may view his title here as all the stars and moons and planets being perfect and this world title being very difficult to duplicate four years from now, Buttle said that won't be his mindset at all.
"I got this without the quad," he said of the four-rotation jump Kurt Browning landed for the first time at Worlds 20 years ago, and the jump that won Stojko three world titles - one fewer than Browning and the last of which was in 1997.
"Think what I can do with the quad."
Buttle won the world title with some controversy created by silver-medal winner and defending world champion Brian Joubert of France, saying there's something wrong with the judging system that allows a skater to win gold without even trying one.
OTHER ELEMENTS
While many celebrated the idea that the Canadian's win was for all the other elements of skating instead of just the home-run jump, Buttle says he plans to have the quad by the time he gets to the Olympics.
"I didn't obsess with not having the quad, even when I was watching all these guys landing them at practice. I just told myself to stick to my program and do it and do it well.
"But I'm going to go home and definitely push the quad."
Meantime, Buttle heads home to prepare for the Stars On Ice Tour of Canada, which stops in Ottawa April 19, Toronto April 25, London April 27, Winnipeg May 1, Edmonton May 2 and Calgary May 3.
"That's going to be a real reward," he said of being able to celebrate his titles on the 12-city tour, which starts in Halifax and ends up in Vancouver and Victoria.
'And now, ladies and gentlemen, Canada's new world figure skating champion, Jeffrey Buttle!'
He may be blushing every night.
Zoltan Kelemen/Nathalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat/Alena Leonova/ Anna Cappelini & Luca Lanotte/Florent Amodio/Aliona Savchebko & Robin Szolkowy/Alexander Majorov/
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