John Zimmerman (figure skater)

John Luther Zimmerman IV (born November 26, 1973) is an American professional pair skater and coach. With skating partner Kyoko Ina, he is the 2002 World bronze medalist and a three-time U.S. national champion. They also competed at the 2002 Olympics.

John Zimmerman
Zimmerman in 2018
Personal information
Full nameJohn Luther Zimmerman IV
Country representedUnited States
Born (1973-11-26) November 26, 1973
Birmingham, Alabama
ResidenceHackensack, New Jersey
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
PartnerKyoko Ina
Former partnerBrie Teaboldt
Stephanie Stiegler
Former coachTamara Moskvina
Igor Moskvin
Peter Burrows
Former choreographerAlexander Zhulin
Artur Dmitriev
Skating clubBirmingham FSC
Retired2002

Personal life

Zimmerman was born in Birmingham, Alabama.[1] He has two older sisters. He married Italian-American skater Silvia Fontana on August 28, 2003.[2] They have two daughters – Sofia, born on April 2, 2012 at Northwest Medical Center in Coconut Creek, Florida,[3] and Eva, born on June 2, 2013.[4] Their son, Jack Zimmerman, was born in 2016.

Zimmerman has worked as a model, appearing in photo shoots for Barneys New York and various designers. He and Fontana also appeared on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in 2004, and made appearances for Am/FAR, amongst other charities. In 2003, an access bridge at his alma mater, Homewood High School, was named after him.

Career

Zimmerman started skating at age 3 at a mall. He briefly partnered with Brie Teaboldt for the 1994-95 season. Then he paired with Stephanie Stiegler from 1995 through 1998, and won the bronze medal at the 1997 U.S. Figure Skating Championships while being coached by Peter Oppegard. Their partnership ended in 1998 due to injuries.[5]

Zimmerman teamed up with Kyoko Ina in 1998.[6] Initially, they were coached by Peter Burrows and Mary Lynn Gelderman in Monsey, New York and they also commuted to Stamford, Connecticut to work with Tamara Moskvina.[5] They later trained under Moskvina and Igor Moskvin in Hackensack, New Jersey.[1]

Ina and Zimmerman won the bronze medal at the 2002 World Championships. In 2003, they turned professional and began skating on Stars on Ice.

Zimmerman competed in the January 2006 FOX television program "Skating with Celebrities", where he partnered with FOX broadcaster Jillian Barberie. They finished in second place.

Zimmerman was featured as Yahoo's special guest expert correspondent for figure skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.[7] He later competed in an ABC skating series "Thin Ice" (aired on March 19, 2010), paired with world champion Canadian ice dancer Shae-Lynn Bourne. They finished in second place, winning a total of $50,000. They skated to "Closer" by Ne-Yo and "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga.

Zimmerman worked as a coach at Panthers Ice Den in Coral Springs, Florida with Silvia Fontana.[8] They now coach at Florida Hospital Center Ice in Wesley Chapel, Florida.[9] He has coached Haven Denney / Brandon Frazier (from Autumn 2012 to February 2015 and since 2018 again)[8][10] and Vanessa James / Morgan Cipres (from June 2016).[11]

In December 2019, Zimmerman, Fontana, and fellow coach Vinny Dispenza, were named and accused in a United States Center for SafeSport investigation of covering up alleged sexual abuse committed by Ciprès via intimidation tactics.[12]

Programs

(with Ina)

Season Short program Free skating
2001–02
[1]
2000–01
[13]
  • Truman Show
  • Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
    by Sergei Rachmaninov

Results

GP: Champions Series / Grand Prix

With Kyoko Ina
Ina and Zimmerman perform a "detroiter".
International[14]
Event 1998–99 99–2000 2000–01 2001–02
Olympics5th
Worlds9th7th7th3rd
Four Continents2nd3rd
GP Final5th4th
GP Cup of Russia3rd4th
GP Lalique2nd4th3rd2nd
GP Skate America5th5th4th2nd
GP Skate Canada2nd
GP Sparkassen2nd
National[14]
U.S. Champ.2nd1st1st1st

With Stephanie Stiegler
International[15]
Event 1995–96 1996–97
World Championships15th
GP Trophée Lalique6th
GP Skate America3rd
National
U.S. Championships4th3rd

With Brie Teaboldt
Event 1994–95
U.S. Championships12th
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References
  1. "Kyoko INA / John ZIMMERMAN: 2001/2002". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 2, 2002.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  2. "Five favorite things with Fontana and Zimmerman". IceNetwork.com. 2011-11-01.
  3. Brannen, Sarah S.; Meekins, Drew (2012-04-11). "The Inside Edge". IceNetwork.com.
  4. David Baden [@DavidBaden] (3 June 2013). "Congrats #SilviaFontana & @skaterzimmerman on birth of Eva Zimmerman Born 6/2/13 7p 6oz All healthy/happy! @icenetwork @usfigureskating" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. Mittan, J. Barry (1998). "Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman". Archived from the original on January 11, 2010.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  6. Roberts, Selena (January 7, 2002). "FIGURE SKATING; Ina and Zimmerman Melt Ice in Melting Pot". The New York Times.
  7. "Turin 2006 Winter Olympics - Expert Archive". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on 2006-04-29.
  8. Rutherford, Lynn (May 17, 2013). "Change of scenery serves Denney, Frazier well". IceNetwork.com.
  9. http://www.floridahospitalcenterice.com/sports/coach-bios/
  10. "Haven DENNEY / Brandon FRAZIER". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 20, 2015.
  11. Berlot, Jean-Christophe (January 25, 2017). "Zimmerman's tutelage guiding James, Ciprès". IceNetwork.com.
  12. Brennan, Christine (December 10, 2019). "Olympic figure skater, coaches being investigated for sexual abuse allegations". USA Today.
  13. "Kyoko INA / John ZIMMERMAN: 2000/2001". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 20, 2001.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  14. "Kyoko INA / John ZIMMERMAN". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017.
  15. "Stephanie STIEGLER / John ZIMMERMAN". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
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