Paul Wirtz

Paul Wirtz (May 3, 1958 - April 6, 2006) was a Canadian figure skating coach.[1] Originally from Marathon, Ontario,[1] he was the brother of Kris Wirtz and the uncle of Sean Wirtz.[1]

For the 17th-century Swedish Pomeranian general major and vice governour, see Paul Wirtz (Swedish Pomerania)

A coach of pairs skaters, athletes he worked with included Valérie Marcoux, Craig Buntin, Nicholas Young, Elizabeth Putnam, Sean Wirtz, Kristy Sargeant,[1] Kris Wirtz,[1] Dylan Moscovitch, Tanith Belbin[2] and Eric Radford.[3]

He died on April 6, 2006 at age 47 from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.[1] At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and the 2014 World Championships, Radford and Meagan Duhamel performed to a piece of music "Tribute" that Radford had personally composed as a tribute to Wirtz.[4][5]

Wirtz was openly gay.[3] When Radford came out as gay in 2014, he credited Wirtz as an important influence on his acceptance of his own sexuality: "Paul was the first gay person I ever saw in real life. The gay people on TV were always very flamboyant, and until I met Paul I didn't realize you could be gay and just be normal. He was the first person I saw who was like that, gay and just normal. He made me realize I didn't have to be afraid of it."[3]

References
  1. "A teacher to the end". Ottawa Sun, April 9, 2006.
  2. "Belbin loses dance title by the vote of one judge". The Globe and Mail, January 18, 2003.
  3. "Eric Radford: Olympic figure skater, medal-winning family man. And gay.". Outsports, December 4, 2014.
  4. "Eric Radford and Meagan Duhamel pay tribute to late coach". Toronto Sun, October 24, 2013.
  5. Radford, Eric (February 2018). "Have courage. Be resilient. Be Olympic". Sportsnet - Big Reads. Sportsnet. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
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