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Jeffrey Buttle

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Olympic medal record
Figure skating
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Turin Men's singles
Jeffrey Buttle
Jeffrey Buttle in warmup at the 2008 Worlds
Height173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Figure skating career
Country Canada
CoachLee Barkell, Rafael Arutunian
Skating clubSudbury SC
Most Recent Results:
Event Points Finish Year
World Championships 245.17 1st 2008

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.

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, and became the first male under the Code of Points system to gain level fours on all spins and footwork[citation needed]. 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.

Buttle's 2007-2008 got off to a rocky start. He had a disappointing Grand Prix season, placing third and fourth at his two events. At Nationals, after placing first in the short program, he lost his title to Patrick Chan. His season began to look up at the 2008 Four Continents Championships where, after a third place finish in the short program, Buttle went on to place second in the long and consequently 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 with two flawless skates.[1]

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.

For the past three seasons, Buttle has toured with Stars on Ice.

On March 28, 2008, Buttle appeared as a guest on CBC's Air Farce Live.

Programs

Season Short Program Long Program Exhibition
2007-2008 "Adios Nonino"
by Astor Piazolla"
"Pagliacci"
"Ararat (soundtrack)"
by Mychael Danna 		"Should I Stay or Should I Go"
by The Clash
"Go The Distance (soundtrack)"
by Michael Bolton
"Pagliacci"
2006-2007 "Adios Nonino"
by Astor Piazolla 		"Ararat (soundtrack)"
by Mychael Danna 		"High"
by James Blunt
"Should I Stay or Should I Go"
by The Clash
"Go The Distance (soundtrack)"
by Michael Bolton
2005-2006 "Sing, Sing, Sing"
by Louis Prima 		"Samson & Delilah" by Camile Saint-Saens
Tribute to Glenn Gould:
Prelude from "Tristan und Isolde" by Richard Wagner
Leicht und Zart from "Six Little Pieces for Piano" by Arnold Schoenberg
Danse Morceaux - Caresse Dansee by Alexander Scriabin
Variation 16 performed by Glenn Gould
Prelude No. 2 in C minor from "Das Wohltemperierte Klavier" by J.S. Bach
Gigue from Suite for Piano by A. Schoenberg
Concerto in D minor after Alessandro Marcello by J.S. Bach 		"Feeling Good"
by Michael Buble
"Fix You"
by Coldplay
"Ave Maria"
by The East Village Opera Company
2004-2005 "Prelude in C Sharp Minor"
by Rachmaninoff 		"Naqoyqatsi"
by Philip Glass 		"Hurt"
by Johnny Cash
"Ave Maria"
by The East Village Opera Company
"Sunglasses At Night"
by Corey Hart
2003-2004 "Take Five"
by Paul Desmond 		"Samson and Delilah"
by Camille Saint-Saens 		"Do Nothing til You Hear from Me"
by Robbie Williams
"Angels"
by Robbie Williams
"Lonely Christmas Eve"
by Ben Folds Five
2002-2003 "Conspiracy Theory"
soundtrack by Carter Burwell 		"Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor" "Seven Days"
by Craig David
"Angels"
by Robbie Williams
"Lonely Christmas Eve"
by Ben Folds Five
2001-2002 "The Last Emperor"
soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto 		"Gelsomina" from La Strada
by Nino Rota 		"Your Song"
by Elton John
"Trouble"
by Coldplay

Competitive highlights

Event 1997-1998 1998-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008
Winter Olympic Games 3rd
World Championships 8th 15th 2nd 6th 6th 1st
Four Continents Championships 1st 4th 1st 2nd 2nd
World Junior Championships 7th
Canadian Championships 2nd J. 10th 6th 9th 3rd 2nd 3rd 1st 1st 1st 2nd
Grand Prix Final WD 2nd 2nd
Skate Canada 7th 2nd 3rd 2nd 3rd
Cup of Russia 4th
Trophée Eric Bompard 1st
Cup of China 1st
NHK Trophy 2nd 5th 1st
Bofrost Cup on Ice 2nd
Nebelhorn Trophy 7th 2nd
Karl Schaefer Memorial 3rd
Junior Grand Prix, China 4th
Junior Grand Prix, Ukraine 3rd
Junior Grand Prix, Japan 6th
Junior Grand Prix, Slovenia 4th
Junior Grand Prix, Germany 6th
  • J = Junior level; WD = Withdrew

References

  1. ^ Canadian Press (2006-12-04). "Buttle wins gold at World Championships". The Sports Network. Retrieved 2008-03-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ http://www.skatecanada.ca/en/events_results/events/mcsci05/athletes/buttle.html
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