Jeremy Abbott: On an Upward Spiral

Around 4:30 pm on a sunny Saturday in February, the lobby of the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Vancouver was overtaken by police activity. Cops with guns ran inside, police dogs barked, patrons rubbernecked and, eventually, a roll of yellow police tape was strung around an open area near the elevators. All the while, Jeremy Abbott calmly conducted an interview with Japanese reporters in the bar.

While the police drama unfolded, patrons were being urged to get away from large panes of glass in case shots were fired but Abbott's agent was assured that Jeremy would be fine where he was, at a table by the window. So Abbott continued his interview, unaware that four suspects had been apprehended a few yards away in connection with a stabbing at a nearby subway station.

Even if Abbott had known what was happening, the scene may well have played out the same way - with Abbott in control, impervious to the storm surrounding him. All season, the 23-year-old figure skater from Aspen, Colo., has shown poise that has stunned even his family.

"This is the first year I've felt I can say about my brother, ‘Wow! He has presence.' He looks like he belongs on the ice," said Gwen Abbott, 29. "I always thought he was good but now, he's amazing."

In November, Abbott won the Cup of China in Beijing. In December, he won the Grand Prix Final in South Korea by tallying the highest score ever recorded by an American man at an international meet (237.72 points). One month later, Abbott won the 2009 U.S. Championships in Cleveland, outperforming the two men who had dominated the national scene for the past five years: two-time national champion Evan Lysacek and three-time champion Johnny Weir.

But that Saturday in Vancouver, Abbott had just delivered a relatively anticlimactic performance at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. In the free skate, he turned his opening jump, a quadruple toe loop, into a double and placed fifth overall. 

Abbott was unapologetic about the loss.

"This season, I've had three mistakes, total. This was my worst competition this season and it wasn't that bad," Abbott said. "I'm proud of myself - not necessarily this performance - but proud of what I'm becoming."

What he has become, is diligent.

"When I was little, I hated to train," Abbott said. "I've grown to love hard work."

What he has become, is self-assured.

"Confidence is new," he said. "I never had a lot of self-confidence."

What he has become, is consistent.

"I'd never been considered a reliable skater," he said. "When I was younger, I'd do well by just throwing it all out there without understanding the consequences. This season I put a lot of my focus on being reliable."

Now, when Abbott takes the ice, he quickly mesmerizes the crowd with his ability to seamlessly interweave art and sport, strikingly clean edgework, the way his programs flow without gaps, and subtle gestures that radiate upwards to the top of the stands.

"What you see now in Jeremy, that magnetic quality," said his coach, Tom Zakrajsek, "is a rare combination of difficult jumps, great footwork, very fast spins, and a lot of attention to details."

Although Abbott had competed in pairs and ice dancing as well as singles for many years, Zakrajsek didn't think his diverse background was responsible for his current success.

"Each of those has different requirements," Zakrajsek explained. "I think it was a combination of other things that led to this point. It comes from development. Learning is an ugly process and it takes time."

One aspect that has always come naturally to Abbott is fluidity and grace. It was apparent the first time Zakrajsek saw Abbott skate, at a competition in Vail, Colo., around 1996, when Abbott was 10.

"He fell in all his jumps and still won," Zakrajsek recalled. "But I thought, ‘This boy is good. That kid has ability.'

"What I saw was an ease of movement," he said. "It's unusual in children; they're usually not so coordinated."

In addition, Abbott has had an unwavering passion for figure skating for 19 years. He began skating when he was 2, and when he was 4, he was transfixed by the 1980 Olympic gold medalist Robin Cousins at a local ice show.

"I knew [then that skating] would be part of my entire life," Abbott said.

Jeremy's father, however, wanted him to be a ski racer so Abbott ran gates until he was 10, but unlike most young skiers, he never waited at the bottom of the hill to check his results.

"I never knew how I did," Abbott said. "I didn't care."

And when he decided to stick with figure skating, his rough-and-tumble peers in Aspen didn't approve. But when they teased Abbott, it only deepened his conviction.

"I never let it get to me," he said. "I knew someday I'd be good at figure skating. I never ever thought about quitting."

In 1999, the summer after eighth grade, Abbott moved east to Colorado Springs to train at the World Arena with Zakrajsek. For the first year, he lived with another skater's family; his mother and stepfather eventually relocated and he moved in with them.

Six years later, Abbott won the 2005 US junior national title and earned a berth on the international team, however he was 25 days too old to compete on the Junior Grand Prix circuit.  (Juniors had to be 19 as of July 1, 2005, and Jeremy's 20^th birthday was on June 5 that year.)

As a result, Abbott advanced to the senior ranks without having any real international experience.

"The turning point, I think, was when he didn't qualify for the 2006 nationals," said his mother, Allison Scott.

"It was a real eye opener," she said. "At sectionals in Denver, he was in probably the toughest group. They had all been seniors, and he came very close [to making the cut]. We ended up going to St. Louis to watch nationals. It was the last Olympic qualifier and I think it woke him up. He realized a few things about the steps you need to complete in order to reach that goal."

Zakrajsek encourages his athletes to use a goal-setting device developed by the legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden called the Pyramid of Success. The top block is labeled "Competitive Greatness." Underneath it lie 14 other blocks such as "Initiative" and "Self-Control" that provide its foundation. Zakrajsek asks each of his athletes to make their own pyramids in a workbook, and when Abbott returned to Colorado Springs he revisited his own.

For the next two years, Abbott not only qualified for Nationals, he placed fourth each time.

But he still needed a sounding board. Someone who had been in his position. Someone who could offer advice from an elite athlete's perspective.

Last summer, Paul Wylie became his mentor.

Although the 1992 Olympic silver medalist lives in North Carolina, the two men speak regularly on the phone.

"Paul has had a similar career," Abbott said. "He had great potential but didn't realize it until he took second at the Olympics. Paul has great advice and I can relate to what he has to tell me.

"It's not so different from stuff I've heard," Abbott explained, "but it's the way he says it."

"The biggest thing that struck me," Abbott said, "was what he told me in early October. He told me to give myself permission - permission to succeed and be myself and do what I know how to do. It hit a chord. For some reason, it stuck with me. It's OK to succeed and be good."

If Abbott permits himself to succeed next week at the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships in Los Angeles (March 23-29), he could become the first American man to win a world singles title since Todd Eldredge in 1996.  At the very least, he is favored to earn a medal.

"He's right on track [with our plan]," Zakrajsek said last month.

"He's met all expectations this season - not exceeded, but met," he said, making it clear that Abbott's three major victories were not unexpected.

"It's not random," Zakrajsek said of Abbott's success. "But I don't want to go into detail about strategy."

On a personal level, Gwen said, "I think my brother's finally discovered what he really wants," and she and approximately 30 relatives and friends plan to be in L.A. to support his effort to achieve it.

And if Jeremy goes on to make the 2010 Olympic team, Gwen, a former ski racer and champion in the new Olympic sport of skiercross, will be content to watch from the stands. She is currently battling a knee injury and dismisses the possibility of coming out of retirement to join him, so Jeremy might be the family's only shot.

"It scares me that next year may be my last," Jeremy Abbott said.

"I'd be 28 in 2014. I don't know if my body will hold up that long, and the new system [of required elements] keeps getting harder and harder.

"I would love to go to one Olympics," he said, "but who knows?"

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Aimee Berg is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.