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Medal quest brings Eldredge back to the ice
Monday, April 16, 2001 By Pohla Smith, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
After a two-year break from amateur meets, Todd Eldredge is back and competing just as well as ever. Perhaps more important, he's still burning with the same desire to earn an Olympic medal, the only major absence on his resume.
That's why when Eldredge got a little tired of the grind of competition after the 1998 season, the then-reigning national champion decided he'd take a break but maintain his amateur status rather than turn professional.
Eldredge kept in shape skating in various pro-am events and with the winter and summer versions of the Champions on Ice tour, which brings him to the Mellon Arena tomorrow night.
"I was basically taking it year to year, taking it easy," Eldredge said in a telephone interview. "I knew I hadn't done everything I want to do as far as the Olympics, so there was no use getting rid of it [amateur status]. I knew I may want to come back and try again for a medal."
He knew himself pretty well. He returned to amateur events this year and picked right up where he left off. After a full schedule of international Grand Prix competitions, he finished second at U.S. nationals and then third at the world championships in Vancouver, Canada.
It's been 12 years since he made his senior amateur debut as a rosy-cheeked, nervous-looking teen-ager at the U.S. championships. Now he's 29, nearly twice the age of other top male skaters.
But those are "only numbers," and he said he has no trouble keeping up with the increasingly more difficult jumps of the younger competition. He even has added a quadruple jump to his repertoire.
"I basically learned it myself, and I've done it in competition a couple times," Eldredge said. "It's a little more difficult for me than for the younger guys. But as long as I stay healthy and keep injuries out of the picture, it shouldn't make any difference how old I am.
"Look at the guys playing baseball, basketball, football. Many of them are my age or older, and their sports are a lot more physical than skating."
For that reason, he was not as surprised as some observers that he was able to come back and step right onto the U.S. and world championship medal podiums.
"Doing as well as I have, I think I did the right thing taking a little break and getting re-energized," Eldredge said. "I don't know if I was completely surprised. I know I have the ability. It was just a matter of getting used to the pressure again."
The tours are enjoyable, despite the hectic schedule and bus travel. "I like watching the younger kids on their first tours," he said. "It's fun to travel with them."
After this tour, though, Eldredge will buckle down even harder for the Olympic season. What that will do to his other favorite sport, golf, he has no idea.
Eldredge has a 4 handicap. "Or at least it was," he said. "I've only played twice since last September."
If he medals at the Salt Lake City Winter Games, he promises he'll get on the links a lot more often.
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Who: Todd Eldredge, Michelle Kwan, Elvis Stojko, Brian Boitano, Philippe Candeloro, Rudy Galindo and many others.