John Zimmerman
John Luther Zimmerman IV (born November 26, 1973 in Birmingham) is a former Olympic figure skater who currently skates professionally with Scott Hamilton's "Stars On Ice" tour.
Zimmerman is the younger brother of massage therapist Jennifer Zimmerman. He began skating at the age of 3, at a Montgomery mall. While attending Homewood City Schools, Zimmerman competed for the Birmingham Figure Skating Club, training at the Alpine Ice Arena in Homewood and in Atlanta. He graduated from Homewood High School in 1992.
In partners competition he was first paired with Brie Teaboldt for the 1994 season. He then paired with Stephanie Stiegler from 1995 through 1998, and won a U.S. National bronze medal with her in 1997 under the coaching of Peter Oppegard.
In 1998 they separated, and he and he began a productive partnership with Kyoko Ina. They train under Tamara Moskvina and Igor Moskvin in Hackensack, New Jersey. They recently turned professional, joining "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. He covered figure skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics, being featured as Yahoo's special guest "expert" correspondent on the Games in Turin
Zimmerman has also worked as a fashion model. He has taken business courses at Newberry College in South Carolina and Bergen Community College. In 2003 he married Italian skater Silvia Fontana in Rome. The couple was featured in episode 121 of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy which aired on March 9, 2004. The couple lives in New Jersey.
The John Zimmerman IV Bridge spanning Shades Creek from Lakeshore Drive to Homewood High School is named in Zimmerman's honor.
Competitive History
with Brie Teaboldt
with Stephanie Stiegler
- 1995 - 1996: 4th place at the U.S. Championships in San Jose, California.
- 1996 - 1997: 15th place in World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland; 3rd place at the U.S. Championships in Nashville, Tennessee; 6th in the Trophee Lalique in Paris, France; and 3rd at Skate America in Springfield, Illinois.
with Kyoko Ina
- 1998 - 1999: 9th place in World Championships at Helsinki, Finland; 2nd place at the U.S. Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah; 5th in the Grand Prix Final in St Petersburg, Russia, 2nd in the Trophee Lalique in Paris, France; 5th at Skate America, and 3rd in the Cup of Russia in St Petersburg.
- 1999 - 2000: 7th place in World Championships in Nice, France; 1st place at the U.S. Championships in Cleveland, Ohio; 2nd place in the Four Continents Championships in Osaka, Japan; 4th in the Trophee Lalique in Paris, France; 5th at Skate America in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and 2nd at Skate Canada in Mississauga.
- 2000 - 2001: 7th place in World Championships in Vancouver, Canada; 1st place at the U.S. Championships in Boston, Massachusetts; 3rd place in the Four Continents Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah, 3rd in the Trophee Lalique in Paris, France; 4th at Skate America in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and 4th in the Cup of Russia in St Petersburg.
- 2001 - 2002: 5th place in the Olympic Winter Games at Salt Lake City, Utah; 3rd place in World Championships in Nagano, Japan; 1st place at the U.S. Championships in Los Angeles, California; 4th in the Grand Prix Final in Kitchener, Canada, 2nd in the Trophee Lalique in Paris, France; 2nd at Skate America in Spokane, Washington; and 2nd in the Sparkassen Cup on Ice in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
References
- "John Zimmerman." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 10 Sep 2007, 08:47 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 16 Oct 2007 [1].
- Melick, Ray (September 13, 2002) "Homewood graduate takes ice skating show to the pros." Birmingham Post-Herald
- [2]
External links
- Official Figure Skating Site
- Official Site
- John Zimmerman on MySpace.com