The "It Was Epic" Story

 It was an ordinary day.  Watching "Dancing with the Stars" on TV as I hold my MacBook Air in my lap, typing away.  Minute or two later I looked at the TV screen and there is a familiar face dancing across the screen.  

Johnny Weir and Britt Stewart

Guy by the name of Johnny Weir is dancing the rhumba with his partner Britt Stewart to the song "Reflection" from Disney's "Mulan."  When the dance ended, the dancers were highly praised by the three judges and received a score of 24 out of 30.  By the end of the show they had tied for the top spot for the evening.  It was back in the early 2000s that Johnny Wier's name was plastered all over the newspapers in Lancaster County.  The earliest story I could find on LancasterOnline was from Friday, January 11, 2002 which featured a story titled "Super Skater: Former Solanco teen shines on national TV, narrowly misses a berth on the U.S. Olympic team."  The story went on to talk about superstar skaters Todd Eldridge, Timothy Goebel and Michael Weiss and comparing Johnny Weir to them.  Seems Johnny is being talked about in the same breath as the three top male skaters.  It was only a few years ago that the 17-year old skating hotshot had traded in horse riding lessons for a second-hand pair of ice skates.  

High School photo of Johnny

Then in 1996 Johnny moved from Quarryville, Pennsylvania to Newark, Delaware to live and train.  Even though he missed out on a chance to participate in the Salt Lake City Winter Games, he still gained the attention of the TV viewers who were calling the hotshot, the rising star in men's figure skating.  He ended up 5th in the competition.  The newspaper story went on to say that Johnny was born in nearby Oxford, Maryland and moved to Holtwood in 1985 with his parents when he was 2 years old.  On Christmas Day of 1995 Johnny opened his first pair of ice skates.  It was on the patches of ice between the rows of corn shocks that Johnny began his career in ice skating.  His parents began to take notice of Johnny's interest in figure skating.  He used to watch it on TV and try to emulate it in their basement while using roller skates.  A few years later his parents got him figure skating lessons at the University of Delaware for Christmas.  They wanted to prove to him that he couldn't do it.  His father tells the story of taking Johnny to his first lesson and the instructor telling him he is wasting his time bring him there.  His father thought it was because he wasn't good enough, but it seems it was because he was so far beyond what they could teach him.  

2002 shot of Johnny

Caught the whole family by surprise. Seems Johnny had been practicing jumping and spinning for ever on the ice in the cornfield.  Others told Johnny's dad that he should look into private lessons since Johnny was something special.  Mrs. Weir was told that Johnny had a natural ability to rotate, that he's very good as far as knowing where his body is in the air.  So, after close to 10 years in southern Lancaster County, the family moved to Newark, Delaware so that Johnny could be closer to the University of Delaware where he trained most of the time.  He had been an honors student at Newark High School, but in order to practice more he became home-schooled.  He graduated in 2002 from his high school classes.  He practiced two to three hours every day at the University  and met with a personal trainer 3 to 4 hours a week.  Hey, just missing a shot at the Olympics was a real achievement.  Another newspaper story dated January 11, 2004 read: "Johnny Weir wins U.S. Skating gold."  told of Johnny winning his first title in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships with a flawless performance beating three-time winner Michael Weiss.  His program included two soaring triple-triple combinations.  He ended with the first perfect 6.0 in the competition.  A few months later he moved from 13th place to 6th at the World Championships.  Many more stories from the LancasterOnline site tell of Johnny's accomplishments, but if you Google Johnny Weir you will come upon a summary of him in Wikipedia which goes like this:  John "Johnny" Weir (born July 2, 1984) is an American figure skater and television commentator. He is a two-time Olympian, the 2008 World bronze medalist, a two-time Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2001 World Junior Champion, and a three-time U.S. National champion (2004–2006).  

2004 shot of Johnny

He began skating at the age of 12, two or three times older than when most elite skaters when he started training.  Not all has been good for Johnny.  There were a few stories and "Letters to the Editor" in the Lancaster newspaper that were critical of him and his lifestyle.  As can be expected with any famous performer, not all is well from time to time.  As far as his performance on "Dancing With the Stars," well he looked relaxed and confident during his performance.  Judge Carrie Ann Inaba was in tears after watching him dance, saying, "Watching you dance, it felt so good because I saw you make the transition from being an ice skater to a ballroom Latin dancer...It was epic."  Judge Derek Hough told him that "Your arms, your lines...you arrived on a straight leg, beautiful, well done."  Bruno Tonioni said, "It wasn't all closed in.  Keep on that way, because you've got everything."  After receiving his scores, he said to the judges, "Anybody out there that doesn't have the same luck that I had, to be able to be born into the family that I was, find your dream and go for it."  Perhaps after reading today's story you may understand why he said what he did.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.