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Timothy Goebel

American figure skater

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Timothy Richard Goebel (born September 10, 1980) is an American former competitive figure skater. He is the 2002 Olympic bronze medalist. He was the first person to land a quadruple Salchow jump in competition and the first person to land three quadruple jumps in one program. He landed 76 career quadruple jumps before his retirement in 2006.

01Early life

Goebel was born on September 10, 1980, in Evanston, Illinois. He was adopted through Catholic Charities by Ginny and Richard Goebel as an infant.

Goebel performs a hydroblade, one of his signature moves, in 2003.
Goebel performs a hydroblade, one of his signature moves, in 2003.

02Career

Early in his career, Goebel was coached by Carol Heiss Jenkins and Glyn Watts near his Illinois home and then moved to California to work with Frank Carroll.

During his skating career and prior to the arrival of Nathan Chen to the sport, Goebel was sometimes referred to as the "Quad King" because of his ability to land quadruple jumps. On March 7, 1998, in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the Junior Grand Prix Final, Goebel became the first skater in the world to land a quadruple Salchow, and the first American skater to land a quadruple jump of any kind in competition. International Skating Union officials ratified the jump at the end of the month after watching a video provided by the parents of Tiffany Stiegler / Johnnie Stiegler.

On October 31, 1999, at the 1999 Skate America in Colorado Springs, Goebel became the first skater to land three quads in one program. In the free skate, he landed a quad Salchow in combination, a quad toe loop, and a quad Salchow as a solo jump.

Goebel also made history at the 2002 Olympics by becoming the first skater to successfully land a quad Salchow in combination in Olympic competition. Goebel's repertoire of quadruple jumps made him one of the most competitive skaters in the world during the peak of his career. He would land a total of 76 quads in competition. Goebel was heavily criticized early in his career for focusing exclusively on jumping to the detriment of choreography and presentation, but in later years he improved in those areas.

Goebel increasingly struggled with his jumps after 2003 due to injuries. At the 2006 U.S. Championships, in what he had previously announced would be his last competitive season, he was unable to land either a quadruple jump or triple Axel cleanly, and dropped to a seventh-place finish which left him far short of qualifying for the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Goebel represented the Winterhurst Figure Skating Club. He was coached by Audrey Weisiger in Fairfax, Virginia, after having been previously coached by Carol Heiss Jenkins, Glyn Watts and Frank Carroll.

On April 25, 2006, Goebel announced his retirement from competitive skating. He planned to continue to contribute to the sport as a technical specialist, having received certification for competitions sanctioned by the United States Figure Skating Association. He worked as a technical specialist at the Aviator Figure Skating Academy in New York.

03Personal life

Goebel initially attended Loyola Marymount University. Beginning in the fall of 2006, he studied at Columbia University's School of General Studies, graduating in May 2010 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. After working for the Nielsen ratings company, he joined an ad agency, MEC, as a consumer analyst. In 2016, he received a Master of Science in Business Analytics degree from New York University Stern School of Business, and currently works for Google as a Marketing Mix Modeling Partner Program Manager.

In April 2016, Goebel became engaged to his boyfriend of three years, Thomas Luciano. They married on April 29, 2017, in Newport, Rhode Island.

04Programs

Season Short program Free skating Exhibition
2005-2006
2004-2005
  • The Queen Symphony
    by Tolga Kashif,
    Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
2003-2004
2002-2003
  • Rapsodia Espanola, Tango Op. 65 N. 2
    by Espanola
  • Fantasticas
    by J. Turina
2001-2002
2000-2001

Second free at Grand Prix Final:

1999-2000

05Competitive highlights

Competition placements at senior level
Season 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06
Winter Olympics 3rd
World Championships 12th 11th 4th 2nd 2nd 10th
Four Continents Championships 13th
Grand Prix Final 3rd 5th 3rd
U.S. Championships 6th WD 3rd 2nd 1st 2nd 2nd WD 2nd 7th
GP Cup of China 1st
GP France 4th
GP NHK Trophy 2nd 2nd 2nd
GP Skate America 2nd 1st 1st 6th
GP Sparkassen 2nd 2nd
Nebelhorn Trophy 1st
St. Gervais 2nd
Competition placements at junior level
Season 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98
World Junior Championships 14th 7th 2nd WD
Junior Grand Prix Final 1st
U.S. Championships 5th 1st
JGP France 1st
JGP Ukraine 1st
Blue Swords 4th 2nd

06Detailed results

ISU personal best scores in the +3/-3 GOE System
Segment Type Score Event
Total TSS208.282004 NHK Trophy
Short program TSS73.652003 NHK Trophy
TES
PCS
Free skating TSS137.602003 Cup of China
TES
PCS

Senior level

Results in the 1996-97 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Aug 23-28, 1996 1996 Grand Prix International St. Gervais , , 2 ,
Jan 13-21, 1996 1997 U.S. Championships 10 , 6 , 6 ,
Results in the 1997-98 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Aug 26-29, 1997 1997 Nebelhorn Trophy 1 , 1 , 1 ,
Results in the 1998-99 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Feb 7-14, 1999 1999 U.S. Championships 2 , 3 , 3 ,
Feb 21-28, 1999 1999 Four Continents Championships 12 , 13 , 13 ,
Mar 20-28, 1999 1999 World Championships 13 , 12 , 12 ,
Results in the 1999-2000 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Oct 27-31, 1999 1999 Skate America 3 , 2 , 2 ,
Dec 2-5, 1999 1999 NHK Trophy 2 , 2 , 2 ,
Jan 13-16, 2000 1999-2000 Grand Prix Final 5 , 4 , 3 ,
Feb 6-13, 2000 2000 U.S. Championships 2 , 2 , 2 ,
Mar 23, Apr 3, 2000 2000 World Championships 7 , 10 , 11 ,
Results in the 2000-01 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Oct 26-29, 2000 2000 Skate America 2 , 1 , 1 ,
Nov 9-12, 2000 2000 Sparkassen Cup on Ice 2 , 2 , 2 ,
Feb 15-18, 2001 2000-01 Grand Prix Final 5 , 5 , 5 ,
Jan 14-21, 2001 2001 U.S. Championships 3 , 1 , 1 ,
Mar 17-25, 2001 2001 World Championships 4 , 4 , 4 ,
Results in the 2001-02 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Oct 24-28, 2001 2001 Skate America 1 , 1 , 1 ,
Nov 9-11, 2001 2001 Sparkassen Cup on Ice 2 , 2 , 2 ,
Dec 13-16, 2001 2001-02 Grand Prix Final 3 , 3 , 3 ,
Jan 6-13, 2002 2002 U.S. Championships 1 , 2 , 2 ,
Feb 9-21, 2002 2002 Winter Olympics 3 , 3 , 3 ,
Mar 16-24, 2002 2002 World Championships 4 , 2 , 2 ,
Results in the 2002-03 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Jan 6-13, 2003 2003 U.S. Championships 1 , 3 , 2 ,
Mar 24-30, 2003 2003 World Championships 2 , 2 , 2 ,
Results in the 2003-04 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Nov 6-9, 2003 2003 Cup of China 2 , 1 , 1 ,
Nov 27-30, 2003 2003 NHK Trophy 1 , 2 , 2 ,
Results in the 2004-05 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Nov 4-7, 2004 2004 NHK Trophy 2 , 2 , 2 ,
Jan 9-16, 2005 2005 U.S. Championships 1 , 2 , 2 ,
Mar 14-20, 2005 2005 World Championships 14 , 9 , 10 ,
Results in the 2005-06 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Oct 20-23, 2005 2005 Skate America 6 , 8 , 6 ,
Nov 17-20, 2005 2005 Trophée Éric Bompard 4 , 6 , 4 ,
Jan 7-15, 2006 2006 U.S. Championships 5 , 8 , 7 ,

Junior level

Results in the 1994-95 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Nov 21-27, 1994 1995 World Junior Championships 17 , 12 , 14 ,
Jan 6-13, 1995 1995 U.S. Championships (Junior) 6 , 5 , 5 ,
Results in the 1995-96 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Nov 26, Dec 2, 1995 1996 World Junior Championships 12 , 6 , 7 ,
Jan 13-21, 1996 1996 U.S. Championships (Junior) 1 , 1 , 1 ,
Results in the 1996-97 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Nov 24, Dec 1, 1996 1997 World Junior Championships 5 , 2 , 2 ,
Results in the 1997-98 season
Date Event SP FS Total
P Score P Score P Score
Aug 19-23, 1997 1997 JS Grand Prix de Saint Gervais , , 1 ,
Sep 25-28, 1997 1997 JS Ukrainian Souvenir , , 1 ,
Mar 5-8, 1998 1997-98 Junior Series Final 4 , 1 , 1 ,
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Sources and credits

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