Jozef Sabovčík

Jozef Sabovčík
Personal information
Country represented	Czechoslovakia
Born	(1963-12-04) 4 December 1963 Bratislava
Former coach	Agnesa Búřilová
Began skating	1969/1970
Retired	1986

Olympic medal record
Men's figure skating
Competitor for Czechoslovakia
Bronze	1984 Sarajevo	Singles

Jozef (Jumping Joe) Sabovčík (born 4 December 1963 in Bratislava) is a Slovak figure skater who competed representing Czechoslovakia. He is the 1984 Olympic bronze medalist and two-time European Champion (1985 and 1986).

Career

Sabovčík was born in Bratislava, then in Czechoslovakia, and began skating when he was six years old. He was a six-time national champion of Czechoslovakia. He won the bronze medal at 1981 Skate Canada International and in 1982 he also won bronze at Skate America. At the 1983 European Championships he won the silver medal.

In 1984, Sabovčík captured the Olympic bronze medal behind Scott Hamilton and Brian Orser.

Sabovčík became a two-time European champion with wins in 1985 and 1986. He also won 1985 Skate Canada International and Skate America. His coach was Agnesa Búřilová.

He landed a quad toe loop at the 1986 European Championships. It was approved at the time as the first quad in competition but a few weeks later ruled invalid because of a touchdown with his free foot.

Despite a knee injury, he had to compete at the 1986 World Championships because his federation did not believe he was really injured. He said, "It was the hardest 4½ minutes of my skating career, knowing that I had to finish, but could hardly walk, let alone skate." He retired from competition in 1986.

Sabovčík was known for his jumping ability and later turned it into a lucrative professional career. He is known for an excellent tuck Axel. "Sometimes there is beauty in simplicity and I think an open Axel is very beautiful. A tuck Axel is basically the same thing, but it has a little more edge to it, which is great for me, because I can use it with my rock numbers. If you noticed in my slower, quieter programs I always do an open Axel as it's better suited for that kind of music." He was disappointed by the loss of compulsory figures, saying, "In my opinion, the quality of skating itself (not jumping) has gone down. Figures taught how to use edges, like Robin Cousins and Brian Boitano still do, that with a couple of pushes they can get across the whole rink, you don't see that with the new skaters."

He still performs professionally and is known by the nickname "Jumping Joe". Sabovčík sports a long flowing blond mullet haircut and is known for performing to heavy metal and other rock music.

Programs

• "In Loving Memory" by Alter Bridge

Personal life

Sabovčík's first marriage was to Canadian champion Tracey Wainman, with whom he has a son named Blade. His second marriage is to Jennifer Verili, with whom he has a son named Jozef Jaden, born in 2003.

He speaks five languages: Slovak, Czech, English, Russian and German. He has dual Slovak and Canadian citizenship but resides in the U.S.

Results

International
Event	1978–79	1979–80	1980–81	1981–82	1982–83	1983–84	1984–85	1985–86
Olympics						3rd
Worlds	19th	16th	12th	16th	6th	4th	4th	6th
Europeans	17th	9th	5th	8th	2nd	4th	1st	1st
Skate America					3rd			1st
Skate Canada				3rd				1st
NHK Trophy				WD			4th	WD
National
Czechoslovak	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st
Slovak*			1st
*Sub-national level; WD = Withdrew

References

• Sabovcik, Jozef. Jumpin' Joe: The Jozef Sabovcik Story. 1998.