Robin Cousins
| Robin Cousins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country represented |  United Kingdom |
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| Born | 17 August 1957 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6' (183 cm)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skating club | Queen’s Ice Dance Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1980 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2011) |
| Olympic medal record | ||
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| Men's figure skating | ||
| Competitor for United Kingdom |
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| Gold | 1980 Lake Placid | Singles |
Robert "Robin" Cousins (Born 17 August 1957 in Bristol) is a British retired competitive figure skater. He is the 1980 Olympic Champion, the 1980 European champion, a three-time (1978, 1979 & 1980) World medalist and four-time (1977, 1978, 1979 & 1980) British national champion. He later starred in ice shows and also produced his own. He has also appeared in theatre productions, including in the West End, and has commentated on figure skating events for the BBC. Since 2006 he has been on the panel of judges on ITV's Dancing on Ice and takes the position of head judge.
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Skating career [edit]
From a sporting family (his father was a goalkeeper for Millwall) of Bristol, England, Robin Cousins took to figure skating very early after skating for the first time at Westover Road Ice Rink in Bournemouth.[1][2] He won his first national title in 1969 at the age of twelve on the novice level.[3] By age fourteen, he was Britain's junior champion, and he made his international debut that same year.
As a young skater, Cousins also did ice dancing at the same time as singles, his first coach being a dancer.[3] He was later coached by Carlo Fassi.[4] Cousins is able to spin in both directions.[3]
Cousins represented the United Kingdom as an amateur skater for eight years, winning the National Senior Championships for four consecutive years. He had a left knee injury at the 1977 World Championships.[3] By 1980, he had undergone major surgery on both his left and right knees.[3]
Cousins won the free skating portion of the World Championships three times, 1978 through 1980. He won silver medals at the World Championships in 1979 and 1980. He reached the pinnacle of his amateur ice skating career by winning the European Championships gold medal, and also winning the Winter Olympic Games gold medal in Lake Placid, New York, in 1980.
Cousins followed this with a highly successful career as a professional ice skater. He starred in such skating shows as Holiday on Ice and Ice Capades,[3] and he was a regular in the World Professional Championships. In 1983, Cousins formed his own ice skating performance company, and it toured the world with the programs Electric Ice and Ice Majesty. He has also worked with the British synchronized swimming team.[5]
Later life [edit]
Theatre [edit]
Cousins has made the successful transfer from sport to stage, playing the Prince in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Munkustrap in Cats, and Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show in the West End.
Cousins also starred in, produced, directed, and/or choreographed many international TV ice spectaculars such as The Nutcracker: A Fantasy on Ice, Sleeping Beauty on Ice, The Wizard of Oz on Ice, Toy Story on Ice, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express on Ice, Holiday on Ice, and the movie The Cutting Edge.
He has also made various pantomime performances, playing Jack Frost in Santa Clause and the Return of Jack Frost at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton. Prior to this he played the Prince in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Grand Opera House, Belfast.
Media work [edit]
Over several years, Cousins has been a regular guest presenter and commentator for BBC Sport, for the European and World Figure Skating Championships and the Winter Olympics.[6]
He appeared as the head judge on the show Dancing on Ice in each series since 2006. On 10 March 2012 Cousins appeared in the gameshow All Star Family Fortunes.
Honours [edit]
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1980 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in his home city of Bristol. In 2005, Cousins was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
Charity work [edit]
Cousins is a significant patron of the Meningitis UK organization.
Personal life [edit]
Cousins lives in Brighton.[7]
Amateur competitive results [edit]
| International | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 1972–73 | 1973–74 | 1974–75 | 1975–76 | 1976–77 | 1977–78 | 1978–79 | 1979–80 |
| Olympics | 10th | 1st | ||||||
| Worlds | 10th | 9th | WD | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | ||
| Europeans | 15th | 11th | 11th | 6th | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 1st |
| Skate Canada | 2nd | 1st | ||||||
| NHK Trophy | 1st | |||||||
| National | ||||||||
| British | 3rd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st |
| WD = Withdrew | ||||||||
Professional competitive results [edit]
1980-1989
| Event/Season | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Professional Figure Skating Competitions | 1st * | 2nd * | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 4th | ||||
| Challenge of Champions | 1st | 2nd | ||||||||
| World Cup of Skating | 1st |
1990-1997
| Event/Season | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Professional Figure Skating Competitions | 2nd | 3rd | 2nd | |||||
| Challenge of Champions | 3rd | 4th | 2nd | 3rd | ||||
| World Team Championship | 3rd * | |||||||
| Legends Championship | 2nd | |||||||
| Canadian Pro Championship | 4th |
Those marked with a * were team competitions
References [edit]
- ^ a b "Robin Cousins". Sports-reference.com.
- ^ Martha Lowder Kimball (1998) Robin Cousins. Baltimore: Gateway Press ISBN 0-9662502-0-6
- ^ a b c d e f "Cousins Continues to Entertain". GoldenSkate. December 6, 2003. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
- ^ (Russian) Tarasova, T. A. (1985). "Выдающиеся тренеры". Chetyrye Vremeni Goda. Moscow: Sov. Rossia. p. 176.
- ^ Magnay, Jacquelin (8 February 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: former skating gold medallist Robin Cousins gives synchronised swimmers a lift". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
- ^ "Robin Cousins". BBC Sport. 15 January 2002.
- ^ Interview with Robin Cousins, Sussex Life, 29 December 2011
External links [edit]
- Cousins Entertainment
- Robin Cousins skates to Julian Lloyd Webber's music Television appearance, YouTube
- Robin Cousins recalls his appearance on This Is Your Life
[edit]
| Sporting positions | ||
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| Preceded by Sebastian Coe |
BBC Sports Personality of the Year 1980 |
Succeeded by Ian Botham |
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- 1957 births
- BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners
- British male single skaters
- Figure skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics
- Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics
- Living people
- Olympic figure skaters of Great Britain
- Olympic gold medalists for Great Britain
- Reality television judges
- Dancing on Ice participants
- Dancing on Ice
- Sportspeople from Bristol
- Olympic medalists in figure skating
- World Figure Skating Championships medalists
- European Figure Skating Championships medalists
- World Figure Skating Hall of Fame inductees
