John Zimmerman
Zimmerman in 2018
Full nameJohn Luther Zimmerman IV
Born (1973-11-26) November 26, 1973
Birmingham, Alabama
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Figure skating career
CountryUnited States
PartnerKyoko Ina
Skating clubBirmingham FSC
Retired2002
Medal record
Representing  United States
Figure skating: Pairs
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2002 NaganoPairs
Four Continents Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2001 Salt Lake CityPairs
Silver medal – second place 2000 OsakaPairs

John Luther Zimmerman IV (born November 26, 1973) is an American professional pair skater and coach. With skating partner Kyoko Ina, he is the 2002 World bronze medalist and a three-time U.S. national champion. They also competed at the 2002 Olympics. Zimmerman was suspended by the United States Center for SafeSport in March 2021 for a two-year period.

Personal life

Zimmerman was born in Birmingham, Alabama.[1] He has two older sisters. He married Italian-American skater Silvia Fontana on August 28, 2003.[2] They have two daughters, one born on April 2, 2012, at Northwest Medical Center in Coconut Creek, Florida,[3] and another born on June 2, 2013.[4]

Career

Zimmerman started skating at age 3 at a mall. He briefly partnered with Brie Teaboldt for the 1994-95 season. Then he paired with Stephanie Stiegler from 1995 through 1998, and won the bronze medal at the 1997 U.S. Figure Skating Championships while being coached by Peter Oppegard. Their partnership ended in 1998 due to injuries.[5]

Zimmerman teamed up with Kyoko Ina in 1998.[6] Initially, they were coached by Peter Burrows and Mary Lynn Gelderman in Monsey, New York, and they also commuted to Stamford, Connecticut, to work with Tamara Moskvina.[5] They later trained under Moskvina and Igor Moskvin in Hackensack, New Jersey.[1]

Ina and Zimmerman won the bronze medal at the 2002 World Championships. In 2003, they turned professional and began skating on 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.

Zimmerman was featured as Yahoo's special guest expert correspondent for figure skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.[7] He later competed in an ABC skating series "Thin Ice" (aired on March 19, 2010), paired with world champion Canadian ice dancer Shae-Lynn Bourne. They finished in second place, winning a total of $50,000. They skated to "Closer" by Ne-Yo and "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga.

Zimmerman worked as a coach at Panthers Ice Den in Coral Springs, Florida, with Silvia Fontana.[8] They now coach at AdventHealth Center Ice in Wesley Chapel, Florida.[9] He has coached Haven Denney / Brandon Frazier (from Autumn 2012 to February 2015 and since 2018 again)[8][10] and Vanessa James / Morgan Cipres (from June 2016).[11]

Suspension

In December 2019, Zimmerman, Fontana, and fellow coach Vinny Dispenza, were accused in a United States Center for SafeSport investigation of covering up alleged sexual abuse committed by Ciprès via intimidation tactics.[12] Zimmerman was suspended for two years and received one additional year of probation by SafeSport in March 2021 for abuse of process, emotional misconduct, and failure to report sexual abuse of a 13 year old he was coaching.[13] He was barred from any skating events run by U.S. Figure Skating or the Olympic committee, and prohibited from attending any facility run by those groups.[14][15]

Programs

(with Ina)

Season Short program Free skating
2001–02
[1]
2000–01
[16]
  • Truman Show
  • Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
    by Sergei Rachmaninov

Results

GP: Champions Series / Grand Prix

With Kyoko Ina

Ina and Zimmerman perform a "detroiter".
International[17]
Event 1998–99 99–2000 2000–01 2001–02
Olympics5th
Worlds9th7th7th3rd
Four Continents2nd3rd
GP Final5th4th
GP Cup of Russia3rd4th
GP Lalique2nd4th3rd2nd
GP Skate America5th5th4th2nd
GP Skate Canada2nd
GP Sparkassen2nd
National[17]
U.S. Champ.2nd1st1st1st

With Stephanie Stiegler

International[18]
Event 1995–96 1996–97
World Championships15th
GP Trophée Lalique6th
GP Skate America3rd
National
U.S. Championships4th3rd

With Brie Teaboldt

Event 1994–95
U.S. Championships12th

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Kyoko INA / John ZIMMERMAN: 2001/2002". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 2, 2002.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ↑ "Five favorite things with Fontana and Zimmerman". IceNetwork.com. 2011-11-01.
  3. ↑ Brannen, Sarah S.; Meekins, Drew (2012-04-11). "The Inside Edge". IceNetwork.com.
  4. ↑ David Baden [@DavidBaden] (June 3, 2013). "Congrats #SilviaFontana & @skaterzimmerman on birth of Eva Zimmerman Born 6/2/13 7p 6oz All healthy/happy! @icenetwork @usfigureskating" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. 1 2 Mittan, J. Barry (1998). "Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman". Archived from the original on January 11, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ↑ Roberts, Selena (January 7, 2002). "FIGURE SKATING; Ina and Zimmerman Melt Ice in Melting Pot". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ "Turin 2006 Winter Olympics - Expert Archive". Yahoo! Sports. Archived from the original on 2006-04-29.
  8. 1 2 Rutherford, Lynn (May 17, 2013). "Change of scenery serves Denney, Frazier well". IceNetwork.com. Archived from the original on May 13, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Coaches' Bios | Florida Hospital Center Ice". Archived from the original on 2017-08-26.
  10. ↑ "Haven DENNEY / Brandon FRAZIER". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 20, 2015.
  11. ↑ Berlot, Jean-Christophe (January 25, 2017). "Zimmerman's tutelage guiding James, Ciprès". IceNetwork.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2018. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
  12. ↑ Brennan, Christine (December 10, 2019). "Olympic figure skater, coaches being investigated for sexual abuse allegations". USA Today.
  13. ↑ "John Zimmerman, figure skating coach, Olympian, banned by SafeSport". 10 March 2021.
  14. ↑ "John Zimmerman, figure skating coach, Olympian, banned by SafeSport". Associated Press. March 10, 2021.
  15. ↑ Brennan, Christine. "Former Olympic skater John Zimmerman suspended following accusation of sex abuse cover-up". USA TODAY.
  16. ↑ "Kyoko INA / John ZIMMERMAN: 2000/2001". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 20, 2001.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  17. 1 2 "Kyoko INA / John ZIMMERMAN". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Stephanie STIEGLER / John ZIMMERMAN". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
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