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It's a Canadian revolution
But the Terminator will definitely be here at the world figure skating championships in spirit.
Stojko recently turned 26 and hasn't even retired from the amateur ranks, but the Richmond Hill skater has already left a legacy of technical brilliance on his sport.
In fact, Canadian men have set the standard for technical excellence for almost 30 years, starting with Oshawa's Donald Jackson performing the first triple lutz back in 1962. That milestone was followed by the first triple axel in 1978, by Toronto's Vern Taylor. Kurt Browning of Rocky Mountain House, Alta., became the first man to nail a quadruple in 1989, Stojko set the standard even higher with a quad in combination in 1991 and then, last year, performed the first quad-triple combo.
"We've been the ones who have stuck to our guns (pushing the limits)," said Doug Leigh, who coached world champs Brian Orser and Stojko. "This is a sport. Higher and faster. That's what it's about."
Since Browning and Stojko resumed pushing the limits of skating in the late 1980s, the rest of the world has been pushing desperately to catch up. And even though none of the medallists in the men's singles event from the recent Nagano Olympics -- Ilya Kulik of Russia, Stojko and Philippe Candeloro of France -- will be at these worlds, the feeling is that more than a couple of quads will be landed at the Target Center this week.
A couple of years ago, only a handful of skaters even practised the quad-toe-loop. Now, the best of the best all perform quads -- 1996 world champion Todd Eldredge is an exception, although he's working on one.
But it doesn't even end with a single quad-toe anymore. Chinese teenager Zhengxin Guo became the first person to land two quads in one free program, one in combination with a double toe (at the 1997 worlds).
More male skaters are doing a triple axel in combination with a triple toe, a quad-double jump combo, and other quads. Stojko has almost mastered the more difficult quad salchow, but so have a slew of other young skaters, including Sven Meyer, 20, and Andrejs Vlascenko, 23, of Germany, Steve Cousins, 25, of Great Britain, and Takeshi Honda, 17, of Japan. Evegni Plushenko of Russia, who is 15, does a quad and triple-triple. All will compete this week.
An International Skating Union panel will review a tape today to see if American skater Timothy Goebel, 17, landed a successful quad salchow last fall. Michael Weiss of the U.S., almost nailed a quad lutz in Nagano.
Never one to be outdone, Stojko has talked seriously of a quad-quad. And on it goes ... Richmond Hill's Emanuel Sandhu, 17, will likely try a quad here and dreams of a quint. Why not? It's a Canadian tradition.