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Elvis comes back with a lot of Witt
Stojko is back on his blades for his first tour after several months nursing the groin injury he suffered at the Nagano Olympics. The show, which arrives at Halifax Metro Centre on Thursday, is called the 1998 Canon Welcome Back Elvis Tour of Champions.
It is also the premiere tour of Olympic gold medal dancer Pasha Grishuk with new partner, Olympic silver medallist Sasha Zhulin.
But one of the stars gaining most of the attention is double-Olympic gold medallist, Katarina Witt, who has landed on the cover of December's Playboy magazine.
"The publicity's been pretty scary," said Stojko, at his Richmond Hill, Ont. home, early Tuesday morning. "It's been good for the tour.
"A lot of people are interested in seeing how I'm doing, coming back, watching my skating and seeing how things are going.
"And Katarina taking kind of a, uh, of a turn I guess, and lots of people are interested in that as well."
The 26-year-old two-time Olympic medallist said he knew about Witt's Playboy debut before the tour.
"I figured that it would get a lot of attention. It's been fun and we've been having lots of fun with it and stuff."
Coming off his first amateur competitions since the Olympics - Skate America where he placed fourth and Skate Canada where he was second - Stojko says the tour is going well and he's back to about 98 per cent of a full recovery from the groin injury.
"I just have to be careful now and then and make sure it's warmed up," a tired sounding Stojko said. "And after a hard day of training you have to be sure you don't overwork it and eventually it will get back to its normal strength and just be patient with it."
Stojko has been undergoing acupuncture treatments. His acupuncturist has been working with him at home and she will be with him at competitions.
Many have speculated that Stojko would turn pro after the Nagano Games, but the three-time world champion says he loves to compete and bring the sport to new heights.
"I like competing in the amateur ranks because I like to push the envelope and really push the sport harder than I could on the pro circuit," he says.
"It's not a factor of money or winning or anything like that. It's a matter of really wanting to push the envelope in the sport."
As far as competing at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Stojko says it's a matter of how he feels and what his body tells him from year to year.
"I'm just going to go year by year depending on how far I can take it."
Stojko, who was a guest Tuesday night at a dinner in Toronto for "a head honcho of Canon," says he spent time between the Olympics to his recent competitions to collect his thoughts and enjoy life away from skating.
He travelled to the Caribbean island of St. Maartin, took an Alaskan cruise, spent a lot of the summer at his cottage in Northern Ontario and was invited to Hawaii as a guest of the Miss Universe Pageant.
Thursday's show will have a rock concert feel to it, he says. His stylist/choreographer Uschi Keszler and former pairs champion Randy Gardner are back directing the show.
It's the fifth-straight Elvis tour of Champions and Stojko's been rockin' across the country since Nov. 14.
Stojko will skate to a number by Colin James, do a duet with Witt and will also skate to an Aerosmith tune from the Armageddon movie, plus other ensemble numbers and his infamous spin around the rink to Elvis tunes.
Two-time Olympic bronze-medallist Philippe Candeloro makes his return to the tour for the first time since 1994.
Other skaters include Elizabeth Manley, Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer, Karen Preston, Rudy Galindo, Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow, Jozef Sabovcik, Calla Urbanski and Rocky Marval, Tonia Kwiatkowski and Marie-Claude Savard-Gagnon and Luc Bradet.
Stojko continues his role as "Kids Ambassador" for Ronald McDonald Children's Charities. Proceeds from the tour will go the charity.
Looking back on 1998, Stojko says winning his fourth national title with perfect marks of 6.0 for artistic impression and technical merit, will most likely be the most memorable.
"I'll never forget the Olympics, but it is the year I broke through artistically," he says. "Nationals were wonderful."