For Johnny Weir, it all began in a cornfield, and – metaphorically speaking, at least -– it ended there, too.
After a decade plus of balancing television appearances and commentating with touring and show commitments, the three-time U.S. champion (2004-06) said goodbye to his U.S. performing career with two sold-out shows at Skating Club of Wilmington (SCW) March 31-April 1.
"There are no words to describe it," he said. "I mean, this has been my entire life. It's everything that I cry and laugh for, even now. I was so lucky to be able to find the thing that makes me feel great and powerful, strong and inspired, and lifts me up. I definitely will always have ice in my veins."
Weir began his journey at age 12, in a frozen cornfield near his family's home in tiny Quarryville, Pennsylvania, where he wore ice skates for the first time and mimicked the moves of his heroine, 1994 Olympic champion Oksana Baiul.
"…. a sunny day came along, where the ice that covered a bleak cornfield glistened in the late afternoon sun," he once wrote in a column for the Falls-Church News Press. "I took my first step onto the ice, in the most unlikely of circumstances, yet dressed head to toe in dreams."
Some 26 years later, the dream ended, bathed not in sunlight but in spotlights artfully designed to simulate the moonlight evoked in DeBussy's "Clair de Lune," the ethereal piano composition Weir has "wanted to skate to, forever."
"There's a sound that blows through before (the music starts)," he said of his music editor Hugo Chouinard's arrangement of the classic. "And that's to remind me – it's a little bit corny, a little bit sappy – of the cornfield where this all started."
Weir's first act number, set to Radiohead's "Creep," is a long-time staple of his show repertoire and a particular favorite for his mom, Patti Weir.
"I cried," Patti Weir said. "'Creep's' lyrics ("But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo …. I don't belong here") is really the verbiage of Johnny. And it's the end of a cycle, and it's had wonderful parts, and it's had low parts. He's a very driven person. He normally focuses in, and we just go along for the ride."
The skater took legions of fans with him on the long, strange trip, and some of the most diehard attended a Q&A session hosted by SCW, where they were served cookies baked in the shapes and colors of two of Weir's favorite things: a Birkin handbag and skate with Louboutin-inspired red soles. There, the two-time Olympian (2006, 2010), now 38, admitted that age played a part in his decision to step away from performing.
"I found out the middle of last week that I have arthritis in my landing foot," he said. "It's like my body is officially saying, 'Good, we nailed it, we went to the Olympics, it was great.' So, it's just a natural progression of life to step away from the ice."
Although Weir did not represent SCW during his competitive career, he has forged close ties with it since moving to Greenville, Delaware two years ago. He trained there for months to prepare for these shows and a final tour in Japan in June.
"It's not just a training facility, it's a place that really is a family," he said. "The club has embraced me to no end, since I moved back to Delaware a couple of years ago."
The wide-ranging, hours-long talk covered Weir's NBC commentary partnership with 1998 Olympic champion Tara Lipinski – "We love the idea of inspiring people and supporting the Olympics, because the Olympics are not as popular as they once were, there are so many avenues for people to explore and do in life" – and his competitive career, before zeroing in on his plans to establish a skating academy.
"We're still very much in the beginning stages," he said. "I want my school to be one that's filled with love and support and wellness, and making sure that everybody is doing everything the healthy and supported way, and the strongest way they possible can."
Weir stressed that, while a bridge program for youngsters graduating from learn-to-skate is planned, the academy's primary focus will be training elite athletes.
"The main gig, the main job is to help people go to the Olympics or to the World Championships, if that's what they want," he said. "But at the same time, the ice will be split into two groups, like juveniles working on double Axels and a higher-level group (with jumps) after double Axel."
Weir is recruiting a few friends to coach alongside him. Together, they will form what he called a "loving, soft cashmere sort" of team.
"We will train people in a group format and have that sense of camaraderie and teamwork and supporting each other," Weir said. "I will have two people alongside to help me and to travel to competitions, so that I could commentate (but also) be sure that somebody is always there with my students."
Johnny being Johnny, there is also a showbiz aspect to the endeavor.
"It's not official yet, but we're hoping to have a television program that follows the process as well," Weir said. "Because again, getting more eyeballs on figure skating, (watching) how it all works instead of people showing up every four years and seeing the spark of the Olympics, is a goal."
"But whether we have a TV show or not, this academy is happening," he added. "If it is successful, my hope is that I would bring some of the funding from having a television show back to the rink and be able to offer scholarships."
Patti Weir will be onboard to handle the business end of the academy, as well as extend support to parents.
"He can trust me and he knows that, and I want to make sure people understand what he's trying to accomplish with this," she said. "I also would like to be there for parents of future Olympians, to let them know what their path is, because I never had that. We went in (when Johnny was) 12 and he won Junior Worlds at 16, and I was not prepared for what came at me."
The talk concluded, as career retrospectives often do, with a query about what Weir considers to be his greatest on-ice legacy. Eloquent and upbeat for much of the day, Weir turned pensive as he grappled for an answer.
"I think – I hope – that the most important message I've left to the skating world, and that I will continue to show in my academy, is that it's not worth doing if you don't feel inspired to show your heart to the world," he said. "There were people who inspired me, and I want to pay it forward."
