Kenneth Shelley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Kenneth Gene Shelley | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Downey, California, U.S. | October 4, 1951|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Figure skating career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Skating club | Arctic Blades FSC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Kenneth Gene Shelley (born October 4, 1951) is an American figure skater who competed in both singles and pairs. As a single skater, he won the 1972 United States Figure Skating Championships and placed 4th at the 1972 Winter Olympics. His highest placement at the World Figure Skating Championships was a single skater was 7th, in 1972. As a pair skater, he competed with JoJo Starbuck, with whom he is a three-time National Champion. Starbuck and Shelley competed in two Olympic Games, placing 13th in 1968 and 4th in 1972, and won two bronze medals at the World Figure Skating Championships. When they made the 1968 Olympic team, they were the youngest athletes the United States had ever sent to the Olympics. [1]
Shelley was from Downey, California. He was first paired with Starbuck for a show in 1959, when they were very small children. They started training seriously with coach John Nicks at the Arctic Blades FSC in 1961. In their first year of senior competitions, when they were both 16 years old, they qualified to compete at the 1968 Winter Olympics. Both Starbuck and Shelley attended Downey High School, where they performed off-ice lifts with the cheerleading squad [2] and Long Beach State College. [3]
In the summer of 1969, Shelley had a serious off-ice accident, crashing through a glass patio door at a party. He had surgery to repair two severed tendons and spent 5 weeks in a cast. [2]
After retiring from competitive skating, Starbuck and Shelley skated in the Ice Capades and competed professionally. Shelley was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1994. [4]
Event | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 |
---|---|---|---|
Winter Olympics | 4th | ||
World Championships | 8th | 8th | 7th |
North American Championships | 3rd | ||
U.S. Championships | 3rd | 2nd | 1st |
(with JoJo Starbuck)
Event | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Winter Olympic Games | 13th | 4th | ||||
World Championships | 11th | 6th | 5th | 3rd | 3rd | |
North American Championships | 2nd | 1st | ||||
U.S. Championships | 1st J. | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st |
Figure skating at the 1964 Winter Olympics took place at the Olympiahalle in Innsbruck, Austria. There were three events contested: men's singles, ladies' singles, and pair skating.
Ernst Baier was a German figure skater who competed in pair skating and single skating. He became Olympic pair champion in 1936 together with Maxi Herber. The duo also won several World and European championships.
Alicia "JoJo" Starbuck, is an American figure skater. With partner Kenneth Shelley, she is a three-time United States pair skating champion (1970–72) and two-time Olympian.
Todd Sand is an American pair skater. With his wife Jenni Meno, he is the 1998 World silver medalist, a two-time World bronze medalist, and a three-time U.S. national champion (1994–96). With his previous partner Natasha Kuchiki, he is the 1991 World bronze medalist.
Pierre Émile Ernest Brunet was a figure skater. Together with his wife Andrée Brunet he won Olympic medals in 1924, 1928 and 1932, as well as four world titles between 1926 and 1932 in pair skating. He also competed in singles, winning the national title in 1924–1931 and finishing seventh-eighth at the 1924 and 1928 Winter Olympics.
John Allen Wisden Nicks is a British figure skating coach and former pair skater. With his sister, Jennifer Nicks, he is the 1953 World champion. As a coach, his skating pupils have included Peggy Fleming, pairs team Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner, Kristi Yamaguchi, Paul Wylie, Sasha Cohen, Rory Flack and Ashley Wagner.
Aleksandr Yudaevich Gorelik was a Soviet pair skater. He competed with Tatiana Zhuk. They are the 1965 World bronze medalists and the 1966 and 1968 World silver medalists. At the European Figure Skating Championships, they won the bronze medal in 1965 and the silver in 1966. They won the silver medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics.
Hellmut Seibt was an Austrian figure skater. He was the 1952 Olympic silver medalist, 1951 World bronze medalist, a two-time European champion (1951–52), and three-time national champion.
Evgenia Filonenko is a Ukrainian former pair skater. She competed with Igor Marchenko and Aleksandr Chestnikh. With Marchenko, she placed 11th at the 1998 Winter Olympics. They won two medals at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships, a silver in 1996 and a bronze in 1995. They are the 1998 Ukrainian national champions.
Alexander Vlassov is a former Soviet pair skater who currently works as a coach. With partner Irina Vorobieva, he won the silver medal at the 1977 World Figure Skating Championships and the silver medal at the 1977 European Figure Skating Championships. They placed 4th at the 1976 Winter Olympics. They were coached by Tamara Moskvina. He later skated with Zhanna Ilina.
Yngvar Bryn was a Norwegian track and field athlete and pairs figure skater who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, and in the 1920 Summer Olympics held in Antwerp, Belgium.
Gordon Riley "Gordie" McKellen Jr. is an American former competitive figure skater. He is the 1973–75 U.S. national champion and placed tenth at the 1972 Winter Olympics.
Diane Margaret Towler MBE married Green, is an English former ice dancer and currently a figure skating coach. She is a four-time (1966–1969) World and European champion with skating partner Bernard Ford.
Konstantin V. Kostin is a Latvian figure skater. He competed for the Soviet Union through 1991 and then for Latvia from 1992 to the end of his career in 2001. He is the 1992 World Junior silver medalist and 1992 Karl Schäfer Memorial bronze medalist.
Sonya Klopfer is an American former competitive figure skater and coach. She is a two-time World medalist and the 1951 U.S. national champion.
Johnny Johns is an American figure skating coach and former competitor. Competing in ice dancing with Mary Campbell, he became the 1973 national champion and finished 6th at the 1973 World Championships. Competing as a pair skater with Melissa Militano, he became a two-time U.S. national champion and finished 6th at the 1975 World Championships.
Bernard Albert Ford MBE was an English ice dancer. With partner Diane Towler, he was a four-time (1966–1969) World, European, and British champion. He was also a World Professional ice dancing champion. He later became a coach and choreographer.
Klára Engi is a retired Hungarian ice dancer. She competed with Attila Tóth. Together, they placed 16th at the 1984 Winter Olympics, 7th at the 1988 Winter Olympics, and 7th at the 1992 Winter Olympics. Their highest placement at the World Figure Skating Championships was 4th, which they achieved in 1989. Their highest placement at the European Figure Skating Championships was 4th, which they achieved in 1989, 1990, and 1991.
Attila Tóth is a retired Hungarian ice dancer. He competed with Klára Engi. Together, they placed 16th at the 1984 Winter Olympics, 7th at the 1988 Winter Olympics, and 7th at the 1992 Winter Olympics. Their highest placement at the World Figure Skating Championships was 4th, which they achieved in 1989. Their highest placement at the European Figure Skating Championships was 4th, which they achieved in 1989, 1990, and 1991. Tóth was born in Budapest.
The 1972 U.S. Figure Skating Championships was held from January 13–16 at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California. Medals were awarded in three colors: gold (first), silver (second), and bronze (third) in four disciplines – men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing – across three levels: senior, junior, and novice.