Timothy Richard Goebel (born September 10, 1980) is an American former competitive

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are m ...

. He is the 2002 Olympic bronze medalist. He was the first person to land a

quadruple Quadruple may refer to: * 4-tuple, an ordered list of elements, with four elements * Quad (figure skating), a figure skating jump * Quadruple (computing), a term used as alternative for nibble in some contexts * Quadruple-precision floating-point ...

salchow jump The Salchow jump is an edge jump in figure skating. It was named after its inventor, Ulrich Salchow, in 1909. The Salchow is accomplished with a takeoff from the back inside edge of one foot and a landing on the back outside edge of the opposite ...

in competition and the first person to land three quadruple jumps in one program. He landed 76 career quadruple jumps before his retirement in 2006.

Personal life

Goebel was born on September 10, 1980, in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, Downtown Chicago, ...

. He was adopted through

Catholic Charities The Catholic Church operates numerous charitable organizations. Catholic spiritual teaching includes spreading the Gospel, while Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the corporal and spi ...

by Ginny and Richard Goebel as an infant. Goebel initially attended

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit and Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near P ...

. Beginning in the fall of 2006, he studied at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

's School of General Studies, graduating in May 2010 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. After working for the

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

company, he joined an ad agency, MEC, as a consumer analyst. As of April 2016, he was pursuing a master's degree in

data science Data science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract or extrapolate knowledge and insights from noisy, structured and unstructured data, and apply knowledge from data across a bro ...

from

New York University Stern School of Business The New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business (commonly referred to as NYU Stern, The Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business school of New York University, a private research university based in New York City. ...

. In January 2017, he began working as a data analyst for Google. In April 2016, Goebel became engaged to his boyfriend of three years, Thomas Luciano. They married on April 29, 2017, in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New ...

Career

Early in his career, Goebel was coached by

Carol Heiss Jenkins Carol Elizabeth Heiss Jenkins (born January 20, 1940) is an American former figure skater and actress. Competing in ladies' singles, she became the 1960 Olympic champion, the 1956 Olympic silver medalist, and a five-time World champion (1956� ...

and Glyn Watts near his Illinois home and then moved to California to work with Frank Carroll. During his skating career and prior to the arrival of

Nathan Chen Nathan Chen (born May 5, 1999) is an American figure skater. He is the 2022 Olympic champion, a three-time World champion (2018, 2019, 2021), the 2017 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2017, 2018, 2019), a ten ...

to the sport, Goebel was sometimes referred to as the "Quad King" because of his ability to land

quadruple jump A quad, or quadruple, is a figure skating jump with at least four (but fewer than five) revolutions. All quadruple jumps have four revolutions, except for the quadruple Axel, which has four and a half revolutions. The quadruple toe loop and qua ...

s. On March 7, 1998, in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , , , ) ; it, Losanna; rm, Losanna. is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French speaking canton of Vaud. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and fac ...

, Switzerland, at the

Junior Grand Prix Final The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final or JGP Final (titled the ISU Junior Series Final in the 1997–98 season) is the culmination of a series of junior-level competitions – the ISU Junior Grand Prix organized by the International Skating Union. Medals ...

, Goebel became the first skater in the world to land a quadruple Salchow, and the first American skater to land a quadruple jump of any kind in competition.

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen ...

officials ratified the jump at the end of the month after watching a video provided by the parents of

Tiffany Stiegler Tiffany Stiegler (born January 14, 1984) is an American figure skater who competed in both pair skating and ice dancing. Competing in pairs with her brother Johnnie Stiegler, she won the bronze medal at the 1998 Sparkassen Cup on Ice and placed ...

Johnnie Stiegler John "Johnnie" Stiegler (born April 25, 1982) is an American former pair skater. With his sister Tiffany, he won the bronze medal at the 1998 Sparkassen Cup on Ice. The Stieglers began skating together as children. After winning the junior title ...

. On October 31, 1999, at the

1999 Skate America The 1999 Skate America was the first event of six in the 1999–2000 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado on October 27–31. ...

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

, Goebel became the first skater to land three quads in one program. In the free skate, he landed a quad salchow in combination, a quad

toe loop The toe loop jump is the simplest jump in the sport of figure skating. It was invented in the 1920s by American professional figure skater Bruce Mapes. The toe loop is accomplished with a forward approach on the inside edge of the blade; the sk ...

, and a quad salchow as a solo jump. Goebel also made history at the 2002 Olympics by becoming the first skater to successfully land a quad

in combination in Olympic competition. Goebel's repertoire of quadruple jumps made him one of the most competitive skaters in the world during the peak of his career. He would land a total of 76 quads in competition. Goebel was heavily criticized early in his career for focusing exclusively on jumping to the detriment of choreography and presentation, but in later years he improved in those areas. Goebel increasingly struggled with his jumps after 2003 due to injuries. At the 2006 U.S. Championships, in what he had previously announced would be his last competitive season, he was unable to land either a quadruple jump or triple Axel cleanly, and dropped to a seventh-place finish which left him far short of qualifying for the 2006 Winter Olympics. Goebel represented the Winterhurst Figure Skating Club. He was coached by Audrey Weisiger in

Fairfax, Virginia The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. At the 2010 census the p ...

, after having been previously coached by

Glyn Watts Glynn Robin "Glyn" Watts (born 16 March 1949) is a British former competitive ice dancer. With his skating partner, Hilary Green, he became the 1974 World silver medalist and a two-time European silver medalist (1974, 1975). They represented G ...

and Frank Carroll. On April 25, 2006, Goebel announced his retirement from competitive skating. He planned to continue to contribute to the sport as a technical specialist, having received certification for competitions sanctioned by the

United States Figure Skating Association U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee "USOPC" under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act ...

. He worked as a technical specialist at the Aviator Figure Skating Academy in New York. He attended Columbia University, graduating in 2010 with a degree in mathematics. In 2016 he received a Master of Science in Business Analytics degree from New York University Stern School of Business, and currently works for Google as a Marketing Mix Modeling Partner Program Manager.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''GP =

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

; JGP = Junior Series ( Junior Grand Prix)''

References

External links

*
Timothy Goebel
at the

U.S. Olympic Committee The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in C ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goebel, Timothy American male single skaters Figure skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in figure skating Sportspeople from Evanston, Illinois 1980 births Living people American adoptees Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Gay sportsmen LGBT figure skaters American LGBT sportspeople LGBT people from Illinois Columbia University School of General Studies alumni Columbia University alumni