Peter Allen Oppegard (born August 23, 1959) is an American retired
pair skater
Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...
and coach. With his partner
Jill Watson, he is the
1988 Olympic bronze medalist and a three-time
U.S. national champion.
In May 2022, Oppegard was suspended for one month by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for misconduct.
Career
Oppegard initially paired with Vicki Heasley. He began competing with Watson in 1985. In their career, Watson and Oppegard won three national titles, a
world
The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...
bronze medal, an Olympic bronze medal, and various other medals. During Watson and Oppegard's free skate at the 1988 Olympics, a photographer dropped his camera bag onto the ice and an usher walked onto the ice to pick it up while the pair was performing an overhead lift.
As a coach, his skaters have won ten national singles and pairs titles. The Professional Skaters Association and US Figure Skating named Oppegard "Choreographer of the Year" and "Coach of the Year". He coached at the East West Ice Palace in southern California until 2018.
Personal life
Oppegard was married to
Karen Kwan, sister of world champion figure skater
Michelle Kwan
Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired American competitive figure skating, figure skater and diplomat who served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Belize, United States Ambassador to Belize from 2022 to 2025. In ...
. As of 2017, they were estranged.
[
]
Abuse allegations and suspension
In February 2021, ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' reported that Oppegard had been under investigation by the United States Center for SafeSport
The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization set up to reduce sexual abuse of minors and athletes in Olympic sports in the United States.
Established in 2017 under the Protecting Young Victims from Sex ...
since July 2020 for allegations of physical abuse, including throwing coffee and hot water at skaters he coached at the East West Ice Palace. American pairs skater Jessica Pfund also alleged that Oppegard bit her on the upper right arm during a training session in 2013, when Pfund was 15 years old.
Results
With Watson
References
External links
Watson and Oppegard competition results
Landry and Oppegard competition results
Heasley and Oppegard competition results
Watson and Oppegard at pairsonice.com
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Oppegard, Peter
1969 births
American male pair skaters
American figure skating coaches
Figure skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics
Living people
Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in figure skating
Olympic medalists in figure skating
World Figure Skating Championships medalists
Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics
Sportspeople from Knoxville, Tennessee
20th-century American sportsmen