Kurt Browing "Kurt The Best"

KURT BROWNING

Kurt has an autobiography Forcing the Edge, published in hardcover in '91, published in mass-market in '92 with 4 new chapters that cover Albertville and plans for Lillehammer.

Kurt continues to skate on tour (Stars on Ice), in shows (his own: Gotta Skate as well as others), he has been colour commentator for numerous competitions, is frequently interviewed in the media on the subject of skating and choreographs programs for Olympic eligible skaters.

He is a natural public person: friendly, garrulous, self-assured, a little brash, earnest, out-going, and charming. He is also hard working, talented, driven, sensual, attentive to detail, ambitious, and a well trained athelete. All of these combined qualities have made him a four-time world champion and one of the most well-known and loved people in Canada (he also has a not-insignificant following elsewhere 8).

He started figure skating, like many young Canadian men, as a suppliment to hockey. A way to get more ice time, although during the winter he had his own personal ice surface in the backyard, one of the advantages of growing up on a farm in rural Alberta 8).

Being the youngest child by a largish margin meant that when he chose to dedicate himself entirely to figure skating, his parents had the time and resources to support him and dedicate themselves, as the parents of a champion must.

His competitive history has been consistent and stellar, his losses few but memorable. Memorable, no so much for the losses themselves, but for way they demonstrated that he is as graceful in defeat as he is in victory.

In a huge change of pace, Kurt enjoys inline skating when off the ice, and claimed to enjoy coach-potatohood given the rare opportunity. Likely parenthood has absorbed that free time.

With the support of Kellog's Canada, Kurt has established the "Kurt Browning Junior Figure Skating Fund to be awarded each year at Canadians for the purpose of helping with the costs of training for up and coming young skaters.

Basic Stats

• Birth Date: 18/06/1966
• Home Town: Caroline, AB
• Nicknames: "The Kid from Caroline" (there is, in fact, a song about him named this), "Skate God for Life" (so named by Scott Hamilton whom Kurt, himself, calls SGfL)
• Car Plates: 1STQUAD
• Trains: Toronto, ON
• Height: 170 cm (5'7")
• Weight: 64.3 kg (143 lbs)
• Coach: Louis Stong, Michael Jiranek
• Choreographer: Sandra Bezic, Kevin Cottam
• Autobiography: Kurt: Forcing the Edge
  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
  Suite 2900, 55 Avenue Rd
  Toronto, ON, M5R 3L2
  ISBN 0-00-637885-4
  
• Spouse: Sonia Rodriguez. On 21/04/95, Kurt proposed at SOI in Toronto which was being taped for broadcast by the CBC. That segment is available for downloading in .avi format (1.8M) and Quicktime (.mov, 2M).
  They were married on June 30, 1996.
• Children: Gabriel Browning-Rodriguez (born 12/07/2003)
• Older brother: Wade
• Older sister Dena
• Father: Dewey (given name Arnold)
• Mother: Neva
• Paternal grandparents: Jack Browning and Gladys Stewart
• Maternal grandparents: Fred and Bernice Hart
• Paternal great-grandfather Jasper Browning