Figure skater Weaver to host "Open Ice" show in aid of COVID-19 relief

By Dan Palmer
Wednesday, 22 April 2020

Olympic figure skater Kaitlyn Weaver is to produce and host a one-off talk show called Open Ice ©Getty Images

Olympic figure skater Kaitlyn Weaver is to produce and host a one-off talk show called Open Ice to raise money for the fight against COVID-19.

The programme, which will be co-produced by Jordan Cowan of On Ice Perspectives, will feature some of the world's best skaters within their own homes.

Games, interviews and impromptu performances will be part of the show with Canada's Weaver based in her own apartment in New York.

It will be live-streamed on the International Skating Union's (ISU) YouTube channel on April 25 with "unscripted moments and unbridled spontaneity" promised.

Funds raised will be donated to the United Nations Foundation's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

Kaitlyn Weaver won three World Championship medals in ice dance alongside Andrew Poje ©Getty Images

Skating guests will include Scott Hamilton, Michelle Kwan, Sandra Bezic, Nathan Chen, Aljona Savchenko, Shae-Lynn Bourne, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, Katia Gordeeva, Kurt Browning, Tracy Wilson, Brian Orser, Javier Fernandez, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Satoko Miyahara, Yuka Sato, Patrick Chan, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, Todd Eldredge, Galit Chait, Valentina Marchei and others.

The 31-year-old Weaver won three World Championship medals in ice dance alongside Andrew Poje.

Other honours include two gold medals at the Four Continents Championships, and the ISU Grand Prix Final title twice.

At the Olympic Games, the duo finished seventh at both Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018.

In June, the pair announced a break from international competition.

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Fact of the day

When British skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won the Olympic gold medal in ice dance at Sarajevo 1984 with 12 perfect 6.0s from every judge, for their interpretation of Maurice Ravel's Boléro, an important member of their team was singer-actor Michael Crawford. Crawford, who had played Frank Spencer in British sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and the title role in the musical The Phantom of the Opera, had become a mentor to the pair in 1981 and went on to help them create their Olympic routine. Crawford said he “taught them how to act". He was present with their trainer Betty Callaway at the ringside at Sarajevo as they created one of the most iconic moments in Olympic history.

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