On Edge: Backroom Dealing, Cocktail Scheming, Triple Axels, and How Top Skaters Get Screwed - Softcover

Jackson, Jon

3.08

75 ratings by Goodreads

9781560259534: On Edge: Backroom Dealing, Cocktail Scheming, Triple Axels, and How Top Skaters Get Screwed

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1560259531 ISBN 13: 9781560259534

Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006

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Figure skating is the second most watched sport on television after NFL football, commanding lucrative endorsements and fame for its stars. Yet, the real action of figure skating takes place off the ice, behind closed doors. Until now, no one in skating’s inner circle has dared to expose the dirty little secrets of the seemingly pristine sport: it would have signaled an end to his or her career. Jon Jackson, a former Olympic level judge and competitive figure skater, has already ended his, and he is ready to talk.

During the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, the Russian gold medal debacle in the Pair Event publicly revealed the hidden world of bribery and collusion that is standard operating procedure across the sport. On Edge, takes readers on a twenty year journey through the private hotel rooms and hospitality suites where the culture thrives and multiplies, culminating in the days, weeks, and months following the Salt Lake City gold medal scandal.

Rebelling against this covert culture, Jackson co-created the World Skating Federation in hopes of freeing the industry from the stranglehold of the seemingly omnipotent US Figure Skating Association (USFSA). Detailing his battle, Jackson reveals his reservations about the continued corruption.

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About the Author:

Jon Jackson is a former competitive figure skater and Olympic level judge, and the founder of the World Skating Federation. A retired lawyer, he lives in Las Vegas.

From Booklist:

Not only the potential winner of a longest-subtitle contest, this revealing memoir delivers a scathing indictment of the sport of figure skating. Jackson, a former competitive skater and Olympic judge, lays bare the sport's double-dealing and corruption while simultaneously telling the genuinely inspiring story of a young man who tried to make his way through this cutthroat world without losing his way. With coauthor Pereira, Jackson writes about encountering bribery, manipulation, cowardice, substance abuse, sexual predation, and other sordid goings-on. It's not a pretty picture, and there might be a tendency to think the author's got an axe (or skate blade) to grind, except for the fact that he so clearly loves the sport. At some points, he seems almost heartbroken over the way the sport has been defiled by the very people who should be preserving its integrity (somewhat surprisingly, he argues that Tonya Harding was mistreated). Although the prose is a bit overenthusiastic (Jackson does like his exclamation points), the book offers a much-needed look behind the scenes. David Pitt
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