Information:
CNBC Interview with 1992 Olympic Silver Medalist Paul Wylie
First broadcast on December 25, 1997 from 8:30 a.m.-9 a.m. EST; repeated on
December 25, 1:30 p.m.-2 p.m. EST
Excerpts and photos can also be obtained at:
www.msnbc.com/modules/vod/1219wylie.asp
Interview conducted by CNBC reporter Susie Gharib
Clips of 1992 Olympics courtesy of CBS Sports

Interview:
SG:  Hello, everyone and happy holidays.  I’m Susie Gharib.  Glad you’re with us for CNBC’s special day of programming, “One on One.”  We’re showcasing and going one-on-one with people who are tops in their field.  What is the secret to their success?  In this half-hour, we go one-on-one with Paul Wylie.  He’s the
Harvard guy with an Olympic silver medal in figure skating.  (Clip of Paul
Wylie on the podium at 1992 Olympics)  He started skating at three years old.
(Clip of Paul as a boy, dressed in red skating with pairs partner at ice rink)
By the time he was 11, he was winning competitions and so serious about
skating that his family moved from his home in Dallas to Denver.  He trained
at the same rink that produced Olympic champions like Scott Hamilton, Dorothy
Hamill and John Curry.  (Clip of Paul on the podium in 1992, standing next to
Viktor Petrenko)  By age 27, he was also an Olympic hero, winning a silver
medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics in France-- and today he is one of the most
recognized and celebrated figure skaters in the world.  Joining me now is Paul
Wylie.  We are at his home rink in Massachusetts on Cape
Cape Cod.

(Cut to interview with Paul and Susie Gharig in Tony Kent Arena, South Dennis,
Massachusetts.  Interview conducted in center of ice rink.)

SG:  What a pleasure to have you with us.  Let’s start out talking a little
bit about what attracted you to skating?  What do you like about skating?

PW:  Well, I think my sisters were both doing it at the time-- I was three.
It’s sort of
where I was dropped off at the time.  I got to, um, put the skates on instead
of playing with my Tonka trucks.  I think throughout my career the things that
have attracted me to it and kept me in it have been the musicality of it, um,
have been the athleticism, just being able to work out and jump and spin and
do amazing things without friction.  And then also probably the fact that I’m
a performer and I enjoy performing.

SG:  Were you a natural?

PW:  No.  I was not a natural.  I still am not a natural. (laughs)  It took me
a long time to learn things and, ah, it still takes me a lot to maintain what
I know.  (Cut to clip of Paul and pairs partner skating their program at
indoor ice rink)

SG:  You started out in the very early years, not only doing singles but you
were in pairs.  You had a partner and you were actually junior pairs
champions.  What made you decide to leave pairs and make the switch over to
singles?

PW:  Well I didn’t make the switch to singles.  I was always a singles skater.
But pairs was, um, certainly at the time it was a great background and I think
that it developed, though, to the point where I couldn’t really do the
toughest moves.  You really need to be tall and have a lot of leverage to do
those things, and I was limited by my size and I was doing better as a singles
skater at that time and my partner wanted to go to college and... so
everything sort of led to the direction of singles.

SG:   You were still a pretty serious skater when you were a kid.  I mean, you
were 11 years old, and your family moved to Denver so that you could train
very seriously.

PW:  Twelve...

SG:  But you were a kid.  What motivated you?

PW:  I don’t know.  I think what motivated me during the early years was
probably
showing off, you know-- for my sisters.  And then I went to my first
competition and I just assumed that I would be last because I was from Dallas,
you know, and Dallas isn’t really much of a center for skating, I figured, and
I won my first competition.  And I got this medal and I could go home and say
that I won this competition... it was kind of a neat thing.  So I enjoyed
that.

SG:  But you were saying you know, you really weren’t a natural at skating.
You had to work hard at it.  And yet kept you going at it... What was your
drive?

PW:  Well, again, I think it’s the kind of musical part of it that got me
going and, um, just being a performer and enjoying... um, enjoying having
something pay off, I guess, in the end.

SG:  How did you feel as a kid to be working so hard?  I mean, here are your
other friends going off and maybe partying or being on the soccer team, and
there you were, always at the rink?

PW:  Well, I guess I never really stopped to think about it.  I didn’t stop to
think about the fact that I wasn’t hanging out with people after school or
what they were doing, really. I think I did that later.  (laughs)  You know,
on a bad day, I’d do it.  But um, I think it felt good because I was achieving
something and I was working hard but I was also getting rewards for it and it
was interesting, so, um, I think when you are a kid and you’re in a situation
where it’s not rewarding or you don’t go to the Nationals or something like
that, then it’s harder.

SG:  Who inspired you?  Did you have a hero?

PW:  Uh, yea, I had several heroes, actually, growing up.  Um...

SG:  Who were they?

PW:  I think first probably my sisters were my heroes, you know?  And then
this skater, Gordie McKellen, was definitely a shaping force in my career.
He’s a real showman and a kind of a ham, and I enjoyed that, and he’s also a
great jumper.  And then I think, growing up, Scott Hamilton, John Curry,
Dorothy Hamill, Robin Cousins--. they all trained in our rink in Colorado.  So
it was just a really good environment where you could see your heroes every
day and you could watch the people who were in the Olympics-- who were winning
the Olympics-- you could see how they jumped, how high they jumped and the
kind of innovative moves they were doing.

SG:  So watching Scott Hamilton at that rink must’ve been inspirational.

PW:  It was!  I was always in his way!  (laughs)  He was always yelling at me
to get out of his way.  But it was really, it was inspirational, and people
like Scott and John Curry and Robin Cousins and Dorothy Hamill, and they all
sort of helped the younger skaters out, which was really nice.  I can remember
getting advice, that I should’ve taken, on my triple sal (triple salchow jump)
from Scott in those days.  And they were willing to help, which was nice.

SG:  You know what’s amazing about you, Paul, is that a lot of people in
skating have to choose between skating and schoolwork, and you did both-- not
only did you do both, you also went to Harvard University on top of a very
competitive skating career.  How did you make that work for you?

PW:  Um... (long pause)  Well, I just scheduled everything to the max,
basically.  And made sure that I didn’t have a full-time schedule every single
season.  I went part-time and Harvard allowed me to do that, which was great.
Um, and it was a priority to me, I guess.  I filled the day with sort of the
basic elements, and if there was any other time I would have a social life.
But I didn’t worry about that.

SG:  It is so intense.  You know you are now considered, perhaps, the most
artistic male
skater in the figure skating world, and of course you have an Olympic medal as
well to go along with that.  When you were a kid, did you ever dream that this
is where you would
be?

PW:  Ahm, not really. (laughs)  I don’t think I thought I was gonna go very
far when I
was a kid.  You know, I was from Dallas like I said, and my first program was
“Dueling Banjos,” and you know, all of my early programs were sort of western
in theme, and it was a fun, cute thing to do.  And I really... I just assumed
that I would never make it.  Which is not to say that I’m not an optimist.
It’s just...  I just assumed I wouldn’t.  So here I am.  I think if you had
asked me the week before Olympics if I was gonna have this kind of career, I
would’ve said, “No.”  Because I wasn’t supposed to win the silver medal and I
wasn’t supposed to do as well as I did.  It was all a big surprise.  And then
my professional career was even a surprise in addition to that, because it’s
been such an incredible six years, with all the changes that have been going
on and the kind of excitement that surrounds skating.

SG:  If you had to do it all over again, would you be a professional skater?

PW:  Sure.  It’s a great job, it’s a really fun job.

SG:  We’ll take a little break here.  Don’t go away.  We’ll bring you back and
resume our conversation with Paul Wylie.

(Cut to clip of Paul, dressed in black, skating at Tony Kent Arena, then into
commercial)

(Back from commercial to clip of Paul in 1992 Winter Olympics, during long
program)

SG:  He didn’t get a gold, but Paul Wylie considers himself pretty lucky for
winning a
silver medal at the Olympics.  (Cut to clip of 1990 Nationals competition in
Salt Lake
City, Utah; Paul Wylie performing an Ina Bauer move into a back spiral during
competition)  It was a dream come true.  In years and years of competition, he
stumbled through his routines.  He didn’t stand up under pressure.  He was
never first place in U.S. Championships.  (Cut to Paul at 1988 Olympics in
Calgary; Paul Wylie performing triple flip, then falling after losing edge)
And at the 1988 Olympics, he placed 10th, causing many people to speculate
that he would quit competitive skating.  But he stayed on, practicing and
competing even as he finished up his degree in political science at Harvard
University.  (Cut to clip of Paul’s 1992 Olympic long program at Albertville,
France)  And then, at the ‘92 Olympics, he mesmerized the audience in
Albertville, France-- two perfect triple axel jumps, dramatic spins and
breathtaking artistry.  He was thrilled to finally be on the Olympic podium
with the silver medal.

(Cut back to interview with Paul Wylie and Susie Gharib at Tony Kent Arena)

SG:  We’re continuing our conversation with Paul Wylie in this special CNBC
holiday
edition, “One On One.”  You know, Paul, the word on you-- even from your hero,
Scott Hamilton-- is that Paul Wylie is a beautiful skater but in competition,
inconsistent and has a tough time under pressure.  What kept you going?

PW:  (laughs)  Well, I think what kept me going was that I believed that there
was a time when I would actually put it together and I knew that the potential
of my performance exceeded everyone’s expectations were of me, and so that if
I did put it together, that it would be something really good and fun.  (Cut
to clip of Paul performing a triple toe-triple toe combination at 1988
Olympics in Calgary)

SG:  I think everyone in the skating world wanted Paul Wylie to put it
together, but after
the ‘88 Olympics in Calgary, there were  a lot of people feeling that maybe it
was time for him to hang up the skates, and yet you didn’t.  Did you want to
give up?

PW:  Yes.  I quit many times.  (laughs)

SG:  In your head?

PW:  No.  It’s sort of like the kid that runs away from home, you know?  I
packed my
bags many times to quit skating.  Because I was in school at the same time,
and I always wrestled with the idea of whether I really should be skating
full-time or whether I should be going to school full-time, or whether I was
just wasting my time-- especially after I made the Olympic team, which was for
me an important goal in 1988.  (Cut to Paul in 1992, charging out on the ice
to accept his silver medal during the awards ceremony)  I wasn’t so sure I was
going to get a medal in ‘92.  I didn’t really think I probably would.  I
wasn’t sure if I was just sort of biding my time and dividing my time, and I
didn’t want to do that.  I didn’t want to sacrifice something that I could
have been doing academically for something that wasn’t going to pay off in the
end.

SG:  When you look at your career, what would you say was your biggest
disappointment?

PW:  When I look back at it, it’s probably the 1990 Nationals.  (Cut to clip
of Paul doing Ina Bauer at 1990 Nationals)  I felt like I really skated well
and I really wanted to win that.  I really wanted to win a National title.
And if I there was going to be one, it would’ve been there.  Um, but then I
think a disappointment, too, would’ve been Munich Worlds, because I really
felt that my career was over then.  I...

SG:  Why?

PW:  Disastrous short program which wound me up in 20th place.  And if I had
been in 21st place, my career would’ve been over because the cut for the
finals was 20th.  So it was very important that I made the long program.  And
then I skated a great long program and pulled up to 11th, and yet even so
people just sort of counted me out for the next year-- that was ‘91, of the
year before the Olympics.

SG:  How did you feel about all the judging?  There is such a controversy
about judging and you’re such an artistic skater, and judges don’t always put
such high marks for artistry as technical.

PW:  Well, I’ll tell you, I learned early on not to worry about the judging
and just try to be concerned with my own performance because it’ll drive you
crazy.  (Clip of Paul Wylie and his coaches, Evy and Mary Scotvold, in the
Kiss and Cry area at 1988 Olympics, as Paul received his marks-- Technical:
5.4-5.7, Artistic: 5.5-5.8)  But I think being an artistic skater does make it
difficult because you’ll find that your technical merit marks will be the same
as your artistic marks, pretty much across the board, keeping it sort of
easier for the judges to compute it out.  So...  But I guess I’ve always felt
that when I skated well, I got the marks I deserved.  That’s the important
thing.  I didn’t feel ripped off anywhere.  And that’s the important thing.

SG:  What was your biggest accomplishment in skating?

PW:  I think definitely the ‘92 silver medal was my biggest accomplishment,
just because it came at the very end of my career.  It was the most public, it
was sort of a re-writing of the whole checkered career.  I mean, I was able at
the end of my career to say “I had something that made sense.”  It all turned
out great and here, I’ve got a silver medal despite all the years of missing
at the Worlds and being counted out as the guy who was disappointing-- great
in practice, but bad in the performance.  I think at that one moment I
answered the critics that I couldn’t handle the pressure, because what bigger
pressure is there than the Olympics?

SG:  What does that silver medal represent to you?  How much of a difference
has that
made in your life?

PW:  It’s been huge, actually.  I think the silver medal was kind of like, you
know,
graduating summa cum laude from Harvard or something-- I didn’t, believe me--
but the thing is that it puts a mantle on you and it allows you to explore
different things that you wouldn’t have the confidence to explore or you know,
it’s just.... audiences react differently to you when you have a medal like
that.  They are ready to... you have a credential, they are ready to expect
something from you, they are ready to watch you take a risk that they might
not be if you weren’t somebody who had that credential.

SG:  Paul, when you look at your whole life and your commitment to skating,
what did skating teach you?  What did you learn about yourself, what did you
learn about life through skating?

PW:  Perseverance, maybe.  You know, I think, um, that that was probably the
biggest thing I learned was just to persevere through whatever obstacles and
not really take yesterday’s performance as the norm or to... not worry about
the future but to be focused for every single day in the moment because
yesterday’s performance is not today’s performance and... you know!  The
market goes like this (makes wave-like pattern with hand through the air), you
know, and so do we.  We’re cyclical and we’re prone to roller coaster rides
and, um, and that it’s important to persevere and be long-term minded... I
sound like a financial advisor don’t I?

SG:  That may be your next career, who knows?  We’ll talk about that when we
come back.  let’s take another break and we’ll be back with more Paul Wylie
right after this. 

(Cut to clip with Paul doing “Apollo 13” program into commercial)

(Back from commercial, Paul Wylie and Susie Gharig skating at Tony Kent Arena)

SG:  Have you considered coaching?

PW:  No, I don’t think so.  I love teaching and I love the kids and I love
motivating them, but I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I just don’t want
to spend Saturdays at an ice rink any more.

(Cut to scenes with Paul Wylie walking outside his cottage home)

SG: (voice-over)  This is home for Paul Wylie, a cottage in Hyannis, right on
the beach in Cape Cod.  It’s his quiet space away from the skating world, but
he doesn’t get to spend much time here.  He’s still busy performing.  This
week, he’ll start traveling with other Olympic skaters for the “Stars on Ice”
tour-- 57 cities in four months, and he’ll be performing at each stop.  Then
in September, he’ll hang up his skates and go back to school.  He’s hoping to
be a student at his alma mater, Harvard University, this time working to get
an MBA.  So what drives Paul?  We’re talking to him here at his home
now, and away from the rink.

SG:  So it’s gonna be business school in the fall.  How did you decide on
business?

PW:  Well, I hope it’s gonna be business school.  We’ll see.  I have to get
in, obviously.  But, um, I think within the past six years, I’ve been involved
in my own career, managing it, managing my money, and I think that has driven
me towards the option of business school.  I’ve also sat next to a lot of
people on planes and talked to them about different careers, and it just seems
like there are many, many different ways to go and right now I feel like I’m
at the top of a mountain, just having gone to this level in skating and
knowing that I can’t stay here that long.  And I’d like to do something else
that gets me to the top of another mountain.  I think that an MBA would propel
me there.

SG:  So the question is, what do you want to be when you grow up?

PW:  (laughs)  Well, that’s a great question.  I think, um, I think that I
would like to be involved-- maybe, involved in the business of skating.  I
think that I would definitely like to be involved with people in a people
organization, possibly in marketing.  I just think that I have marketed my own
self and my own ideas and skating.  And I think possibly in a directing role,
sort of making presentations and gathering a team of people to do something
like that.  But we’ll see.  You know, some other opportunity might present
itself and I’d like to get a financial background so that I can manage my own
finances but also maybe help others to do that.

SG:  How do you feel about money?  How much of a risk-taker are you when it
comes to investing your own money?

PW:  I’m pretty risk-averse, I think.  I have a financial manager whom I
trust, and I think my portfolio is growth-oriented, I think.  Long-term.  I
have a lot of it invested in
long-term blue chip investments like most people who want it to be around in
40 years, but I’m not sure.  Now that that nest egg is built, maybe I’ll
become more, um, more of a risk-taker.  We’ll see.

SG:  And so, you’re going to give up skating.    At least, while you’re at
school.  How do you feel about stopping skating?

PW:  I have mixed emotions about stopping skating.  It’s been such an
incredible creative outlet for me.  But I find that it’s difficult to maintain
the... when you’re on the road, to maintain the triple jumps and to maintain
the focus, and to really feel intense about it all the time, and I don’t want
to skate if I can’t feel intense about it, I don’t think.  So I think that
it’s time.  It’s an Olympic year.  It’s sort of a perfect-- it’s almost like
there’s a biorhythm to it, for skaters.  It’s a good time to lay it to rest, I
think.

SG:  Speaking of the Olympics, we’re two months away from the competition in
Japan.  Who do you think is going to win?  The ladies and the men.

PW:  Well, I think it’s always tough to make predictions, but if I had to bet
today I’d say Elvis Stojko, because he is an amazing jumper and has performed
really well in the past few Olympics.  I think Canada is due.  It never won an
Olympic medal, an Olympic gold medal, I mean.

SG:  And for the ladies?

PW:  The ladies, I’d say Michelle Kwan.  Because she combines the artistry and
the
technical... she’s technically very good.  So I think...  We’ll see.

SG:  And how will we remember Paul Wylie?  How will we describe him ten years
from now.

PW:  Well, I hope that people will remember my skating career, but I hope that
I will also have achieved something in the business world that won’t eclipse
it so that people forget about it, but that people will say was significant as
well but is helping people feel fulfilled in their careers.

(Cut to commercial, back to Paul Wylie and Susie Gharig skating together in
Tony Kent Arena)

SG:  That was so much fun.  Thank you so much for the skating and for the
interview.  We’ve been going one-on-one with Paul Wylie, the Olympic silver
medalist.  This has been “One on One” with CNBC.  I’m Susie Gharig.  Have a
great day and happy holidays.  Okay, let’s learn that triple axel!

PW:   Okay.  I told you, no coaching...

(Cut to clips of Paul skating at Rockefeller Center in red during a Christmas
celebration; Paul skating his “Untouchables” program; Paul skating “Apollo 13”
program at a “Stars On Ice” performance)