Birth date: August 28, 1971
Birth place: Chatham, Massachusetts
Hair: brown
Eyes: blue
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 145 pounds
Family: father John, mother Ruth, older brother Scott
Training center: Detroit Skating Club, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Coach: Richard Callaghan (since age 9)
Choreographer: Kirk Wyse
Started skating: age 5
Todd relaxes at practices at 1996 Worlds - photo copyright © 1996 by Emma Abraham
Todd Eldredge was born on August 28, 1971 in the seaport town of Chatham, Massachusetts. According to his official USFSA biography, he bought hockey skates at the age of five, but within two weeks had switched to figure skates because he wanted to "jump and spin." That desire led him to leave home at age 10 to follow coach Richard Callaghan, first to Philadelphia, then to Colorado Springs, San Diego, and finally to Bloomfield Hills, MI. Todd currently trains in Bloomfield Hills, and is a member of the Detroit Skating Club, where coach Richard Callaghan is the Skating Director.
During many of the years since leaving home, his
mother, Ruth, travelled with Todd, with father
John staying home in Chatham with Todd's
brother Scott. Despite the distances and the
sacrifices, the Eldredge family ties are strong and
healthy. Not only has Todd enjoyed the solid
backing of his family over the years, but also from
the people of Chatham, who banded together to
raise money for Todd's training when the financial
burdens proved too great for his parents to carry
alone. Through bake sales and community
fund-raising events, the citizens of Chatham, MA
raised over a quarter of a million dollars to help Todd realize his potential as a world-class skater.
Last year, Todd created a fund for young athletes in Chatham to help them get their start, as the
Chatham townspeople did for him. Although Todd now makes his home in Michigan, where he is
building a house, the people of Chatham still consider him their "ambassador to the world."
Construction began in fall of 1997 for the Todd Eldredge Baseball Park, one of two parks
dedicated to Chatham athletes. (The second park is dedicated to the memory of Thomas
Nicherson, "an elite high school athlete who was killed in the Vietnam War.")
In 1985, Todd won his first US Nationals title, in the Men's Novice class. The following year, he entered the Junior category, and went on to win the Men's Junior National title in 1987, followed by the Men's Worlds Junior title in 1988. He entered US Seniors in 1988, and won the Men's Senior National title for the first time in 1990. He holds the distinction of being one of the few men to achieve championship status in all three classes.
Todd retained the US Nationals crown for two years, before injuries and illness kept him off the Nationals podium for three years. In the 1994 Olympic year, Todd still managed to come in fourth at US Nationals with a fever of 104, opposite a field that included reinstated 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano, and then-reigning National Champion Scott Davis. Todd went on to perform well at subsequent Pro-Am competitions in 1994, receiving excellent scores for his expressive "Gethsemene" program.
For a brief time, Todd quit skating to reassess his goals. When he decided to return to the sport, he did so with a renewed vigor, attacking the sport with a single-mindedness that has since become his trademark. Many had written off the former National Champion and World Bronze Medalist. Many would eat their words in the years to come.
In 1995, after a three-year absence from Nationals medals, Todd came back to reclaim his National title, against two-time US National Champion Scott Davis. With his powerful "Gettysburg" program, Todd went on to the 1995 World Championships in Birmingham, England, scoring silver against two-time World Champion and 1994 Olympic Silver Medalist Elvis Stojko.
Before the US Nationals in 1996, Todd toured US cities with the Nutcracker on Ice show. During the tour, he and coach Richard Callaghan devised the "First Knight" program, replacing the "Chess" program with which Todd had won the 1995 Sudafed Skate America. Only five weeks after the "First Knight" program was originally conceived, Todd debuted the program at the 1996 Nationals in San Jose, CA. Although Todd received strong technical and artistic scores for the new program, home-town favorite and two-time US Nationals Pairs Champion Rudy Galindo achieved the status of the oldest US Men's National Champion since 1921, with Todd winning silver and a place on the 1996 US Worlds Team.
Never one to walk away from a challenge,
Todd polished both his "Swing Kids"
(technical) and "First Knight" (free skate)
programs to deliver a solid challenge, capturing
gold at the 1996 World Figure Skating
Championships in Edmonton, Canada. With
this win, Todd became the first US Man to win
gold at the Worlds since Brian Boitano in
1988. Todd created an indelible image in the
minds of figure skating fans when he placed his
gold medal around his mother's neck.
In the 1996-1997 season, Todd won first place in Skate America and Trophée Lalique, securing him a spot in the Champions Series Final in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Although Lalique had not been designated his second point-earner in the series, the ISU elected to accept his win in lieu of points earned at his second point-earner, from which he'd withdrawn due to injury. At the Champions Series Final in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Todd placed second, behind Elvis Stojko. Todd was seen successfully landing quadruple toe loop jumps (including combinations) during practices, but had said he would not put the quad in his program unless he felt totally comfortable with it.
During this season, he again won Gold at the US Nationals held in Nashville, TN, making him a four-time US National Champion, the first since Brian Boitano in 1988, and the ninth in US history.
At the 1997 World Figure Skating Championship, Todd skated a flawless short program, followed by an excellent long program ("Independence Day") that was marred by falls in the latter part of the program. He achieved a second place finish, winning his second silver medal at the World Figure Skating Championships.
In August 1997, Todd signed with Cook's Champagne as spokesman, and Cook's launched the Triple Challenge, committing to donate $1,000 for each triple jump Todd landed during the subsequent season. Cook's also sponsored Todd's first headliner ice show, "Todd Eldredge and Friends", in Auburn Hills, MI. The show benefitted both the City of Hope cancer research facility, and SABAH, the Skating Association for the Blind and Handicapped, two charities Todd feels strongly about. An avid amateur golfer, Todd has also participated in local charity golf events in the Detroit, MI area.
The 1997-98 season began with a turbulent Skate America, during which Todd was seriously injured in a fall during the free skate warmup. Todd's shoulder was dislocated, then popped back in place, and residual shoulder and rib damage would haunt him during the first half of the competitive season. Despite a great deal of pain, Todd skated his long program at the scheduled time (second after the warmup), and he received multiple standing ovations from his adopted hometown crowd in Detroit, MI. Although he held back on some elements due to the pain, the performance was well-rounded and beautifully delivered, and Todd received excellent marks, including his first 6.0 in eligible competition (for presentation, from the Canadian judge). Because of his injuries, Todd was forced to cancel his appearance in his friend Scott Hamilton's "Back on the Ice" event.
The rocky start and courageous comeback at 1997 Skate America would typify Todd's 1997-1998 competitive season. Although the dislocated shoulder had moved back into place at Skate America, bruising to the ribs would continue to slow Todd's recovery and impact his training schedule. Still in pain, Todd struggled at Trophée Lalique, coming in a disappointing fourth place. This, along with his first-place points from Skate America, was still enough to earn him a place in the 1998 Champions Series Final in Munich, Germany, where he finished third behind Ilia Kulik and Elvis Stojko.
The question of the quad was always in the air throughout the 1997-1998 season, with Todd the only major men's competitor not having attempted a quad in competition. His new "Gettysburg" was practiced with two sets of choreography - one including the quad, one including a triple toe instead. At the 1998 U.S. Nationals, Todd finally felt comfortable enough with the jump to attempt it in competition. Although Todd was not successful in cleanly landing the legendary jump, he did land it on one foot, losing the edge and falling immediately after. The rest of the program held up, however, securing Todd an historic fifth US title and a berth on the 1998 Olympic team. Todd developed a new short program and tinkered with his long program, trying to retool it to build the excitement level and make it more attractive to Olympic judges.
In Nagano, Japan, Todd was considered an Olympic gold medal favorite, with the harsh glare of the media following every move. He unveiled a new program in the short program, revisiting the soundtrack of Les Miserables to create a more whimsical short program than he normally skated. The routine was met with enthusiasm and a third place rank after the short. Two nights later, on Valentine's Day 1998, Todd took the ice for his free skate. The generally warm crowd also included hecklers who taunted Todd regarding the quad. The up-and-down quality of Todd's Olympic year took another downturn when he faltered in his revised long program, doubling the second jump in two combinations, and then popping his triple axel to gasps from the crowd. Throwing the triple axel in a second time to redeem it, Todd fell. He fought through the program to completion, and the international audience surged to its feet in approval, but Todd's medal hopes - gold or otherwise - were over. He completed the 1998 Winter Olympics in a disappointing fourth place.
Following the Winter Olympics, Todd returned home to Bloomfield Hills and again focussed inward. Where others might be discouraged and quit, Todd returned to the rink to train harder, and arrived at the 1998 World Championships in Minneapolis, MN determined to eradicate the unpleasant memories from Nagano. He returned to the successful "First Knight" program, making small modifications that included an opening quad. The Olympic medalists were all absent, but Todd was not a "shoe-in." Other athletes had something to prove, and the young up-and-comers were looking to make their marks. Todd won his qualifying round easily, but a mistake in a required element in the short program put him in fourth place going into the free skate. Todd opened with a quad, again losing his edge and going down, but he proceeded to deliver a powerful performance of a modified "First Knight," bringing the Minneapolis audience to its feet for the last minute of the routine. He won the free skate, and earned his third World silver medal. This brought Todd's World medal tally to five (one bronze, three silver and one gold), making him the first US man since 1955 to possess such a high number of World medals.
Following the 1998 Worlds, Todd will be participating in the 1998 Campbell's Soup Tour of Champions, and then the Goodwill Games. He has recently said that he is thinking of remaining eligible, and may compete in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games.
A fiercely private person, Todd is still single. When off the ice, Todd likes to "play a lot of golf." He has been participating in a judge's training program through the USFSA, and hopes to be a coach when he finally hangs up his own skates (many years in the future). In fact, he has often assisted coach Richard Callaghan with fellow skaters like Nicole Bobek (before she left Callaghan's tutelage) and Tara Lipinski. He was briefly represented by PS StarGames (Nancy Kerrigan's husband's company), but left them to sign with the prestigious IMG organization (Stars on Ice, the World Professional Championships).
