 Kirk in 2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jennifer Anne Kirk | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1984-08-15)August 15, 1984 (age 41) Newton, Massachusetts, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 2 in (1.58 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Figure skating career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skating club | SC of Boston | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Began skating | 1994 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | September 7, 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Jennifer Anne "Jenny" Kirk (born August 15, 1984) is an American former competitivefigure skater. She is the2000 World Junior champion and the2002 Four Continents champion.
Jennifer Kirk was born inNewton, Massachusetts.[1] Prior to skating, she was agymnast until age nine.[2] Kirk also studiedballet and once performed with theBoston Ballet.[3]
Kirk grew interested in skating and began training with coaches Evy andMary Scotvold at age 10[2] at theSkating Club of Boston. She was featured as a young up-and-coming skater on thePBS showsZoom andArthur.[4][5] At 15, a piece of bone tore from Kirk's pelvis and jutted into her hip flexor.[6]
Kirk won gold at the2000 World Junior Championships. In 2002, she captured theFour Continents title. At the2002 World Championships, Kirk placed 15th in the short program before withdrawing due to a hip injury.[7]
Ahead of the 2002–03 season, Kirk moved to train withRichard Callaghan in Detroit. She also briefly dabbled inpair skating withFedor Andreev in the summer of 2003, describing it as fun but challenging. During the summer of 2004, Kirk moved to theToyota Sports Center inEl Segundo,California, to train withFrank Carroll and Ken Congemi.[2][8][9]
Kirk won the bronze medal at the2004 U.S. Championships. The following season, she withdrew from her first Grand Prix assignment due to an injury.[7] Kirk placed 10th at the2004 Cup of Russia and won bronze at the2005 Four Continents.
On September 7, 2005, Kirk announced herretirement from competitive figure skating.[10] Kirk moved toBoston, where she worked as a coach, but later returned to Southern California. Kirk's decision to quit competitive skating the year before the Olympics was profiled onIce Diaries.
Kirk is a member of theU.S. Figure Skating International Committee. In the fall of 2012, she and her colleague, David Lease, launched "The Skating Lesson", a podcast and website.[11] The two interview current and former skaters, coaches, choreographers and skating officials includingDebi Thomas,Frank Carroll,Sandra Bezic,Alissa Czisny,Tiffany Chin, andRudy Galindo. The web-series has garnered a following of thousands of figure skating fans with its weekly video interviews.[citation needed]
In May 1999, Kirk's mother, Pat Harris, was diagnosed withbreast cancer. She died in August 2001. The loss of her mother was one of the reasons Kirk decided to retire. "Although I still love skating very much, my passion and love for the competitive aspect of the sport has dwindled following the death of my mother in 2001 and my nagging hip injuries."[10]
In 2009, Kirk revealed her career-long struggle witheating disorders and mentioned that it had been a factor in her decision to retire.[12][13] Kirk also stated that disordered eating was very common among skaters but not enough was being done to address the problem.[14][15]
| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004–05 [1] |
| ||
| 2003–04 [16] |
| ||
| 2002–03 [17] |
| ||
| 2001–02 [18] | |||
| 2000–01 [19] |
| ||
| 1999–2000 |
GP:Grand Prix; JGP:Junior Grand Prix
| International[20] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 98–99 | 99–00 | 00–01 | 01–02 | 02–03 | 03–04 | 04–05 |
| Worlds | WD1 | 18th | 17th | ||||
| Four Continents | 5th | 1st | 3rd | ||||
| GPCup of Russia | 10th | ||||||
| GPNHK Trophy | 6th | 5th | |||||
| GPSkate America | 4th | 2nd | |||||
| GPSkate Canada | 6th | ||||||
| GPSparkassen | 4th | ||||||
| GPTrophée Lalique | 3rd | ||||||
| International: Junior[20] | |||||||
| Junior Worlds | 1st | ||||||
| JGPFinal | 2nd | ||||||
| JGPJapan | 1st | ||||||
| JGPNetherlands | 4th | ||||||
| National[7] | |||||||
| U.S. Champ. | 3rd J | 7th | 4th | 5th | 5th | 3rd | 4th |
Media related toJennifer Kirk at Wikimedia Commons
