John Zimmerman (figure skater)

Personal life

Zimmerman was born in Birmingham, Alabama.

Career

Zimmerman started skating at age 3 at a mall. He briefly partnered with Brie Teaboldt for the 1994-95 season. Then he paired with Stephanie Stiegler from 1995 through 1998, and won the bronze medal at the 1997 U.S. Figure Skating Championships while being coached by Peter Oppegard. Their partnership ended in 1998 due to injuries.

Zimmerman teamed up with Kyoko Ina in 1998. Initially, they were coached by Peter Burrows and Mary Lynn Gelderman in Monsey, New York, and they also commuted to Stamford, Connecticut, to work with Tamara Moskvina. They later trained under Moskvina and Igor Moskvin in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Ina and Zimmerman won the bronze medal at the 2002 World Championships. In 2003, they turned professional and began skating on Stars on Ice.

Zimmerman competed in the January 2006 FOX television program "Skating with Celebrities", where he partnered with FOX broadcaster Jillian Barberie. They finished in second place.

Zimmerman was featured as Yahoo's special guest expert correspondent for figure skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. He later competed in an ABC skating series "Thin Ice" (aired on March 19, 2010), paired with world champion Canadian ice dancer Shae-Lynn Bourne. They finished in second place, winning a total of $50,000. They skated to "Closer" by Ne-Yo and "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga.

Zimmerman worked as a coach at Panthers Ice Den in Coral Springs, Florida, with Silvia Fontana. He has coached Haven Denney / Brandon Frazier (from Autumn 2012 to February 2015 and since 2018 again) and Vanessa James / Morgan Cipres (from June 2016).

Suspension

In December 2019, Zimmerman, Fontana, and fellow coach Vinny Dispenza, were accused in a United States Center for SafeSport investigation of covering up alleged sexual abuse committed by Ciprès via intimidation tactics. Zimmerman was suspended for two years and received one additional year of probation by SafeSport in March 2021 for abuse of process, emotional misconduct, and failure to report sexual abuse of a 13 year old he was coaching. He was barred from any skating events run by U.S. Figure Skating or the Olympic committee, and prohibited from attending any facility run by those groups.

Programs

(with Ina)

Results

GP: Champions Series / Grand Prix

With Kyoko Ina

With Stephanie Stiegler

With Brie Teaboldt

References

References

1. David Baden. (3 June 2013). "Congrats #SilviaFontana & @skaterzimmerman on birth of Eva Zimmerman Born 6/2/13 7p 6oz All healthy/happy! @icenetwork @usfigureskating".
2. "Turin 2006 Winter Olympics - Expert Archive". Yahoo! Sports.
3. "Coaches' Bios {{!".
4. Brennan, Christine. (December 10, 2019). "Olympic figure skater, coaches being investigated for sexual abuse allegations". [[USA Today]].
5. (10 March 2021). "John Zimmerman, figure skating coach, Olympian, banned by SafeSport".
6. (March 10, 2021). "John Zimmerman, figure skating coach, Olympian, banned by SafeSport".
7. Brennan, Christine. "Former Olympic skater John Zimmerman suspended following accusation of sex abuse cover-up".
8. "Stephanie STIEGLER / John ZIMMERMAN". International Skating Union.
9. "Kyoko INA / John ZIMMERMAN". International Skating Union.
10. "Kyoko INA / John ZIMMERMAN: 2000/2001". International Skating Union.
11. "Kyoko INA / John ZIMMERMAN: 2001/2002". International Skating Union.
12. Mittan, J. Barry. (1998). "Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman".
13. Roberts, Selena. (January 7, 2002). "FIGURE SKATING; Ina and Zimmerman Melt Ice in Melting Pot". [[The New York Times]].
14. (2011-11-01). "Five favorite things with Fontana and Zimmerman". [[IceNetwork.com]].
15. (2012-04-11). "The Inside Edge". [[IceNetwork.com]].
16. Rutherford, Lynn. (May 17, 2013). "Change of scenery serves Denney, Frazier well". [[IceNetwork.com]].
17. "Haven DENNEY / Brandon FRAZIER". International Skating Union.
18. Berlot, Jean-Christophe. (January 25, 2017). "Zimmerman's tutelage guiding James, Ciprès". [[IceNetwork.com]].