John Zimmerman (figure skater)
John Luther Zimmerman IV is an American professional pair skater and coach. With skating partner Kyoko Ina, he is the 2002 World bronze medalist and a three-time U.S. national champion. They also competed at the 2002 Olympics.
Personal life
Zimmerman was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He has two older sisters. He married Italian-American skater Silvia Fontana on August 28, 2003. They have two daughters – Sofia, born on April 2, 2012 at Northwest Medical Center in Coconut Creek, Florida, and Eva, born on June 2, 2013. Their son, Jack Zimmerman, was born in 2016.Zimmerman has worked as a model, appearing in photo shoots for Barneys New York and various designers. He and Fontana also appeared on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in 2004, and made appearances for Am/FAR, amongst other charities. In 2003, an access bridge at his alma mater, Homewood High School, was named after him.
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", 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. They now coach at Florida Hospital Center Ice in Wesley Chapel, Florida. He has coached Haven Denney / Brandon Frazier and Vanessa James / Morgan Cipres.
In December 2019, Zimmerman, Fontana, and fellow coach Vinny Dispenza, were named and accused in a United States Center for SafeSport investigation of covering up alleged sexual abuse committed by Ciprès via intimidation tactics.
Programs
| Season | Short program | Free skating |
| 2001–02 | by Roger Waters, Pink Floyd | by Sergei Rachmaninov |
| 2000–01 |
|