Jeff Buttle helped Canada to the medal podium at the 2008 World Figure Skating Championships in Sweden in March, winning the gold medal in men’s singles. Then, with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games looming, Buttle shocked the skating world by announcing his retirement. He’d accomplished everything he’d set out to, he said.
Heading into this weekend’s Skate Canada, an event in which he finished third last year, the 26-year-old has no regrets about last month’s decision.
"Retirement has been good to me," he said from Detroit on Wednesday, during an interview to announce Holiday Festival On Ice, an annual skating extravaganza that will visit Halifax Metro Centre for the first time on Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. Also performing in the show, with the theme of A Celtic Christmas, will be Kurt Browning, Sasha Cohen, Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon, Jennifer Robinson, Steven Cousins and Edmunston, New Brunswick’s Shawn Sawyer, who made his Olympic debut in 2006 in Torino and is hoping to make the squad for Vancouver.
"I’m still doing what I love — skating. The part I love the most is performing, so I feel very fortunate to still be doing what I love," he said, noting one of the programs he will be doing on the Stars On Ice tour in Canada, Japan and selected U.S. cities this winter, was created for the upcoming competitive season with renowned choreographer David Wilson.
When announcing his retirement, Buttle said he wanted to return to his studies in chemical engineering at the University of Toronto, but for now that’s on hold as he is even busier in terms of travel.
Next stop on Buttle’s itinerary is a gig at Home Sense Skate Canada International in Ottawa today (Thursday) through Sunday.
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