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Catarina Lindgren, Kathy Johnson, Janet Lynn and Tom Dickson stand on the ice at the Colorado Springs World Arena. (Jo Ann Schneider Farris)

By Jo Ann Schneider Farris, special to icenetwork.com

(07/23/2008) - In the early 1970s, Janet Lynn captivated figure skating audiences. She was considered one of the greatest free skaters in the world. When she was on the ice, she glided, jumped and spun with great joy and ease. In spite of several 6.0 perfect scores for her free skating events at the Olympics and world championships, she never won a gold medal at either.

The reason for the gold-medal drought -- five U.S. championships notwithstanding -- was that she skated at a time when compulsory figures counted more than freestyle, and, in addition, there was no short program. Championships were won or lost based largely on the scores in the compulsories.

Lynn competed with some of the best compulsory performers in the history of the sport. Eventually, the figures were decreased in value and, after a time, completely phased out of figure skating competition.

After she retired from competitive skating, Lynn spent a brief time skating professionally. Then, she made a commitment to being a full-time wife and mother and did not skate for over 25 years. Recently, however, she has reappeared in the figure skating world. In 2003, she was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. A few years later, she received the Sonja Henie Award from the Professional Skaters Association (PSA). At the time of the PSA award conference, she met choreographer Tom Dickson. He and Lynn discovered that they both had the same joy for compulsory figures -- doing edges, turns, footwork and movement on the ice. They began corresponding, and Dickson helped motivate Lynn to return to the ice and to skate again. She rediscovered the joy of skating that she remembered from her youth.

Choreographer Tom Dickson and one of his pupils, 2007 and 2008 U.S. pewter medalist Jeremy Abbott, traveled to work specifically with Lynn. That trip inspired Dickson to encourage Lynn to come to Colorado Springs, Colo., to give a seminar to all of the Broadmoor Skating Club's international, national and junior national competitors. Since Lynn's commitment to her children came first, a trip to Colorado Springs had to wait until her children were away at summer camp.

The seminar finally took place on Sunday, July 20, and Monday, July 21, at two venues: the Colorado Springs World Arena and the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Some of the skaters that participated included 2008 U.S. ladies silver medalist and 2008 world junior champion Rachael Flatt, 2007 U.S. men's silver medalist Ryan Bradley, Abbott, 2007 and 2008 junior men's silver medalist Brandon Mroz, 2008 U.S. novice ladies champion Marissa Secundy, 2008 U.S. intermediate ladies bronze medalist Lauren Dinh and 2006 U.S. juvenile boys champion and 2008 U.S. intermediate men's champion Joshua Farris. Additionally, other national and junior national competitors in both ice dancing and free skating took part.

The main point that Lynn shared with the group was that there is joy in figure skating. She told the group that she believes that proper body alignment is the key to all figure skating moves. She believes that joy can be achieved on the ice if a skater carries his or her body correctly. Knowing where the centerline of axis is becomes the key to everything else. She shared that every basic turn and every edge is the basis for jumps, spins and footwork. She encouraged the young skaters to spend time each day just enjoying being on the ice. She told the group to take advantage of the gift they have of being able to skate.

A major highlight of the seminar was when Lynn skated for the group. She admitted she could not do the things she did at a younger age, but she showed the young skaters how to improvise and doing turns and edges to music. Dickson and Lynn also performed together.

At the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, the group saw videos of great figure skaters from the past. The videos were of skaters such as Tenley Albright, Carol Heiss Jenkins, Ronnie Robertson, Peggy Fleming, Tim Wood, John Curry, Dorothy Hamill, Scott Hamilton and Janet Lynn herself. Rachael Flatt said she noticed that she saw every single movement flow from one section to the next. She saw the ease of movement and expressed how different things are today. Lynn showed the group how the skaters of the past used their bodies as they skated and how arm movements were used to a minimum. She also encouraged everyone present to learn about figure skating history, to visit the museum and to learn about from whom their own coaches had been taught.

At the end of the seminar, Lynn gave a thank-you card to every skater who had attended. The inscription was as follows: