Jeffrey Buttle

Jeffrey "Jeff" Buttle (born September 1, 1982) is a Canadian figure skater and choreographer.

Buttle won the silver medal in the junior level at the Canadian Championships in 1998.

The next year, he placed in the top ten at his first senior nationals.

He rose steadily through the ranks, gaining experience on the junior level.

He made his senior international debut in the 2001–2002 season, making his mark immediately by winning the silver medal at the 2001 NHK Trophy behind Takeshi Honda.

At the Canadian Championships, Buttle made his first run on the podium and placed third.

It earned him a trip to Korea for the Four Continents, where he won his first gold medal.

Buttle's bronze medal finish at Nationals was not enough for him to be qualified as an alternate to the Canadian 2002 Olympic figure skating team.

He hadn't met Canadian Olympic Association criteria.

Silver medalist Emanuel Sandhu withdrew from the competition while Buttle could not replace him.

Instead, Buttle went to the 2002 Worlds and placed high enough to earn Canada two spots to the next World Championships.

The next season, Buttle repeated his podium finish at Nationals, but was unable to defend his title at Four Continents.

He worked to turn things around in the 2003–2004 season.

He won his first Grand Prix gold medal at 2003 NHK Trophy, followed by his second silver, at 2003 Skate Canada.

Buttle qualified for the Grand Prix Final, but was forced to withdraw.

After that setback, he had a disappointing Nationals and did not earn a spot to Worlds.

Buttle was instead sent to the Four Continents, which he won for the second time.

Buttle spent that summer training in Lake Arrowhead with Rafael Arutyunyan, who would remain as his secondary coach with Lee Barkell.

He recovered in the 2004–2005 season.

He qualified for the Grand Prix Final a second time and won the silver medal.

He went on to win his first National title.

He finished the year with a silver medal at the 2005 Worlds.

In the 2005–2006 Olympics season, Buttle won the 2005 Trophée Eric Bompard and came in second at the 2005 Skate Canada.

He had a wardrobe malfunction at Skate Canada when his pants split during his performance.

With a gold and a silver medal, he qualified for the 2005–2006 Grand Prix Final and captured his second consecutive silver medal at that competition.

He is the 2006 Winter Olympics bronze medalist, the 2008 World champion, the 2002 and 2004 Four Continents champion and the 2005–2007 Canadian champion.

On March 22, 2008, Buttle became the first Canadian man since Elvis Stojko in 1997 to win the World Title.

He announced his retirement from competitive skating on September 10, 2008.

Buttle was born in Smooth Rock Falls, Ontario, and raised in Sudbury.

During his career, he lived in Barrie, Ontario.

He attended École Don Bosco, a French-language elementary school.

While Buttle's family is not French-Canadian, Buttle attended French-language schools as a child and is bilingual in English and French.

He studied chemical engineering at the University of Toronto part-time before taking time off to focus on his skating.

In 2012, Buttle played ice hockey for a team in the Toronto Gay Hockey Association.

Buttle is openly gay and married Justin Harris in February 2014.

They divorced in early 2021.

Buttle began skating at age two and competing at age six.

He did competitive ballet to improve his skating.

Buttle also competed in ice dancing with his elder sister, Meghan.

He trained at the Mariposa School of Skating in Barrie, Ontario.