Paul Wylie

Paul Stanton Wylie (born October 28, 1964) is an American figure skater, and the 1992 Olympic silver medalist in men's singles skating.

Wylie was born on October 24, 1964, in Dallas, Texas, to Bob Wylie (a geophysicist) and B.L. Wylie (a realtor) — the youngest of three children.

In Dallas, he attended St. Mark's School of Texas.

When he was eleven, his family moved to Denver, Colorado, where he focused increasingly on skating and graduated from Colorado Academy.

In 1979, Wylie won the novice men's title at the U.S. Championships, and in the 1981 season, he won both the U.S. junior title and the World Junior Championships.

At the latter event, he landed his first triple jumps in competition—two triple toe loops.

At the same time, Wylie was competing in pair skating with partner Dana Graham.

Cousins lived with the Wylie family while he was training for the 1980 Winter Olympics.

They won the junior pairs title at the 1980 U.S. nationals.

They were coached by John Nicks, commuting to work with him in California.

They placed eighth in the senior division at the 1981 U.S. nationals, but then dissolved their partnership when they lost financial sponsorship.

In 1985, wanting to rework some of his technique, Wylie left Fassi and began to train instead with Evy and Mary Scotvold, who were at that time located in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Shortly afterwards, they all moved to the Boston area.

Wylie placed second at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1988, 1990, and 1992.

Wylie attended Harvard University and graduated in 1991 with a degree in government.

Figure skating writer and historian Ellyn Kestnbaum stated that Wylie's Christian faith influenced his skating, especially his free skating program during the 1991—1992 season, when he used music from the Henry V soundtrack, when he "extended his body fully into space" and "might have been reaching for and supported by an ineffable spirituality".

Kestnbaum also stated that Wylie used dramatic and powerful motions in his free skate, with a footwork section that portrayed a swordfight that "epitomized a heroic masculine energy".

According to Kestnbaum, Wylie also used more feminine movements, with curved elbows, soft hands, and an Ina Bauer movement.

Wylie might have used these movements in order to emphasize his "beautiful extended body lines" and because he moved in harmony with his music.

This style, used throughout his skating career, consistently earned him high artistic scores.

After the Olympics, Wylie joined the professional skating ranks.

After competing in the 1992 Winter Olympics, as he planned, he retired from amateur competition and began his professional skating career.

It was his intention to tour for a few years and then go to law school.

He was admitted to law school, but deferred attendance for a few years.

He ended up skating professionally for six years before retiring.

He then returned to Harvard — but to the Business School, rather than the Law School.

He won the silver medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.

The medal was considered a major upset, as Wylie had never finished higher than ninth at the World Figure Skating Championships four years prior, and had skated such a poor performance at the 1992 U.S. Championships that reporters questioned his placement on the Olympic team.

The USFSA had even left Wylie off the team for the 1992 World Championships, naming Mark Mitchell in his place.

He won the 1992 U.S. Open Professional Championship and the 1993 World Professional Figure Skating Championships.

On August 14, 1999, Wylie married Kate Presbrey, a Cape Cod native and former Brown University Division 1 hockey player.

They have three children, Hannah, Emma and Caleb.

The family divides their time between Hyannis, Massachusetts, and Charlotte, North Carolina, where Wylie previously worked with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as director of the Dare to be a Daniel program.

Wylie currently runs High Gear Travel, a sports-related travel agency, and coaches figure skaters at the Extreme Ice Center in Indian Trail, North Carolina, owned by Tom Logano, father of NASCAR star Joey Logano, whose sister Danielle is also a coach.

Wylie started skating at the age of three.

After moving to Denver, he began to train with Carlo Fassi.

Wylie remained with Fassi for nine years, first in Denver and later in Colorado Springs when Fassi relocated to the Broadmoor Skating Club.

As a young skater, Wylie additionally worked with John Curry and Robin Cousins, who were also students of Fassi.

He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2000.

He then worked for two years in marketing with The Walt Disney Company.