JUDI GENOVESI AND KENT WEIGLE I


n March 2014, 1977 U.S. ice dance cham- pions Judi Genovesi Whaling and Kent Weigle got on the ice together for the first time in 37 years. Wearing the skates she


competed in decades earlier, Whaling asked Wei- gle, who is a coach, to hold her up if necessary. Within minutes, it was like old times. “Her fiancé took some videos of us so we


could see what we looked like. For not having skated together for 37 years, we did pretty darn well,” Weigle said. “It was amazing how so many details of our


dances and routines came back to me while we were skating,” Whaling said. “Tat’s what hours of training does for you. You never forget.” Whaling, 57, and Weigle, 60, teamed up as


teenagers in Connecticut. Weigle was late coming to the sport — shortly before he turned 14 — so he was steered into ice dance. “Tere were some really excellent dance


coaches (in Hartford) and I kind of was discov- ered by Hugh Seaman,” Weigle said. Whaling became interested in skating after


watching Peggy Fleming in the 1968 Olympic Winter Games and begged her parents to take her skating. When they finally agreed, she saw a girl on the ice spinning and jumping. “I was very shy, but I was so anxious to learn


to do those things that I approached her and asked her if she took lessons,” Whaling said. “She pointed me in the direction of a woman in the stands who was involved with the skating club. She said she would send me some information for the start of the next season. She did send me the brochure a few months later and my skating career took off from there.” Back when they teamed up, ice dance wasn’t


yet included at the Olympics. Tey enjoyed what was in front of them and continued to improve, in 1973 becoming U.S. junior champions (then called Silver Dance). After a U.S. silver medal at the senior level and a trip to the World Champi- onships in 1975, and with ice dance being added as a medal sport to the 1976 Olympic Winter Games, the Olympic dream became a real possi- bility. In 1976, Whaling and Weigle were named to the U.S. Olympic Team and were among the inaugural group of Olympic ice dance competi- tors.


“Te Olympics are like no other competi-


tion,” Whaling said. “It is big and it is exciting to see the athletes from all the other sports. So much more media and hype. Kent and I knew we weren’t going to come close to a medal, but we were hoping for a good showing and continued upward progress.” Tey didn’t have the performances they’d


hoped for, but enjoyed seeing teammates Colleen O’Connor and Jim Millns win bronze and Dor- othy Hamill skate to gold. With O’Connor and Millns retired, they claimed gold at the 1977 U.S. Championships and finished ninth at the World Championships in Tokyo. Both then decided it was time to retire and go to college full-time. “We had done three World Championships


and the Olympics; we won nationals in senior. We had basically done everything we had set out to do,” Weigle said. “I don’t think we ever would have been


medal contenders,” he continued. “I think we certainly would have improved in our world standing, not to the point where it would have


SKATING 57 Weigle and Genovesi Whaling reunited again last December, when they shared skating memories.


made the time, effort and expense of continuing the training worthwhile. So we decided, ‘Let’s go out while we’re on the top of our game,’ and we did.”


Weigle went to the Newhouse School at Syr-


acuse University and earned a degree in broadcast journalism with a minor in psychology. When no jobs in the field materialized, he decided to coach skating for a while. Having lived his whole life on the East Coast, he wanted to explore the West. A club in Salt Lake City responded to his


résumé, and in May 1979, he headed there for the summer figuring if he didn’t like it, he’d move on. Utah proved to be a good fit, and 36 years later he’s still there. Over the years, he has taught ice dance,


done choreography, worked on moves in the field and helped skaters with stroking and pre- sentation. He’s partnered countless girls through their ice dance tests, which he still does today. He thought he’d stop at 60, but he’s been working out with a trainer and has bought new skates, so he’s likely to continue for a while. Whaling attended Boston College, where


her roommate was Olympic teammate/room- mate Alice Cook, and graduated with a business degree. She has two sons — Ian, 28, and Eric, 26 — who were born in Atlanta. Tey moved to Houston about 16 years ago and she married sec- ond husband Graham Whaling last December. After working as an interior decorator for more than 20 years, she took classes and received her landman certificate and went to work in the en- ergy field. “A landman researches titles for oil and gas


minerals, negotiates leases, etc.,” Whaling ex- plained. “I now work as treasurer of RGW In- terests LLC, which primarily makes oil and gas investments. I love to play golf in my spare time.” She said she doesn’t watch a lot of skating


on TV, but did attend the 2014 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Boston and watched the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, on TV. Both Whaling and Weigle marveled at the speed and athleticism of Olympic gold medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White. “At the time Kent and I were skating, it was


pretty solidly Russians at the top,” she said. “It was great to see them win. First of all, they’re in-


credible to watch. When you see them in person you realize just how fast they’re traveling and how fast their spins are.” Weigle said he thinks the international


judging system (IJS) has been quite beneficial for ice dance, spurring growth of the sport, both for participants and spectators. He also credits Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva for propelling North American ice dance to its current place in the world rankings. “It was the perfect storm of great talent,


great coaching, at a great time for dance,” he said of Davis and White’s win. “I watched it in awe. “I think of the free dance we did when we


won nationals in ’77,” he added. “It was a good free dance for the time, but today that wouldn’t even place at sectionals at the intermediate level.” Weigle has no regrets that he has not


coached elite dance teams, saying his career has unfolded in a most satisfying way. Both he and Whaling have great memories of their own com- petitive days. “I was always a performer,” Weigle said. “I


loved skating. I enjoyed working toward some- thing. I have always been very goal-driven, mo- tivated. Once I got out there and I was skating, I lit up. It wasn’t fake. It was me loving what I was doing.


“I love coaching,” he added. “I’m working


with people on tests. I love choreography. I love being a secondary coach to the freestyle coaches that defer to my judgment with choreography and moves in the field. It’s really been a great de- velopmental arc for me.” While skating isn’t a significant part


of


Whaling’s life, parts of it have had a direct im- pact.


“I loved competition because it was a way


to get affirmation of all the progress we made through hard work,” she said. “I also liked the adrenaline rush of having to put it all on the line for so few competitions per year. Unlike other sports, where there is always next week, for us we had to wait until next year. It requires a lot of patience, focus and determination. “I still love to dance and move to music,”


she added. “Graham and I take dance lessons pe- riodically.”


PHOTO COURTESY OF KENT WEIGLE


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