WHERE ARE THE NOW? TINA MIEZIO Who’s that girl?
Photo sparks a phone call 40 years later by LOIS ELFMAN
Tis story is inspired by a picture in the
February 1977 issue of SKATING. Prior to that, I only knew of the skaters I had seen on TV, but with my new subscription I was intro- duced to a whole new world. A picture caught my attention; it seemed to be the perfect image of a girl skater — poised, fierce and ready to perform. Her name was Tina Miezio. Unfortunately, she was gone from compe-
tition by the time I started attending the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, so I never got to see her skate. In search of an interesting Where Are Tey Now article, I put the name into the search bar on Facebook, and Tina Miezio Zimmel came up. A message was sent: “Were you a figure skater?” Te response came back, “I was.” So now, on the 40th anniversary of that photo, I bring you the girl in the pic- ture.
Like many young skaters in the Chicago
area, Miezio Zimmel began her skating at a Michael Kirby skating studio. A self-described clumsy child, she found a sense of confidence and ease in skating. “I skated with both of my sisters, Anna
and Maria, and we all took to it and just loved it,” Miezio Zimmel said. Te rink was a small surface, so they
spent summers at Willow Ice Chalet in Chi- cago. Tey also traveled to different locations, including one summer in Southern California where she saw Tai Babilonia and Randy Gard- ner train. “It got more and more exciting the more skaters we were around,” she recalled.
At 12, she won intermediate ladies at
Midwesterns. By then, she was based at the Jim Campbell Ice Skating Center. As a teen- ager, she qualified for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships twice in junior ladies. Idoliz- ing Toller Cranston, John Curry, Peggy Flem- ing and Janet Lynn, she loved the artistry and musicality of the sport. In her final year, 1979, she competed at the Midwestern Champion- ships in senior ladies, but did not qualify for the U.S. Championships. “I was booked to go train with Carlo Fas-
si after Midwesterns,” Miezio Zimmel said. “Tose were the days where you kept skating or you went to college, and I chose college. Tat was a tough decision for me.” While she loved performing, Miezio Zim-
mel realized she wasn’t a great competitor, so she called it a day on competition and turned pro, coaching while earning a business degree at Benedictine College. Skating — particular- ly compulsory figures — definitely influenced her, as she readily applied her sense of disci- pline and focus to her studies. Miezio Zimmel continued coaching
skating for about a decade, but when raising daughters Lucy, now 29, and Lily, 25, became her primary focus, she left the rink behind. In time, she slowly stopped watching, but said she’s sparked to start tuning in again. Embracing the artistry of her youth, she
became an interior designer and also began doing artistic painting and faux painting. She and a partner ran a thriving business, working on exciting projects such as painting Te Lion
Tina Miezio Zimmel with husband Karl and daughters Lucy and Lily
Tina Miezio’s photo appeared in the February 1977 edition of SKATING magazine, when she won the junior ladies title at the Upper Great Lakes Regional Championships. The related story states: “Top winner in both areas was Tina Miezio, who was absolutely intoxicating in her short program and lyrical in her long one. Tina’s great technique and clear line makes her one of the leading juniors of the season.”
King suites at the Hotel Allegro when Te Lion King came to Chicago. “I’m self-taught, and I discovered I have
an innate ability,” she said. “In my 40s I picked it up. I did not realize I had any talent in those areas. It was kind of like unwrapping a present. “We did all kinds of projects that helped
me develop my talents.” Seeking a respite from Chicago’s brutally
cold winters, she and husband Karl moved to Arizona around nine years ago. “My husband loves to golf, and I join him,”
Miezio Zimmel said. “It’s a golfer’s paradise.” With Tina Zimmel Dwellings, she does
interior design and home makeovers, includ- ing furniture, draperies and all aspects of the home. She also continues to do small projects with faux painting, which is detail work. For example, if someone has elaborate wallpaper or tiles, she will go in and paint light switches, outlet covers, backsplashes or other small de- tails to match the wall finish. Reflecting on skating, Miezio Zimmel re-
calls a complex and challenging sport that she loved.
“It was an intense sport — super compet-
itive,” she said. “Nationals were hard for me because you’re so used to skating in these small rinks with bleachers on one end. Ten all of sudden you get into arenas and it was so unfa- miliar.
“Skating became more popular around
the time I was done and there were more op- portunities to perform,” she added. “Te per- fect program was so elusive, but it’s still in my head.”
8 FEBRUARY 2017
PHOTO COURTESY OF TINA MIEZIO ZIMMEL
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