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Jennifer Kirk
Kirk in 2003.
Born	(1984-08-15) August 15, 1984 (age 40) Newton, Massachusetts
Height	1.58 m (5 ft 2 in)
Figure skating career
Country	United States
Skating club	SC of Boston
Began skating	1994
Retired	September 7, 2005
Medal record Representing  United States Figure skating: Ladies' singles Four Continents Championships 2002 Jeonju Ladies' singles 2005 Gangneung Ladies' singles World Junior Championships 2000 Oberstdorf Ladies' singles Junior Grand Prix Final 1999–2000 Gdansk Ladies' singles

Jennifer Anne "Jenny" Kirk (born August 15, 1984) is an American former competitive figure skater. She is the 2000 World Junior champion and the 2002 Four Continents champion.

Early life

Jennifer Kirk was born in Newton, Massachusetts. Prior to skating, she was a gymnast until the age of nine. She also studied ballet and once performed with the Boston Ballet.

Career

Kirk grew interested in skating and began training with coaches Evy and Mary Scotvold at the age of 10 at the Skating Club of Boston. She was featured as a young up-and-coming skater on the PBS shows Zoom and Arthur. At 15, a piece of bone tore from her pelvis and jutted into her hip flexor.

Kirk won gold at the 2000 World Junior Championships. In 2002, she captured the Four Continents title. At the 2002 World Championships, she placed 15th in the short program before withdrawing due to a hip injury.

Ahead of the 2002–03 season, Kirk moved to train with Richard Callaghan in Detroit. In addition to single skating, she also briefly dabbled in pair skating with Fedor Andreev in the summer of 2003, describing it as fun but challenging. In the summer of 2004, Kirk moved to the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California, to train with Frank Carroll and Ken Congemi.

Kirk won the bronze medal at the 2004 U.S. Championships. The following season, she withdrew from her first Grand Prix assignment due to an injury. She placed 10th at the 2004 Cup of Russia and won bronze at the 2005 Four Continents.

On September 7, 2005, Kirk announced her retirement from competitive figure skating. She moved to Boston, where she worked as a coach, but later returned to Southern California. Kirk's decision to quit competitive skating the year before the Olympics was profiled on Ice Diaries.

Kirk is a member of the U.S. Figure Skating International Committee. In the fall of 2012, she and her colleague, David Lease, launched "The Skating Lesson", a podcast and website. The two interview current and former skaters, coaches, choreographers and skating officials including Debi Thomas, Frank Carroll, Sandra Bezic, Alissa Czisny, Tiffany Chin, and Rudy Galindo. The web-series has garnered a following of thousands of figure skating fans with its weekly video interviews.

Personal life

In May 1999, Kirk's mother, Pat Harris, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died in August 2001. The loss of her mother was one of the reasons Kirk decided to retire. "Although I still love skating very much, my passion and love for the competitive aspect of the sport has dwindled following the death of my mother in 2001 and my nagging hip injuries." In 2009, she revealed her career-long struggle with eating disorders and mentioned that it had been a factor in her decision to retire. She also stated that disordered eating was very common among skaters but not enough was being done to address the problem.

Programs

Results

GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

• ^1 At the 2002 World Championships, Kirk was 15th in the short program before withdrawing.

References

1. ^ "Jennifer KIRK: 2004/2005". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 3, 2005.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
2. ^ "Jennifer Kirk: Online Interview". goldenskate.com. November 10, 2003. Archived from the original on May 12, 2008. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
3. Mittan, Barry (January 9, 2003). "Jennifer Kirk: Gymnastics Background Strengthens Kirk's Skating". GoldenSkate. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
4. Zoom. Season 1. Episode 4. 7 January 1999. PBS.
5. "The Good Sport". Arthur. Season 6. Episode 9A. PBS. WQED (TV).
6. Kirk, Jennifer (June 27, 2009). "Preventing Pain in Figure Skating". True/Slant. Archived from the original on May 30, 2013.
7. ^ "Jennifer Kirk". U.S. Figure Skating. Archived from the original on March 9, 2005.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
8. Brannen, Sarah S.; Meekins, Drew (October 30, 2008). "The Inside Edge with Sarah and Drew". IceNetwork.com. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
9. Hersh, Philip (14 January 2005). "Kirk stepping out on her own". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 13 August 2019.
10. ^ "2004 U.S. Bronze Medalist Jennifer Kirk Announces Retirement From Competitive Figure Skating". U.S. Figure Skating. September 7, 2005. Archived from the original on November 10, 2005.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
11. The Skating Lesson's about page
12. Kirk, Jennifer (July 5, 2009). "Skating's not-so-secret Shame". True/Slant. Archived from the original on September 2, 2012. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
13. Kirk, Jennifer (July 8, 2009). "The Aftermath". True/Slant. Archived from the original on October 6, 2012. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
14. Coker, Lesleyann (January 20, 2010). "Jenny Kirk on Figure Skating's Eating Disorder Epidemic (Part I)". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
15. Coker, Lesleyann (January 21, 2010). "Jenny Kirk on Figure Skating's Eating Disorder Epidemic (Part II)". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
16. "Jennifer KIRK: 2003/2004". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 16, 2004.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
17. "Jennifer KIRK: 2002/2003". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 18, 2003.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
18. "Jennifer KIRK: 2001/2002". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on February 11, 2002.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
19. "Jennifer KIRK: 2000/2001". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on July 19, 2001.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
20. ^ "Jennifer KIRK". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on October 28, 2016. Retrieved October 28, 2016.

External links

Media related to Jennifer Kirk at Wikimedia Commons

• Jennifer Kirk at the International Skating Union
• "Official website of Jennifer Kirk". Archived from the original on April 4, 2005.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

• 1984 births
• Living people
• American female single skaters
• Sportspeople from Newton, Massachusetts
• Four Continents Figure Skating Championships medalists
• World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists
• 21st-century American women