Timothy Goebel - Career

Career

Early in his career, Goebel was coached by Carol Heiss Jenkins and Glyn Watts near his Illinois home, and then moved to California to work Frank Carroll.

Goebel was sometimes referred to as the "Quad King" because of his ability to land quadruple jumps. On March 7, 1998, in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the Junior Grand Prix Final, Goebel became the first skater in the world to land a quadruple Salchow, and the first American skater to land a quadruple jump of any kind in competition. It was videotaped by another skater's father.

At the 1999 Skate America in Colorado Springs on October 31, 1999, Goebel became the first skater to land three quadruple jumps in one program. In the long program, he landed a quad salchow, a quad toe loop in combination, and a quad salchow as a solo jump.

Goebel also made history at the 2002 Olympics by becoming the first skater to successfully land a quad salchow jump in combination in Olympic competition. Goebel's repertoire of quadruple jumps made him one of the most competitive skaters in the world during the peak of his career.

Goebel was heavily criticized early in his career for focusing exclusively on jumping to the detriment of choreography and presentation, but in later years he improved in those areas.

However, after 2003, Goebel began increasingly to struggle with his jumps due to injuries. At the 2006 U.S. Championships, in what he had previously announced would be his last competitive season, he was unable to land either a quadruple jump or triple axel cleanly, and dropped to a seventh-place finish which left him far short of qualifying for the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Goebel represented the Winterhurst Figure Skating Club. He was coached by Audrey Weisiger in Fairfax, Virginia, after having been previously coached by Carol Heiss Jenkins, Glyn Watts, and Frank Carroll.

On April 25, 2006, Goebel announced his retirement from competitive skating. He planned to continue to contribute to the sport as a technical specialist, having received certification for competitions sanctioned by the United States Figure Skating Association. He works as a technical specialist at the Aviator Figure Skating Academy in New York.