Word: galindo
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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After finishing a disastrous eighth in the 1995 nationals, Galindo again took stock. He stopped training for a while, mostly to earn more money, and decided that henceforth he would skate for himself only. He is known for his musicality and clean, balletic line, and he and Brancato spun out a simple, elegant short program to Johann Pachelbel's Canon. In a way it was a declaration of independence. Says Galindo: "Everyone else had fast short programs, so I wanted a slow one." The long showpiece was fashioned with jazz dancer-choreographer Sharlene Franke, who called the staccato moves...
...After we won the nationals..." The victory truly changed their lives. Now there is an agent, a tour, deals in the works. Before the nationals, the big money in skating bypassed this modest team. Even before the tragedies of the early '90s, life had not been easy. Jess Galindo had been a busy trucker, carting rocket fuel from Gilroy, California, to Carson City, Nevada. When both his younger children pleaded for skating lessons, he provided them--and settled for a mobile home. Rudy and his mother Margaret, who used to push the living-room furniture aside so he could "skate...
...Galindo is gay, one of the first skaters to acknowledge his orientation. That doesn't help him with the skating Establishment, which prefers homosexual male skaters to hide their preference. But that problem and any others shrank with the big victory. The next day, agents clogged Laura's phone line. Producer Tom Collins signed him up for the Campbell's Soups spring tour, for which Galindo will get about $200,000. In fact, Collins invited him for the end of the winter tour, and Galindo was thrilled. "It's wonderful!" he says. "You just step...
...field he faces is closely competitive. Canada's Elvis Stojko just landed a quadruple jump in a Paris competition. Russia's Alexei Urmanov raises competency to genius level with his reliable if bland programs. America's Todd Eldredge is a deeply experienced skater with a high jump. What Galindo brings to the party is artistry. As Shelley says, "What Rudy has in his favor is a better line and more interesting programs, plus a fantastic sense of revolution, which is great in combination jumps...
Before leaving for the competition, Galindo will go through his usual drill. He will kiss two stuffed monkeys dolls that Yamaguchi once gave him. Then he will round up the cats, Sky and Trucker (named for his father), and buss them. He used to have more superstitious routines, like lacing up the skate on his landing foot first. But he has eliminated that. "Now," he says with considerable determination, "I rely on training and hard work." And on memories of Jess, George, Jim and Rick...