World-champion and two-time Olympic silver medalist Elvis Stojko is starring in a new holiday-themed ice show this year at Busch Gardens® Christmas Town™. The show is ‘Twas That Night™ and is based on the popular 1823 poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, by Clement Clarke Moore. You know the one: “‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house/Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;”.
Elvis Stojko has a pretty impressive resume. Born in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada in 1972 and named after Elvis Presley, Stojko began skating at age 4 and won his first medal at 6. Fast forward a few years, in 1991 at the World Championships Stojko became the first person to land a quadruple-double jump combination. Then in 1994 Stojko made his mark on the world of figure skating. At the Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, he took home the silver medal and won his first world championship in Chiba, Japan, that very same year.
In 1995, Stojko suffered a serious ankle injury during practice for the Canadian Championships and received a bye to the World Championships for that year. His 1995 skate in the World Championships is considered one of his most impressive because he was still healing from his ankle injury; he ended up winning his second world championship with a performance that included a triple lutz-triple toe loop combination in the closing seconds of his program.
The next two years Stojko included a quadruple jump combination, the only one in the 1996 World Championships, won the 1997 Grand Prix Final in Hamilton, Ontario, and later in 1997 gained another world title at the World Championships. In 1998 at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Stojko was suffering from a groin injury and also recovering from a flu that was making its way through many of the athletes at the games. He was the favorite and expected to become the first Canadian man to win an Olympic gold medal – even though that didn’t happen, he still managed to take home his second silver medal, despite his injury and his illness.
After 1998, Stojko continued skating and has taken up racing karts in the Canadian Rotax DD2 Master Class and the SKUSA Mexico Series (S1 and S4 classes). This year he will take to the stage at Busch Gardens® with a performance that surely won’t disappoint. “Busch Gardens’ newest live show combines the grace of professional figure skating with cherished Christmas music, original holiday songs and magnificent visuals,” said Entertainment Director Bonnie Gilliland. “Elvis Stojko’s masterful skating techniques and his unbounded creativity are helping us produce an emotionally-charged show that is unlike anything else in our lineup.”
Christmas Town™ begins November 27, 2015 and will run through January 3, 2016. This is the first time ever a show has been extended into January. Tickets can be purchased for Christmas Town™ now on the Christmas Town™ section of Busch Gardens® Williamsburg’s website.
To plan your winter visit to Williamsburg, call us at (800) 566-8281. Elvis Stojko is definitely going to put on a performance that you won’t want to miss!