Champions on Ice: Twenty-Five Years of the World's Finest Figure Skaters

Marie T. Gillis is a member of the Angus L. Macdonald Library staff at
St. Francis Xavier University.

Peggy Fleming. Dorothy Hamill. Torvill and Dean. Brian Boitano. Brian
Orser. Katarina Witt. Gordeeva and Grinkov. Elvis Stojko. Salé and
Pelletier. Bourne and Kraatz. Michelle Kwan. To figure skating fans,
these names are golden; all of them are World or Olympic Champions. They
are also just a few of the many skaters who have participated in Tom
Collins’s Champions on Ice tour.

To celebrate its 25 nonconsecutive years of existence, Christine
Brennan, author of Inside Edge (1996) and Edge of Glory (1999), has
produced Champions on Ice, a delightful book, full of backstage tidbits
and fabulous photographs, all designed to make the reader feel a part of
the touring world. Brennan focuses on the 2002 tour, describing how the
show is put together. She also profiles Tom Collins, who started the
tour with 15 shows in 1969.

For many skaters, achieving a place on the tour was the first
indication that they had “arrived.” Long before skating became the
lucrative entertainment that it is today, Collins offered skaters an
opportunity to do more than compete. As figure skating became more
popular, the Champions on Ice tour grew with its audience; in 2002,
there were 93 shows in 85 cities. Brennan celebrates this history with a
look at each year of the tour, including cast lists, photographs, and
memories. The photographs are from a number of contributors; while some
are mundane, most are gripping, and a few are absolutely breathtaking.

This coffee-table book is not about the lives of the skaters. Like the
tour itself, the book is an evening’s amusement, a chance to have a
wonderful time.