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C.J.: Evan Lysacek's as cool as the "Stars on Ice" surface

March 21, 2015 at 8:52PM
Evan Lysacek of the United States celebrates his gold medal in men's figure skating on Thursday, February 18, 2010, during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. (George Bridges/MCT) ORG XMIT: MIN2015032020503214
Lysacek (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Olympic champion Evan Lysacek left the intensity on the ice.

In this interview to promote his appearance in Sunday's "Stars on Ice" at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center, Lysacek is extremely placid. I thought he had just rolled out of bed, even though it was 10 a.m. No, said Lysacek, who admitted he was sporting "bedhead." He had been up doing interviews since about 4:45 a.m. And I'm told that most interviewers remarked on how mellow he is.

With his soothing yet interesting speaking style, one of the new careers Lysacek might want to consider post-skating is recording audio books. "Put you to sleep?" Lysacek said. "Oh thank you. You're so nice."

Close your eyes for a minute while watching my startribune.com/video and listen.

Q: What's the most unskater-like behavior you display in private?

A: I'm really not very skater-like. I've never fit in that well to figure skating. I'm not very flamboyant. I'm not really a natural performer. I'm pretty private, reserved. So in my new life in business it works pretty well for me, because I deal with people on a one-on-one basis. But I've never been very comfortable on TV, never really been that comfortable in front of crowds, so I've learned — and this is my fifth tour with "Stars on Ice" — I've kind of learned a little bit better how to be a performer, a showman, so to speak.

Q: Was there ever a chance you would've played hockey?

A: I started initially wanting to play hockey. I had met Chris Chelios, former Blackhawk, long ago in Chicago with my family; wanted to try out hockey. But I was young, had never skated before, never been on ice. So when I took to the ice for the first time, I had no natural ability whatsoever. I went into figure-skating classes to learn the basics. I wore double-runner, two-blade figure skates and eventually graduated to single blade. Once I learned stability on the ice and to go fast around the rink, then I fell in love with it. I wanted to learn tricks, but I still didn't know that much about figure skating. I learned as I went.

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Q: Is there any skater you are glad you never have to see again?

A: Just like interacting with people from different walks of life, in any profession you associate better with some vs. others. Being on tour with "Stars on Ice," what's kind of cool is that there are some skaters on the tour I competed with but never really got to know, because we were just slightly off a generation. Patrick Chan is one of them, and he has become probably my closest friend on the tour. That's kind of the family dynamic that happens during the tour.

Q: What is a fact that media regularly get wrong that always makes you angry?

A: I don't spend that much time reading press about skating. I'm more interested in other things — finance, real estate, some politics as I've been working with the State Department as a sports envoy, [spreading] the word about unity through sports.

Q: Now that you don't compete anymore, what is the one thing that you are happy to be able to eat?

A: I don't eat gluten. I used to love any kind of cookie. Now that's all off the diet plan. I can eat basically what I want. I still work out a lot and burn a lot of calories. For the most part I like healthy foods, things that are good for me: vegetables, fruits, salad.

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Q: Your chronological age is 29, but how old is your body as a result of skating?

A: Body as a result of skating is 290. Just add zero.

Q: How long does it take you to pull that hair together?

A: This took me … I rolled out of bed exactly four minutes before I left the room this morning. This is bedhead. [Laughter.]

The longer version of this edited interview is on startribune.com. The contact C.J. try cj@startribune.com & to see her watch Fox 9's "Buzz."

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