Customer Reviews

On Edge: Backroom Dealing, Cocktail Scheming, Triple Axels, and How Top Skaters Get Screwed

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Unfortunately what he says is true. I am a USFSA Gold Medalist (Figures and Freestyle) and a USFSA judge (though I don't like to admit it). Judges who have little to no skating experience seem to prevail in this sport. The corruption is even in the lower levels of skating. This book rings so true that it's upsetting. I couldn't read it before going to sleep. With each page I hoped the judges that I liked and respected were not named. I'm glad someone had the nerve to speak out for the skaters.

Jackson's book should be required reading for anyone involved with figure skating, and the fans of the sport. Yes, the first half is a memoir about his childhood and teen/college years. Yes, he is a gay man and he openly discusses that in the book. I don't see any problem with that. The second half of the book describes Jackson's rise in the judging ranks and his growing discontent with the status quo of the USFSA, the ISU, and even the IOC. The fact that the ISU and the IOC have still done nothing to get rid of the corruption amongst their judges and officials makes this book even more important.

If you think figure skating is crooked, this book comes close to absolutely proving it. It's no wonder that the author, an international judge, appears to have been booted out by the figure skating establishment over his attempt to set up a rival figure skating union. The book covers the author's not particularly distinguished skating career and his coming out, aspects of his life I somewhat surprisingly intereting. He declines to diss dirt about the skaters, but does rip the judging establishment into small pieces.

I was completely glued to this book. My daughter is a competitive skater. She skates about six times a week. We spend many dollars a year on her training. This book was a complete wakeup call for me. I was stunned with some of the factual information it provided. It was compelling, and I hope every skating mom, dad, coach and trial judge reads this. I could not put this book down. It was humorous at times, in an animated way. The Tonya Harding story was funny, startling and sad at the same time. There was lots of talent not being showed because of corruption, trade offs and threats by mobsters. I am still having trouble believing it. The only problem I had was too much personal information on Jon Jackson's gay life and coming out. It was important, but the book didn't get to the subject matter until half way through it. The other problem I had was remembering the many names and credentials of the judges, officals and skaters. That could have been my problem though. After I read the full name and credential once, they where only mentioned on a first name basis, so I had to go back and reflect. It was overall an excellent book and a must read for those in the skating world. Jon Jackson should be a role model for all judges, but from what I read it will never happen because of the corrupted nature of the sport in Jon Jackson's experience. I am a skating club director and soon hopefully will be president, and will promote this sport with a fair and balanced approach. After all, its all about supporting and caring for all skaters. Winning is the fruit of it all, but winning fairly. P.S. I am reading this book again and giving it to my daughter's skating coaches to read.

I endorse this book not only as an Amazon Reviewer but as a skater. The dirty deals, corrupt judging, and federation attempts to advance their favorite skaters at the expense of equally talented but less-popular athletes (who, for whatever reason, don't fit their cookie-cutter out of date "image"), Jackson tells all. Should be required viewing for everyone in the sport, especially the federations, who must take a hard look at their own ethics and make some changes.

It's ironic that my first book review chosen for OITC is coinciding with the 2006 Winter Olympics. "On Edge" written by Jon Jackson with James Pereira entails Mr. Jackson's life in figure skating. Beginning with his teenage years as a skater, and ending with the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, Jackson's "Memoir" reveals the going on's of Olympic level and World level judging. Jackson, rose to the highest ranks in figure skating judging, only to be embroiled in the scandal of the pairs Figure Skating judging at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Jackson paints an interesting picture as he details the deal making and back room bargaining made between countries over placement of their skaters to put them on the winning podium. As an avid follower of figure skating, I often found myself surprised and sometimes bewildered as scores were revealed for skaters who performed poorly, yet somehow managed to come out on top. It should be pointed out that Jackson is a gay man and was involved in what is described as "the gayest sport in America". However, he does an admirable job in limiting his gay lifestyle and sticking to the purposes of his book.

Jackson does an excellent job in describing the judge's involved in the sport, allowing the reader to disseminate between those judges who were honest and enjoyed the sport and those who were obviously in it to advance their own personal lives. He does however go a little too far in using cartoon and movie character references to describe some of the judges (I.e. Velma Dinkley from Scooby-Doo, Witches of Eastwich). This has a tendency to make Jackson look at times bitter over the outcome of the skating scandal.

At a time when other "Memoirs" are the topic of discussion in the news, I asked myself was this just another author looking to profit from the sales of a fabricated story, but as finished reading Jackson's story I realized that his love for a sport that has dominated his life gave him an opportunity to shed light and perhaps some honesty to what has been questioned as a dishonest sport. When the skaters take the ice this year in Torino, I know I will be paying close attention.
z.urbanksi@oitcnewspaper.com

I loved this book, from the biographical parts to the skating expose. What a mess to be a teenager anyway, let alone one in a repressive religious community with an alternate sexuality! I found that part very touching and thought provoking.

Not all men in skating are gay, by the way, I happen to be the parent of a straight male ice dancer. We sure do know a lot of gay young men and they deserve our compassion and understanding for the extra challenges they face.

The figure skating part is absolutely dead on true. I was present at some of the events described in the book, and find Jackson sticks uncompromisingly to the facts.

Let's hope we can get our sport free of the scandals and bad behavior, before we become a complete joke.

I have to admit that I picked up the book because of the catchy title. I expected to find nonstop gossip and talk about how corruption is heavily prevalent in figure skating and how "top skaters" get screwed.

The beginning of the book covers Jackson's childhood, in which he describes how he first got involved with skating. He describes how the beginning of his skating career was constantly under the control of a "family friend," Charles Kennedy, a wealthy individual who had connections with top figure skating figures such as the Propotonovs. Furthermore, Jackson illustrates the troubles he faced as a young boy trying to come to terms with his sexuality as a gay man.

There are some notable sections in the book that is directly connected to the title of the book. He mentions how many of the judges, from the West (particularly California), tend to rely on strict scrutiny and mandatory socializing among judges, a procedure Jackson dislikes because he rather spend time chatting to the skaters and their families. Jackson notes that he would have never been able to rise to the higher levels as a skating judge unless he was forced to socialize with the other judges. In addition, Jackson mentions several well-known figure skating names such as Tonya Harding, Irina Slutskaya, Michelle Kwan, Rudy Galindo, Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman, and Jamie Salé and David Pelletier. He argues that Harding might have been unfairly treated and how Slutskaya (and other top Russian skaters) are heavily favored to win due to the influence of "Russian propaganda" and the underground Russian mafia. During moments like these, it's hard as a reader to differentiate between personal bias or truth. Regardless of these factors, Jackson paints a humorous description. Also, before I forget to mention, Jackson ends each chapter with a bit of trivia describing the wins, losses or scandalous news of a Russian figure skater(s).

Jackson made it his mission to target certain individuals in US Figure Skating (the organization) and the International Skating Union. He criticizes head officials such as Phyllis Howard (USFS) and Octavio Cinquanta (ISU) for behind-the-scene manuevers that Jackson believed sacrificed the aspirations of American figure skaters such as Ina and Zimmerman immediately after the Winter Olympic that caused the gold-medal controversy. Personally, I never heard of Howard or Cinquanta but Jackson does not hide his dislike for these two individuals, an opinion I understand now after reading the book.

The end of the book primarily focuses on the World Skating Federation, an organization that Jackson and several of his other judging colleagues created in hopes to become a IOC-recognized judging group. Unfortunately, as the readers learn, the WSF loses its lawsuit against the International Skating Union.

Overall, the book was humorous and a fun read. I would definitely recommend it to any figure skating fan. Of course, Jackson's outspoken voice might upset some readers but if you put that aside, the book is a delight.

Unlike Julie Wagner, I actually read this book. I found Jackson's stories anything BUT bitter, more self-deprecating if anything. It was a fun, funny read. I found myself laughing out loud time after time, and saw his insight into the everybody-knows-it's-corrupt world of figure skating very interesting.

What surprises me in Julie's "review," is her clear and admitted hatred of all things gay. Can the idea of a 13-year old boy wanting to wear sequins and beads while figure skating really nauseate her? And if so, sounds like she needs to take a pill for that, because she's gonna be sick an awful lot if she's any kind of fan of figure skating.

The Salt Lake Olympic scandal was only vilified by the "rest of the world" because Jon Jackson blew the whistle and told us about it. How do you think the "whole world" found out Julie? He sacrificed twenty years as a judge to try to end the corruption the mobsters in charge of figure skating tried to cover up, as well as three more years in expensive legal battles (that he won) with the very people he points his middle finger at. His "name calling in a book" was in fact well covered in those trials - he against some very nasty, and crooked people (clearly somebody you know). Nothing "cowardly" about that. Most people would have cut their losses, and in the "self-serving" manner you describe, do the opposite of what Jon Jackson did, and keep their mouths shut to protect themselves and their world class judging status.

This was all explained in "On Edge." Including his dramatic eyewitness account of the French Judge melting down in a Salt Lake hotel lobby and admitting she was at least one of whom had been pressured to cheat for the Russians at the Salt Lake Winter Games.

Jackson's back story (oh, and all that gay stuff is hilarious, how seldom we get to be a fly on the wall there) was equally compelling, because he illustrated the sacrifices he and his family made to get him into figure skating, and like an elite athlete, he demonstrated very clearly that when a judge or judges cheats, they not only cheat the kids, but the families and coaches and teams of the athletes they "screw" over. Julie, this was all covered from chapter 1 throughout. Oh... maybe you thought the title implied something more of a literal screwing... Oh I get it. Shame on you.

I suggest God'sGall Julie learn to do as Jesus would do, and love all people for who they are, gay or straight, and maybe swallow a spoonful of "Pink" Pepto-Bismol for her little sour belly ache and re-read this great book. This time, maybe she'll write a review with less USFSA agenda and homophobic hatred.

Get this book! It's a scream.

I have a different expectation of this type of book than I would of a novel or an essay collection. For one, I don't expect stellar writing -- but I do expect competent writing, and this book did not deliver. Maybe it's not even the writing that failed so much as it's the editing. Typos abounded, spelling of names changed, random words appeared in sentences... The mistakes were so distracting that I was tempted more than once to put the book down out of frustration. Also, the last portion of the book was a bit hard to follow. The events were so compressed that I wasn't 100% sure of what was happening. The first 2/3 of the book was well-paced, though, even though it sometimes went on tangents. That said...this book did give me a lot to think about, so that's good.