John Luther Zimmerman IV (born November 26, 1973) is an American professional pair skater and coach. With skating partner Kyoko Ina, he is the 2002 World bronze medalist and a three-time U.S. national champion. They also competed at the 2002 Olympics. Zimmerman was suspended by the United States Center for SafeSport in March 2021 for a two-year period.
Personal life Zimmerman was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He has two older sisters. He married Italian-American skater Silvia Fontana on August 28, 2003. They have two daughters, one born on April 2, 2012, at Northwest Medical Center in Coconut Creek, Florida, and another born on June 2, 2013.
Career Zimmerman started skating at age 3 at a mall. He briefly partnered with Brie Teaboldt for the 1994-95 season. Then he paired with Stephanie Stiegler from 1995 through 1998, and won the bronze medal at the 1997 U.S. Figure Skating Championships while being coached by Peter Oppegard. Their partnership ended in 1998 due to injuries.
Zimmerman teamed up with Kyoko Ina in 1998. Initially, they were coached by Peter Burrows and Mary Lynn Gelderman in Monsey, New York, and they also commuted to Stamford, Connecticut, to work with Tamara Moskvina. They later trained under Moskvina and Igor Moskvin in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Ina and Zimmerman won the bronze medal at the 2002 World Championships. In 2003, they turned professional and began skating on Stars on Ice.
Zimmerman competed in the January 2006 FOX television program "Skating with Celebrities", where he partnered with FOX broadcaster Jillian Barberie. They finished in second place.
Zimmerman was featured as Yahoo's special guest expert correspondent for figure skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. He later competed in an ABC skating series "Thin Ice" (aired on March 19, 2010), paired with world champion Canadian ice dancer Shae-Lynn Bourne. They finished in second place, winning a total of $50,000. They skated to "Closer" by Ne-Yo and "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga.
Zimmerman worked as a coach at Panthers Ice Den in Coral Springs, Florida, with Silvia Fontana. They now coach at AdventHealth Center Ice in Wesley Chapel, Florida. He has coached Haven Denney / Brandon Frazier (from Autumn 2012 to February 2015 and since 2018 again) and Vanessa James / Morgan Cipres (from June 2016).
Suspension In December 2019, Zimmerman, Fontana, and fellow coach Vinny Dispenza, were accused in a United States Center for SafeSport investigation of covering up alleged sexual abuse committed by Ciprès via intimidation tactics. Zimmerman was suspended for two years and received one additional year of probation by SafeSport in March 2021 for abuse of process, emotional misconduct, and failure to report sexual abuse of a 13 year old he was coaching. He was barred from any skating events run by U.S. Figure Skating or the Olympic committee, and prohibited from attending any facility run by those groups.
Programs (with Ina) Season Short program Free skating 2001–02 Shine On You Crazy Diamond Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini 2000–01 Truman Show
Results GP: Champions Series / Grand Prix
With Kyoko Ina
International Event 1998–99 99–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Olympics 5th Worlds 9th 7th 7th 3rd Four Continents 2nd 3rd Final 5th 4th Cup of Russia 3rd 4th Lalique 2nd 4th 3rd 2nd Skate America 5th 5th 4th 2nd Skate Canada 2nd Sparkassen 2nd National U.S. Champ. 2nd 1st 1st 1st
With Stephanie Stiegler International Event 1995–96 1996–97 World Championships 15th Trophée Lalique 6th Skate America 3rd National U.S. Championships 4th 3rd
With Brie Teaboldt Event 1994–95 U.S. Championships 12th
References
External links
Official Ina/Zimmerman site Official John Zimmerman site