Olympic Artist Series, Issue #3: Evan Lysacek

This Winter Olympic season, Ice Theatre of New York will introduce the art of dancing on ice to hundreds of young skaters, and thousands of new audience members. We cannot do this without your support. Please consider contributing to our community outreach initiatives!

And now, on to our third edition of our Olympic Artist Series...

Welcome to Day 3 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, and Day 3 of our editorial project featuring Olympic artists in our Ice Theatre of New York family.

Aside from world-class Olympians, these artists have served as performance partners, honorees, and advocates for Ice Theatre of New York. Looking back at all these beautiful partnerships, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to have worked with skaters who perform at the highest level of both sport and artistry.

Today, I am thrilled that we are featuring the resilient Evan Lysacek, our 2016 Ice Theatre of New York honoree.

Best wishes to all the 2026 Winter Olympic Competitors!

-Moi

This story has been adapted from our 2025 Ice Theatre of New York Gala Program by Edward Z. Epstein -  The Audio version of Edward  Z. Epstein’s current book, “FRANK & MARILYN:  The Lives, The Loves, and The Fascinating Relationship of Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe,” is now available on Audible.

What was Evan Lysacek’s strategy for winning Olympic Gold?

“My philosophy: No one would out-work me. It was easy for me to get into that mentality because I enjoy working hard. Nothing makes me happier than knowing I’ve given 150% at the end of the day. I was willing to sacrifice everything I had. Every holiday. Every birthday. Every party. Every night out.”

It worked — coupled, of course, with that other sure-fire ingredient: talent.

Born in Chicago and raised in Naperville, Illinois, Evan’s journey-on-ice began when he was eight. His grandmother, who had wanted to be an Ice Capades skater, bought him skates for Christmas. “I wanted to play hockey, not figure skate, but she was crucial in setting me on the right path.”

By age eleven he’d won the U.S. Nationals at the Juvenile level. At thirteen, he won the U.S. Novice title. In 2000, at age sixteen, he became the first skater in years to win back-to-back Novice and Junior Men’s titles.

The following year, however, making his Senior Men’s national debut, his “Star Is Born” saga stopped far short of Gold: he placed twelfth. But Evan’s resolve, and work ethic, remained unwavering.

The young teenager found himself having to cope with injuries. 

“People don’t realize what’s required, physically, to be a competitive figure skater. It may appear ‘graceful,’ effortless, but that’s misleading. The training and discipline it takes is incredible. The injuries can be very painful. The torque is immense, sometimes one hundred times your body weight. You have to overcome injuries throughout your career.”

In Evan’s case, over the years, those injuries have included broken ribs, hip injuries, groin injuries, herniated discs, stress fractures in his feet, and surgery to repair a torn muscle in his lower abdomen. Once, in Olympic competition, he came down with a stomach virus, which forced him to remain in bed recovering for two days, delivering a career-best free skate.

In 2003 he began working with coaches Ken Congemi and Frank Carroll in El Segundo, California. He went on to capture two Junior Grand Prix events and placed fifth at the 2004 U.S. Championships.

“Although this young man’s road to glory is paved with injuries,” wrote one analyst, “he’s obviously a fighter. Not a man who gives up.”

Despite a bacterial infection requiring antibiotics — at one point he was coughing up blood — he won Bronze at the 2006 Worlds in Calgary. By the 2007–08 Grand Prix Final, he landed a quad in both his short and long programs and won Bronze.

At the 2008 Four Continents competition, there was high drama. A blade broke off his boot, causing him to fall and injure the left side of his body. A cast from his forearm to his shoulder was required. “Is he through as a competitor?” asked sports reporters. Not as far as Evan was concerned. That season, he even managed to tour with Stars on Ice.

Despite a stress fracture in his left foot, he defended his Gold at the 2009 World Championships with the help of careful injury management. “While the foot injury prevented him from jumping a quad, it obviously didn’t prevent him from winning the title,” one commentator observed. He acquired many sponsors, including Coca-Cola, AT&T, and Ralph Lauren, who compared the champion to a modern-day icon. Evan reminded him of a young Cary Grant.

Celebrated fashion designer Vera Wang, a former figure skater, entered the picture. She designed the “mock tuxedo” Evan wore at Worlds. (Ms. Wang and her coaches Sonya and Peter Dunfield are all ITNY honorees.) A lasting friendship was formed. They collaborated on creating Evan’s “suits,” as he calls them, for the 2010 Olympics.

His spectacular triumph at the Games will always be remembered for its artistic and emotional power. “A lifelong dream realized,” he said. Olympic champion! Pinnacle of the competitive ladder. He was also the first American man since Brian Boitano and Scott Hamilton to win men’s singles. “Some of the best moments of my life were representing the United States. It gives me such pride,” he said.

It was an “Evan year”. The U.S. Olympic Committee named him Sportsman of the Year. He was given the James E. Sullivan Award as top U.S. amateur athlete of 2010.

Post-Olympics, the floodgates of the entertainment industry opened for him. 

His appearances ran the gamut from Sesame Street to a celebrity contestant on Dancing With the Stars. As always, he was a tough competitor, and incidentally, a terrific dancer. With his professional dance partner on the show, they narrowly missed out on winning the top prize.

Evan’s priorities have always extended beyond skating. His charitable interests include the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (Jimmy Fund), and Figure Skating in Harlem. In April 2012, he was named Sports Envoy by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. “I very much enjoy the role of diplomat,” he says.

In January 2016, he was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame, along with his friend (and ITNY honoree) Sasha Cohen.

Evan has successfully transitioned into the business world, navigating the challenges with the same work ethic that has served him so successfully all along.

“Remember the old adage, ‘Practice Makes Perfect’? Perhaps,” Evan Lysacek’s case, we can add to that: ‘Perseverance Produces Results,’ stated ITNY founder Moira North. “With all that he’s accomplished, and all that he is yet to accomplish, Evan was an ideal recipient of the 2016 ITNY honors.”

Thank you, Evan, for all you continue to do for our sport, our art, and our community!

This program is supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy C. Hochul and the New York State Legislature. ITNY is also supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and NYC Council Members Abreu, Bottcher, Powers and Marte. ITNY's Manhattan programming is funded in part by a grant from the New York City Tourism Foundation.

Additionally, ITNY receives funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Daniel & Corrine Cichy Memorial Foundation,The Lisa McGraw Figure Skating Foundation, the Will Sears Foundation, and its generous private patrons.

Photo credit Phill Tsai, Josef Pinlac

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