The proliferation of quads in the sport today also pleases Stojko, who made history as the first skater to land quad-double and quad-triple combinations in competition. The four-revolution jump became his calling card, perhaps more than any other skater in his time. Nobody did more to “push the envelope” technically, as he liked to say.

“It’s the way it grows in any sport. It has to and if you try to stop it, it’s ridiculous,” said Stojko. “I attribute that (growth) to the technology of skates getting lighter, blades changing, and also the technology of kids being able to see it young. With YouTube, you can just go online and watch others.

“When I was 7 or 8 years old, I didn’t see anything. I watched a little bit of skating on TV and then just figured it out in my head. But these kids, they can watch anything, anywhere — for them a quad is a normal thing. If kids see something, they go do it, so with that going on, things are going to accelerate faster. That’s why, in this generation, all of a sudden you see this upswing happening.”

If by now you are thinking Stojko is completely enamored with the direction the sport is headed … well, think again. He has never been a fan of the current judging system, which came to life in the years after the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic scandal. And Stojko’s disdain for the system is still very much alive today.

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