Spring Break Celebration: Stéphane Lambiel's "The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi

It's hard to believe that I've held off this long without posting the magnificent Stéphane Lambiel on my blog. The 25-year-old Swiss skater is on my short list of favorite skaters. I guess I was waiting for just the right moment to showcase his talents.

In his amateur career, which only just concluded a year ago, Stéphane was in the thick of most competitions because of the strength of his multi-faceted arsenal of skills: quadruple jumps, fantastic spins that are both innovative and fast, and beautiful, passionate artistry.

Stéphane continues the tradition of amazing Swiss spinners that spans from Denise Beillmann, who popularized "The Bielmann Spin" to Nathalie Krieg, who made the Guinness Book of World Records for how long she could hold a spin, to Lucinda Ruh, who set a World Record for most continuous spins.

The Swiss star was born in Martigny to a Swiss father and a Portuguese mother on April 2, 1985. His hometown is Saxon and he lives in Lausanne.

Stéphane won his first World title at age 19 in 2005, and repeated again at age 20 in 2006. He finished 3rd at the World championships in 2007. He is a three-time Olympian (2002,18th/ 2006, 2nd/ 2010, 4th), a 3-time European silver medalist, and an 9-time Swiss National Champion.

Stéphane brings something truly special to the sport of figure skating. I appreciate his ingenuity, his passion and commitment to the craft. He is never afraid to push his artistic limits and share himself with audiences. He's a warm, charismatic performer.

In honor of my first day of Spring Break, and the changing of the seasons, I've decided to post one of my most beloved Stéphane performances, "The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi. He skated this during the 2005/2006 season. His unusual costume, depicting the 4 seasons, earned him the nickname of "Little Zebra."

In this video, from the 2006 Worlds in Calgary, Stéphane "brought it" in a head-to-head battle with France's Brian Joubert. In a surprisingly deep post-Olympic field (the Worlds following the Olympics are often missing the top athletes), Stéphane's victory was not an easy one. He fought for it every step of the way, and I think the struggle is what brought out such a brilliant performance.

My description of the program won't do it justice, so I will let you view the magnificence for yourself. Hopefully after this, you will be a fan of the "Little Zebra" too! He's a first-rate athlete and artist! I'm really proud to share this performance with you!