ICE QUEEN, Elizabeth Punsalan, 5-time U.S. ice dancing champion, 2-time Olympian, has a full-blooded Kapampangan father, Dr. Ernesto Punsalan of Lubao.
When skater Elizabeth Punsalan stepped on the ice with
her partner-husband Jerrod Swallow at the Hamar Olympic Ampitheater in
Lillehammer, Norway, she was a picture of poise and grace. She had done this many
times before--with the eyes of the world watching, she had danced, skated--and
won, despite the intense pressure of
competition. But this time, the feeling
was different. Behind Elizabeth’s seemingly calm exterior, was pain and quiet
grief for her father, who, less than two weeks before, had been stabbed and
killed by her own brother.
Elizabeth Punsalan (b. 9 Jan. 1971, in Syracuse, New York)
was the daughter of Dr. Ernesto and Teresa Punsalan. Her father, a surgeon, had come to America from Lubao, as
a medical student. The family eventually settled in Ohio, where Dr. Punsalan
began a thriving practice. Young Liz, on the other hand, was drawn to the sport
of ice skating at the tender age of 7. Soon, she was competing in skating
competitions, and winning ice dance contests. Early in her career, she found a
partner in Christopher Rettstatt, and debuted at the 1989 U.S. Championships.
They stunned the field by copping 8th place in the country’s
premiere sce-skating event.
That same year, Punsalan was paired with a new 22-year
old talent, Jerrod Swallow. Their chemistry was apparent from the start. Under
the watchful eye of their coach, Sandy Hess, the pair began training in
Colorado Springs. At the 1989 Skate America, they placed 7th, but
did even better at the 1990 U.S. Championships, where they finished 5th. They capped their ice dancing campaign when
they returned the next year, finally winning their first U.S. national title.
Coming in as the pair to beat at the 1992 U.S. Championships
that also served as the Olympic team qualifier,
Punsalan and Swallow finished in third place, owing to a fall that
Swallow made in the free dance. Disappointed at his performance, Swallow
pondered about leaving the sport, but Punsalan encouraged him to continue. They
would eventually marry in 1993 and become partners for life.
The tandem changed coach in 1992, and, under the help of
Igor Shpilband, they again rose to skating prominence, rivaled only by the pair
of Renee Roca and Gorsha Shur, who trained alongside them. But Russian-born Gorsha
still had to meet another requirement to skate for the U.S.---an American
citizenship. Punsalan and Swallow waged
a letter-writing campaign to Congress to delay the granting of his citizenship,
as there was only one slot reserved for the U.S. at the 1994 Winter Games.
This unsportsmanlike behavior was unwarranted as Punsalan
and Swallow were uncontested all the way to the finals. After Roca and Sur suffered spills, the beleagured
pair eventually withdrew. Punsalan and Swallow thus, earned their second
national title—and an Olympic spot --and began preparing for the Lillehammer
event.
But just two weeks before they were set to go to Norway,
a family tragedy befell the Punsalans. On the night of February 4, 1994, Elizabeth’s father, Ernesto, was stabbed to death while asleep at his Sheffield
Lake home in Ohio. Worst, the assailant
turned out to be Elizabeth’s third brother, Ricardo, who had been plagued with
mental problems. The doctor was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Joseph
Hospital and Health Center in nearby Lorain. He was just 57.
Despite her sorrow, Elizabeth Punsalan decided to
continue with her Olympic journey, at the urging of her family. "My father
was proud of my skating achievements and would have wanted me to go on to
Lillehammer," the Kapampangan-American skater said. "I will try to
skate my very best there in his memory." After her father’s funeral,
Punsalan and husband Swallow, immediately flew to Lillehammer to begin their quest for an Olympic ice
dancing gold.
In the rounds leading to the finals, the pair skated
through their personal pain, and secured 14th place. But they would
eventually dropped to 15th position when Swallow fell during a lift,
sending him and Elizabeth crashing down on the ice—along with their Olympic
dream.
Beaten but unbowed, the couple bounced back at the 1995
U.S. Championships, finishing as runners-up to their arch rivals, Roca and Sur.
They were on a roll in 1996, 1997 and 1998 championships, when they reigned
supreme by winning 3 national titles—and another chance to redeem themselves at
the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. This time, the pair finished strong in 7th
place in the Mixed Ice Dancing event.
The ice has not yet melted in Nagano, when, at the 1998
World Figure Skating Championships held in March in Minneapolis, Punsalan and
Swallow capped their sterling ice dancing career with a 6th place
finish.
After retiring from competitive ice skating, Punsalan and
Swallow continued to skate in ice shows for a number of years. Punsalan became
an ice dance coach at the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Once
off the ice, Elizabeth also found a new interest and became an interior
designer, while raising two sons, Gavin (13) and Alden (6).
When the 2019 U.S. Figuring Skating Championships
unfolded in Detroit in late January, Punsalan and Swallow—five-time American
champions themselves-- were there to welcome America’s best skaters to their
city, which had become a prominent
international training ground for some of the greatest Olympic skaters
on ice. The couple’s presence and their skating legacy would have certainly
provided inspiration to the many young skaters who, just like young Elizabeth 2
decades before, have come to begin the realization of their Olympic dreams.
(POSTSCRIPT: Younger brother, Ricky, was charged in the
death of their father, but was found mentally unfit to stand trial. As of 2016,
he remains in a mental health institution for at least the next two years. Punsalan’s
mental health state will be reviewed again in December 2018.)
SOURCES:
Elizabeth Punsalan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Punsalan
Elizabeth Punsalan photo: http://susanfieldofgold.blogspot.com/2014/12/day-7-liz-punsalan-and-jared-swallows.html
Skating squabble plays to soap opera background, by
Milton Kent, THE BALTIMORE SUN,
ICE DANCER DEDICATES GAMES TO SLAIN FATHER, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-02-16-9402160123-story.html
Punsalan says he is Jesus, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/03/05/Punsalan-says-he-is-Jesus/9170762843600/
Why do so many international Olympic figure skaters train
in Michigan?
http://www.michiganradio.org/post/why-do-so-many-international-olympic-figure-skaters-train-michigan
