David Dore

David Dore is a Canadian figure skating official.

Personal life

Dore was born in Toronto in 1940. After he was stricken with polio at the age of 12, he took up skating to strengthen his legs.^[1] He competed at the national level within Canada. He has two sons, Chris and Paul.^[2] His son Paul competed in figure skating singles and pairs, and trained at the Minto Skating Club in Ottawa.^[3]

Career

After retiring as a skater, he became a judge and served at seven World Figure Skating Championships and the 1984 Winter Olympics. He became a director of the Canadian Figure Skating Association (now known as Skate Canada) in 1972, and served as its president from 1980 to 1984.

In 1985, Dore was appointed Director General of the CFSA,^[4] a newly created paid staff position in contrast to his previous volunteer, elected position as president. He remained in this position until 2002, becoming unquestionably the most powerful figure in Canadian skating for many years. Under Dore's leadership, the CFSA greatly expanded its membership and programs, funded by corporate sponsorships and event revenues.^[5] Dore was at times a controversial leader, known for promoting policies whereby CFSA's national team athletes and coaches were expected to work directly under the control of the central organization. He has also been criticized for failing to support Canadian judge Jean Senft when she acquired evidence of judging corruption at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

Late in Dore's reign at Skate Canada, the management of skating events in Canada was spun off into a separate organization, called The Skating Events Trust (TSET), that was directly controlled by Dore. (TSET has since been dissolved, with management of Canadian figure skating events reverting to Skate Canada.)

Dore resigned from his paid position at Skate Canada in early 2002 in order to become eligible for an elected position with the International Skating Union. He was elected the Vice President for figure skating at the 2002 ISU Congress and was re-elected in 2006.^[6][7] He has become known as a strong supporter of Ottavio Cinquanta's policies, such as the adoption of the ISU Judging System and keeping the identity of figure skating judges secret.

Dore was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.^[8]

References

• Brian Orser, Orser: A Skater's Life. ISBN 1-55013-126-5.
• David Baines, "The man who controls skating in Canada". The Vancouver Sun, March 17, 2001.
• Neil Stevens, Head of figure skating hopes crowds will return, Canadian Press, November 11, 2006.
• David Dore steps down as Skate Canada head
• "Dore's theatrics get recognized", The Globe and Mail, May 13, 2008.