1960 Olympic Gold Medallist & 4X World Champion Bob Paul dies at 87

[SkateGuard]

This very sad news made the rounds on social media last week. An official annnouncement from Skate Canada was made today:

Skate Canada Remembers Hall of Famer Robert Paul

Skate Canada is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Robert (Bob) Paul. Paul was an acclaimed pairs skater whose many accomplishments catapulted Canadian figure skating to historic heights. He died peacefully on December 19, 2024, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Joining as a team in 1952...

skatecanada.ca

Bob Paul and his partner Barbara Wagner were the first Canadian pair to win an Olympic gold medal. In addition to being World, North American and Canadian Champions, they starred in "Planet Ice", the very first full-length television skating special in Canada. Bob was inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (1957), Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (1958), World Figure Skating Hall of Fame (1980) and Skate Canada Hall of Fame (1993).

 

[FSWer]

It's so sad.

 

[overedge]

He did a lot within Canada to support the development of pairs skating. He also choreographed most of Peggy Fleming's TV specials, and worked with Mirai Nagasu too.

 

[Sylvia]

April 2010 podcast interview by Allison Manley: https://x.com/MWskatecast/status/319536930310201346

Episode #38: Bob Paul - figure skating interviews : The Manleywoman SkateCast

An interview with Bob Paul, 1960 Olympic Champion in Pairs with Barbara Wagner, Ice Capades star and top choreographer.

manleywoman.com

ETA:

Bob Paul And Barbara Wagner, Figure Skating Sports Illustrated Cover by Sports Illustrated

Bob Paul And Barbara Wagner, Figure Skating Sports Illustrated Cover by Sports Illustrated

sicovers.com

Description
December 15, 1958 Sports Illustrated via Getty Images Cover, Figure Skating: Bob Paul and Barbara Wagner in action, Toronto, Canada 1/29/1958 (Photo by John G. Zimmerman/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images/Getty Images) (SetNumber: X4992 TK1)
Uploaded
March 24th, 2020

 

[olympic]

I believe he coached Peggy Fleming for a short amount of time prior to her time with Fassi?

 

[Sylvia]

@olympic Excerpt from the April 2010 podcast interview highlights transcription, linked above:

On working with Peggy Fleming: She had the tendency to be a little lazy sometimes, although her mother was quite good at getting her to go. I was only the coach for one season with her, although I ended up being her choreographer for quite a long time. She was one of the great natural talents, just like Mirai [Nagasu] who I was with for eight years. And Peggy’s beauty of her skating was built in, she never had many ballet lessons.
[...]
On working as a choreographer: I did all five of Peggy’s [TV] specials, [...]
The Peggy Fleming specials were about Peggy, period. There was one in Russia where I had to choreograph the Russian ice show, but Peggy was mostly by herself.