David Dore understood theatre.
On Tuesday, he found a new one, when he discovered he will be inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame for his administrative work in figure skating.
“I never had any idea that I would be considered,'' he said from his home in Ottawa Tuesday. “I'm quite excited to be in it. It's probably the biggest thing that's happened to me. The Olympic Order was pretty big, but this might be equally as big, coming from the total sports community. It's really quite an honour.''
Dore always had big visions and he created big vistas and big theatrical productions in the sport. He was well known for his dramatic celebrations of the sport, like when some skater or builder was inducted into the Canadian figure skating hall of fame. The lights would go down, the music would roll and the complex video productions he engineered would elicit tears.
Dore studied figure skating from the ground up - he started taking lessons after contracting polio at age 12 - and became one of the sport's best administrators, changing the face of the Canadian Figure Skating Association, now called Skate Canada.
He worked as a figure skating judge at seven world championships and the 1984 Olympic Games and in 1980, was the youngest president elected to the CFSA. While in office, he turned an organization with a $2-million budget and $285,000 in assets into a flourishing federation with $17-million in assets and a $17-million budget by the time he stepped down in 2002.
Along the way, he created the national team concept, established marketing and sponsorship programs that made the association the envy of the amateur sport world, set up the Athlete's Trust, which financed more than 5,000 skaters, including Brian Orser, Elizabeth Manley and Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini. And he created The Skating Event Trust, which managed events and was responsible for the $6-million profit enjoyed at the 2001 world figure skating championships in Vancouver.
Those world championships, he says without hesitation, were his crowning achievement in the sport. Afterward, he resigned as director-general of Skate Canada, and months later, was elected vice-president of the International Skating Union, a post he still holds.
“I think the 2001 worlds explains my leaving my sport at the time,'' he said. “I was really proud of what I did, not just because it was a financial and aesthetic success, but it was one time in my life when I really assembled an amazing team of people. ...In Vancouver, there was no star, everybody was amazing in their won right. Everybody was part of making something successful as a group.''
He said he was very excited about the most recent world championships in Gothenburg, Sweden in March, because he felt its organizers took some tips from the Vancouver event seven years ago. The Swedes attended the event, watching, and Dore said he knows them well, and talked to them about their preparations.
“I liked their organization,'' he said. “It reflected a bit of creativity and a lot of work.''
Some event organizers have stalled, but Dore said the Swedes got busy and sold a lot of tickets. “That's the key,'' Dore said. “But you've got to work at it. You can blame people for not coming, but if they don't advertise and they don't try to sell tickets and they don't have a decent product, then people won't come.''
[amp]nbsp;The organizers also paid a lot of attention to detail to ensure that skaters could perform their best, he said.
What did they learn from Vancouver? Theatre, Dore said.
“They took a common theme,'' he said, of their plan to present a double-blue colour scheme in every area. Vancouver presented black and gold. “When a person enters an event, it's like entering a specially laid-out theatre, in which you become a captive person,'' Dore said. “Everything in the theatre, from eating and skating and the kiss and cry and press conferences should give you a feel that you're in the same place. And that's what I felt. They had a colur and a concept. You knew where you were and you were captured by it.''
Dore is perhaps one of the most active vice presidents that the ISU has had. He's an implementer. He monitors rules and regulations and events. He works about half a day seven days a week, consulting people around the world.
During Dore's 17-year reign as president or director-general of the Canadian skating association, Canadian skaters won more Olympic and world medals than at any other time added together.
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