Holly Cook has ascended to the summit of the figure skating world. And the 19-year-old LDS woman is still going strong, with her sights on 1992 Olympic gold.
But in the meantime, Holly is basking in the glow of bronze medals captured at the 1990 World Figure Skating Championships in March at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and at the U.S. Championships in February at Salt Lake City.Holly, a member of the Bountiful 53rd Ward, Bountiful Utah North Stake, had earned the right to compete in the world event with her third-place finish at the U.S. CHampionships.
And it was at the U.S. Championships in Salt Lake City that she had the more difficult time of the two competitions, facing the pressure of skating before a home-town crowd.
Because Holly was not expected to place high at the world championships, her medal there was icing on the cake - stunning the skating world, and even herself.
"I noticed a big difference in Holly between the nationals here in Salt Lake City and Halifax," said her mother, Margie. "She was really quite uptight here, but seemed to smile a lot more there. We had no idea that she would do as well as she did. She kind of surprised everybody, including herself. She's a good competitor and she works really hard. She wasn't nervous, but was relaxed,and that helped her. It's been wonderful."
Holly called her third-place world finish the "biggest surprise I've ever had. No matter what happens the next couple of years, I'll always have that memory. I'm happy most of my family was there to see it."
She also was supported by local Church members in Halifax, who hung a large banner in the arena that read, "You're representing us well, Sister Cook!"
"I didn't realize the members were there until afterward," Holly said. "My dad and sister stayed with the mission president in Halifax. After the competition I had the opportunity to give a fireside and talk to a ward."
The feelings of that week contrast with her Salt Lake memories.
"I had a hard time the week in Salt Lake City and wasn't practicing well," recalled Holly. "Bishop Glenn L. Pace [of the Presiding Bishopric] and my father [Paul R.] gave me a priesthood blessing. I felt so much better and was more relaxed and confident after that."
Holly has drawn upon spiritual strength at other times during her years of competing.
"I usually say a little prayer before going over to the rink, and I talk to myself when I get there. It relaxes me. I read the scriptures every night. My goal this year is to finish the Book of Mormon.
"It's funny how at competitions, when I'm nervous and can't sleep and am having a hard time, I'll pull out the scriptures. Whatever I read almost always pertains to what I am going through."
And Holly has gone through a lot in her climb to attain near perfection on skates. Prior to her graduation from Viewmont High School in 1989, she would skate from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. During the summer, she was at the rink six hours daily from Monday through Saturday, beginning at 5:30 a.m. She has skated year-round for more years than she can remember.
Her efforts began before her 5th birthday, when an ice rink was built in Bountiful and her mother decideed she wanted to learn to skate and took her daughter with her. Holly was the youngest of six children, with eight years between her and her next oldest brother.
"Instead of leaving Holly with a babysitter, I took her with me," remembered Margie. "We took group lessons, and it wasn't long until she took right to it. She found she enjoyed it a lot."
Holly's mother works as cashier at the rink. That has enabled her and her daughter to ride together during their countless two-mile trips from home to the ice.
When Holly was in grade school, she and her mother would go to the rink after school and skate for one or two hours three time a week. Holly started competing at age 6. By the time she was 10, she was skating nearly every day.
Margie recalled that Holly was very determined from an early age. The parents took Holly to one of her first competitions at Sun Valley, Idaho, where she placed eighth. There were some girls there doing spinning jumps with nearly two rotations. Holly went home and promptly practiced the maneuver until she could do it.
There came a time when Holly had to decide if she wanted to make the sacrifices to continue the sport seriously. "It was hard having to sacrifice so much, seeing her friends involved in so many things at school," said her mother. "She had to make a choice whether to join the other activities or continue with skating."
She chose the latter, but has led a balanced life, under the circumstances.
"Holly has some good friends in the ward, and whenever she can participate, they always include her," said her mother. "She has always felt grateful for that. Other skaters talked about being left out of their peer groups, of being isolated."
While most skaters take correspondence schooling, Holly always wanted to attend public schools. About six different times during high school she had to leave for a week. It was hard for her to keep up, but she did so.
Her persistence has paid off. Besides her two recent successes, during the past four years she has traveled throughout the world. After the world championships, she went on a 25-city exhibition tour of champions, a reward for her high finish. She regularly receives mail from Germany, France and Japan from friends and other competitors. Though fiercely competitive and focused on the ice, Holly and other top figure skaters are close otherwise.
"It's amazing, when they are off the ice, how much fun they can have together," Margie said. "When they are on the ice, they zero in on their own routines. But I think it's great to be able to compete against each other yet have that love and respect for each other off the ice."
Those relationships have led to a lot of questions about Holly's religious convictions. "You learn a lot about yourself, and about what your standards are," she muses. Most questions are out of curiosity, but they sometimes lead to pretty intense, deep conversations. I'm trying to be a missionary in my own way."
Holly doesn't have much time for young men with her other activities, though she dates two or three returned missionaries occasionally. She also makes as much time as possible for her 12 nieces and nephews, with whom she loves to read and play games. When her skating career is ended, Holly would like to teach.
In the meantime, her goal is to have fun with her skating, to relax a bit from the intense pressure she has lived with as she has competed. Although she is willing to face that pressure again as she gets close to the 1992 Olympics, she is maturing and increasing in confidence and her ability to handle it.
"While I was growing up, my coach always had us write down a bunch of goals, and try to perfect those by the end of each year. I've learned the basics, and now my goal is to have fun with it."
And her fun is shared with her family and friends. Her five older brothers and sisters are supportive of their baby sister and watch her skate when they can. A married sister, Kellie Jones, 31, makes her skating costumes.
Holly's bishop, Brent C. Russon, said a large contingent of ward members went to the U.S. Championships to support her.
"We were all cheering, it was great," he said. "Holly is a hard worker, and the blessing of this is she is getting rewarded for her efforts. She is really a special young lady. She has a lot of ability, and a lot of determination. You would never know talking with her that she is third in the world, because she gets home and picks right up where she left off. She is a down-to-earth young lady."
