Paul S. Wylie ’90-91: U.S. Figure Skating Olympics Silver Medalist

No one expected American figure skater Paul S. Wylie ’90-91 to snag a silver medal at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France.

Critics at the time doubted Wylie’s ability to pull off a solid performance after a string of inconsistent events leading up to the Olympics.

Wylie’s coach at the time, Mary Scotvold, credited his win to his ability to focus full time on skating after graduating from Harvard in 1991.

Scotvold recalls her time working with Wylie, who she said was always juggling schoolwork with 30 hours of training a week at the Boston Skating Rink.

“On planes, he always had his books with him,” Scotvold said. “It was a wonderful opportunity for him to go to Harvard, but it was like coaching somebody with your hands tied behind your back.”

At Harvard, the Eliot House resident designed his course load around roughly six hours of training a day, taking only two classes the semester before the 1988 Olympics and graduating with a degree in Government in five years.

Along with his rigorous training and academic schedule, Wylie helped organize “An Evening with Champions,” the annual skating benefit that raises money for cancer research.

“He was so good about being the intermediary between the Jimmy Fund and the professional world, always identifying new talent for the show,” said then-Eliot House Master Stephen A. Mitchell, a professor of Scandinavian oral tradition and literature. “He was just a very gifted member of the community who used his notoriety to the benefit of the community.”

The 1981 Junior World Champion at 16 and a member of three U.S. World teams, the Texas native attempted to keep a low profile on campus.

“Paul was a recognizable figure,” said David A. Roosevelt ’93, a close college friend at the time. “He wanted to be a normal guy and a normal student.”

After his victory in the 1992 Olympics, Wylie came back to his alma mater, and Mitchell even ordered the lighting of the Eliot House bell tower to honor the occasion.

“My wife had organized some of the students and the House staff,” Mitchell recalled. “They were all sitting in my bedroom and there were bed sheets that had been laid out, and they were painting signs: ‘You’ll always be the gold medalist for us.’”

Wylie, who could not be reached for comment, graduated from Harvard Business School in 2000 and was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2008.