Southcoast Resident Judges Skating at Winter Olympics

Konstantin Kostin is now in South Korea at the Olympic Winter Games. The Marion resident is serving as the technical specialist on the men's figure skating panel.This is Kostin's second trip to the Olympics. At the 1992 games in France, he actually competed as a figure skater representing his native country of Latvia. Kostin finished 20th in that competition, and it's been a long road from then until now.

After the Olympics, the skater competed in the European Championships, but he told Sippican Week that an ankle injury kept him from the 1994 Olympics. Kostin was then invited to the U.S to train at a facility on Cape Cod. Before long, doctors told him that his ankle injury was too severe for him to compete. He decided to turn his focus to coaching.

The 45-year-old now coaches at the Yarmouth Ice Club and at the Colonial Figure Skating Club in Boxborough. Kostin told the local publication that being invited to judge this year's skating is a big honor. He says his duties include watching each skater closely to identify all elements of their performance.