Personal life

Goebel was adopted through Catholic Charities by Ginny and Richard Goebel as an infant.

He initially attended Loyola Marymount University. Beginning in the fall of 2006, he studied at Columbia University, graduating in May 2010 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the School of General Studies. As of April 2016, he is working on a master's degree in data science from New York University Stern School of Business and works as a media and marketing analyst.

In April 2016, Goebel got engaged to his boyfriend of three years, Thomas Luciano.

Career

Early in his career, Goebel was coached by Carol Heiss Jenkins and Glyn Watts near his Illinois home and then moved to California to work with Frank Carroll.

Goebel was sometimes referred to as the "Quad King" because of his ability to land quadruple jumps. On March 7, 1998, in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the Junior Grand Prix Final, Goebel became the first skater in the world to land a quadruple Salchow, and the first American skater to land a quadruple jump of any kind in competition.

At the 1999 Skate America in Colorado Springs on October 31, 1999, Goebel became the first skater to land three quadruple jumps in one program. In the long program, he landed a quad salchow, a quad toe loop in combination, and a quad salchow as a solo jump.

Goebel also made history at the 2002 Olympics by becoming the first skater to successfully land a quad salchow jump in combination in Olympic competition. Goebel's repertoire of quadruple jumps made him one of the most competitive skaters in the world during the peak of his career.

Goebel was heavily criticized early in his career for focusing exclusively on jumping to the detriment of choreography and presentation, but in later years he improved in those areas.

However, after 2003, Goebel began increasingly to struggle with his jumps due to injuries. At the 2006 U.S. Championships, in what he had previously announced would be his last competitive season, he was unable to land either a quadruple jump or triple axel cleanly, and dropped to a seventh-place finish which left him far short of qualifying for the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Goebel represented the Winterhurst Figure Skating Club. He was coached by Audrey Weisiger in Fairfax, Virginia, after having been previously coached by Carol Heiss Jenkins, Glyn Watts and Frank Carroll.

On April 25, 2006, Goebel announced his retirement from competitive skating. He planned to continue to contribute to the sport as a technical specialist, having received certification for competitions sanctioned by the United States Figure Skating Association. He works as a technical specialist at the Aviator Figure Skating Academy in New York.

Programs

Season	Short program	Free skating	Exhibition
2005-2006	Sing, Sing, Sing	A Night On Bald Mountain	Stray Cats Strut
2004-2005	Concerto Elegiaque for Piano in D Minor	The Queen Symphony
2003-2004	Romeo and Juliet	The Queen Symphony
2002-2003	Romeo and Juliet	Rapsodia Espanola, Tango Op. 65 N. 2 Fantasticas
2001-2002	Danse Macabre	An American in Paris	American Pie Freedom
2000-2001	2001 A Space Odyssey (Sprach Zarathustra & Slow Waltz)	Henry V soundtrack Canone Inverso 1812 Overture	Windmills of Your Mind American Pie Cup of Life
1999-2000	Caravan	Seven Years in Tibet	Ain't No Sunshine

Competitive highlights

Results
International
Event	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Olympics									3rd
Worlds						12th	11th	4th	2nd	2nd		10th
Four Continents						13th
Grand Prix Final							3rd	5th	3rd
Bompard													4th
Cup of China											1st
NHK Trophy							2nd				2nd	2nd
Skate America							2nd	1st	1st				6th
Sparkassen Cup								2nd	2nd
Nebelhorn					1st
International: Junior
Junior Worlds		14th	7th	2nd	WD
JS Final					1st
JS France					1st
JS Ukraine					1st
St. Gervais				2nd
Blue Swords		4th		2nd
National
U.S. Championships	1st N.	5th J.	1st J.	6th	WD	3rd	2nd	1st	2nd	2nd	WD	2nd	7th

[ Source: Wikipedia ]