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*The information in my Champion Profiles is compiled through a number of reference sources including: news articles, biographies, and Olympic statistics.
"When I'm skating, I just feel like I can express myself. I feel free." - Kristi Yamaguchi

Kristi Yamaguchi

Kristi

It is hard to fathom that Stars On Ice co-star and 1992 Olympic Ladies' Figure Skating Gold Medallist, Kristi Yamaguchi, was born with legs so crooked that she had to learn how to walk in corrective casts. It was perhaps her rehabilitation from this defect that helped to create one of the world's most beautiful skaters, making history by competing in both singles and pairs skating.

Already a fan of figure skating at age four and a half, she owned and kept close to her a Dorothy Hamill doll. A few years later, her mother put her in skating and dancing lessons to help make her legs grow stronger. It worked and Yamaguchi became a wonderful skater. Her love of the sport grew when she began attending ice shows and she participated in her first competition when she was only eight years old. She began training diligently as a single skater until 1983 when she began splitting skating pairs with Rudy Galindo as well.

Yamaguchi's training schedule was incredible, but paid off as she both placed fourth in the Novice Ladies' Competition and captured the Gold Medal in the Pairs' Competition (with Galindo) of the U.S. Junior National Championship in 1988. In 1989, she set the skating world on notice when she won the Silver Medal at the U.S. National Championship in the Ladies' Competition. Considered too "green" in the sport by some, she wowed the crowd with her impressive jumps. She also made an impact by winning the Gold Medal that same year in the Pairs' Competition (with Galindo). She was the first woman to medal in two different U.S. National Championship events since Margaret Graham in 1954.

Tragedy struck in 1989 when Yamaguchi and Galindo's pairs coach, Jim Hulick, died of an AIDS related cancer. They pair stuck it out through the 1990 skating season, capturing the Gold Medal again at the U.S. National Championships, but soon parted ways finding it too difficult to carry on. They both began training for careers in singles skating. It was a difficult transition, but one that would prove successful for both skaters. She repeated her win of the Silver Medal in the 1990 and 1991 as a single skater and captured the Gold Medal at the U.S. National Championship, World Championship, and finally the Olympic Ladies' Figure Skating Competition all in 1992. Yamaguchi was the first American woman to win the Gold at the Olympics since her idol, Dorothy Hamill, won in 1976.

Enjoying her success of the 1992 skating season, Yamaguchi made the decision to turn professional. She joined the Stars On Ice tour for in their 1992 - 1993 season bringing along her choreographer, Sandra Bezic. Ever the model of skating excellence, Yamaguchi was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1998.

QUICK FACTS...

DOB: 07/12/1971

Place of Birth: Hayward, CA, USA

Parents: Jim & Carole Doi Yamaguchi

Husband: Bret Hedican, Hockey Player (Florida Panthers)

Children: None

Siblings: Lori & Brett

High School:Mission San Jose High School, Fremont, California, USA. Graduated in 1989

College: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Attended classes)

Photo � Leah Adams

Copyright � 2001 Vicki Bennett
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