Kristi Yamaguchi
Kristi Yamaguchi
Kristine Tsuya Yamaguchiis an American former figure skater. In ladies' singles, Yamaguchi is the 1992 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion, and the 1992 U.S. champion. As a pairs skater with Rudy Galindo, she is the 1988 World Junior champion and a two-time national champion. In her earlier figure skating days, her youth partner was Michael Teves. In December 2005, she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. In 2008, Yamaguchi became the celebrity champion in the sixth...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionFigure Skater
Date of Birth12 July 1971
CityHayward, CA
CountryUnited States of America
Dorothy Hamill was my big idol as a kid. She'd won the Olympics in 1976. She was America's sweetheart with her personality, her talent, her haircut.
Growing up as an athlete, I started skating very young. My parents didn't know anything about the sport, so they went with the flow. I had two great coaches who gave great advice and gave guidelines for my parents. My parents let the coaches dictate what was going on on the ice.
Winning in women's singles felt surreal. I felt that everything I had done - the hard work, the tough times - was all worth it.
I didn't want to skate for someone else or for certain marks.
The good feeling I get from contributing rivals anything I felt on the Olympic stand in Albertville.
As a teenager especially, I just wanted to do my thing and not be noticed.
With 30,000 deaths and 200,000 hospitalizations from the seasonal flu, those numbers are certainly higher than what we've seen of the swine flu. Protecting yourself from both viruses is very important.
Everything that happened in '92 was more than I had dreamed of... winning the U.S. title for the first time and then doing so well at the Olympics... It seemed to wrap things up so perfectly. I couldn't help thinking, 'How could I top that?'
Training for the Olympics was a lifelong endeavor and took many years.
My experience at the 1992 Winter Olympics was my fulfillment of dreaming the Impossible Dream.
They say, once you have a child, your heart is forever outside your body. I totally understand that now.
Figure skaters have awful perceptions of hockey players.
I never wanted to feel I hadn't worked hard enough.
This experience has been once in a lifetime.