Widely praised as incomparably elegant and graceful for her prowess on the ice, professional skater Kristi Yamaguchi began to make headlines in 1989. That year, the 4'11," then-82 lb. 17-year-old defeated rival Jill Trenary at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, and subsequently scored a victory in the pairs competition alongside skating partner Rudi Galindo. The Fremont, CA, native (reportedly born with two club feet) subsequently won the Olympic gold medal in her sport at the 1992 Winter Olympics. Yamaguchi remained active and visible as a skater over the following two decades, but also entered the limelight in a slightly different capacity, as a television dancer in 2008. That year, the producers of the competitive reality series Dancing with the Stars tapped the skater to perform on their program opposite Mark Ballas.
Kristi Yamaguchi
Active - 1993 - 2005 |
Born - Jul 12, 1971 in Hayward, California, United States |
Genres - Sports & Recreation, Comedy, Historical Film
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Factsheet
- Began skating at age 6.
- Captured gold in both ladies' singles and pairs at the 1988 World Junior Championships.
- Skated pairs with Rudy Galindo until 1991, the year she was first crowned World Professional Figure Skating Champion.
- Won a gold medal at the 1992 Albertville Olympic Games, where she also met her husband, NHL defenseman Bret Hedican.
- Was one of the original celebrities photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the Got Milk? milk-mustache campaign.
- Wrote the autobiography Always Dream (1997), and coauthored 1998's Figure Skating for Dummies.
- Won Season 6 of ABC's Dancing With the Stars with partner Mark Ballas.
- Worked with NBC as a special correspondent for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
- Has been inducted into the World Skating Hall of Fame and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.