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Dorothy began skating at the age of
8 on a pond in the back for her
grandparents home. She took lessons
because she wanted to learn how to
skate backwards like the other kids.
Dorothy's talent soon became
apparent and in 1969 she began
working with Gus Lussi in Lake
Placid. In 1969 she won the National
Novice title. After winning the
silver at the junior Nationals in
1970 Carlo Fassi (who had coached
Peggy Fleming to an Olympic Gold
medal in 1968) invited Dorothy to
join him at the Broadmore Skating
Club in Colorado Springs...>>>
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Dorothy was considered an athletic
skater. Although she had a musical
and lyrical quality to her skating,
she despaired of ever being as
graceful as Peggy Fleming and so
determined to jump higher and better
than anyone else. Although some
skaters were doing triple jumps and
Dorothy did some triple jumps in
practice, she did not do any in her
competitive programs. It was not
considered necessary at the time and
Dorothy was in fact the last lady to
win an Olympic gold medal with no
triple jumps.
Dorothy also suffered from terrible
nerves and would often be terrified
before skating, though it rarely
showed. At the 1974 World
Championships in Munich Germany, her
nerves almost got the best of her.
Just before she skated, a German
lady named Gerti Schanchet skated to
an appreciative home crowd. When her
scores came up, they were too low
for the audience and they began to
boo. Gerti remained on the ice
waving to the crowd, even after
Dorothy's name had been called to
skate. When Dorothy began to take
her place, the crowd continued to
boo and Dorothy feared they were
booing at her. She burst into tears
(she was 17 at the time) and left
the ice. She sobbed in her fathers
arms while the referee tried to get
the crowd under control.
Dorothy planned to leave the ice to
compose herself but when she
returned to the ice to retrieve her
guards, the audience, realizing the
effect their booing had her, began
to cheer. She decided to skate and
skated a free program that won her
the silver medal.
After winning the gold medal at the
1976 Olympics in Innsbruck in front
of millions of television viewers,
Dorothy Hamill became the most
sought figure skater for commercial
endorsements in history. She was
pretty and charismatic and very
popular. She accepted a very
lucrative contract to star in the
Ice Capades and skated with them for
many years. She also appeared in
Nutcracker on Ice with Robin
Cousins, a televised version of
Romeo and Juliet on Ice, toured with
John Curry, starred in Stars on Ice,
as well as TV specials with Gene
Kelly, Perry Como and Andy Williams.
She won the World Professional
Skating Championships five years in
a row.
Dorothy Hamill was inducted in the
US Figure Skating Hall of Fame in
1991.
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