Dorothy Hamill Leads Cast of All-Star Skaters at TECO Arena
By Richard Ferrara
Special to the Naples Daily News
Since producer Torn Collins first brought a World Champions Figure Skating Exhibition here in 1969, the ice show has become bigger and better. This year's performance at TECO Arena on
Saturday is no exception, and may be one of the most star-filled shows ever.
The John Hancock Champions On Ice 2002 Olympic Tour features Olympic silver medalist Nancy Kerrigan, Olympic champion Victor Petrenko and U.S. champion Nicole Bobek, as well as perhaps the most famous skater of them all — Olympic gold medalist Dorothy Hamill.
Hamill said she's excited about coming back to Southwest Florida.
"We've been there the last three years, I think," she said. "It's a great place."
Hamill is also thrilled over the tour this year.
"It's a great show. Everybody comes with their own material, so you get a great variety and that's what is really great about this show. You get a nice variety of versatility," she said.
Hamill first captivated the world when — at 19 in the 1976 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria — she became the fourth American woman to win an Olympic gold medal. Her fluid skating and radiant charm bedazzled all nine judges. Because that win came the day before Valentine's Day, Hamill was soon dubbed "America's Sweetheart," a nickname that has stuck to this day.
"That's a title that's impossible to live up to," she laughed. "I think it was just a Valentine's Day thing."
Hamill was born in Chicago in 1956, and began skating when she was 8 after her family moved east. Stuffing her brother's big skates with socks, she began practicing on Bimiy Pond, near her Riverside, Conn., home. She first challenged herself by learning to skate backwards.
Her pastime soon grew into a devotion, as her natural ability and grace for the sport propelled her forward. Jaunts to the rink at four in the morning and seven-hour practice sessions became a regularity.
"I think that's the only way you can keep it up," she said of the dedication and hard work that led to her success.
In 1969, at 13 years old, Hamill won the U.S. National Novice Ladies title in Seattle. Four years later, she was competing against the popular Janet Lynn in the National championships.
Lynn was her girlhood idol.
''The first Nationals that I went to, she was competing. I just felt so lucky to see her. She was like an angel on the ice," recalled Hamill.
She placed second behing Lynn in that competition. The next year, Hamill won the first of her three National titles. Her amateur career culminated in ’76 when she won the Olympic gold, then set her sights on the World Championships in Sweden.
Hamill was advised against entering the Championships, based on the fear that anything below first place would tarnish the glory of her Olympic win. But she remained determined and finished off her amateur career by taking the gold, beating out two challenging former World Champions, Christine Errath and Dianne de Leeuw.
Since her gold-medal win in the 70s, Hamill has seen the Olympics change.
"'It's gotten so much bigger since I was there. The kids today are all pros. When I was there we were all amateurs. There's been so many changes that it's not the same anymore," she said.
While she was busy gaining world recognition for figure skating, her unique "wedge" hairstyie suddenly incited a national fashion craze. In the ‘70s, everyone and her mother was looking to mimic Hamill's popular look, spurring Life magazine to call her wedge "one of the most important fashion statements of the last 50 years."
"I still don't quite understand it," she laughed. "It was just one of those things. I didn't invent it, but I guess I just wore it at the right time. My hair's not very nice right now, I need a haircut."
In her professional career, Hamill won five consecutive World Professional titles, produced and starred in the "Nutcracker On Ice" and owned, directed and starred in the Ice Capades, among other accomplishments.
She was inducted into the of Fame in 1991, as well as the United States Figure Fame the following year. Hamill has also involved herself with plenty of charity work, raising funds for Ronald McDonald House, March of Dimes, the American Cancer Society and others. She recently returned from a mission to Ghana, West Africa.
"I went to Ghana before Christmas in December. It was part of Olympic Aid and The Vaccine Fund. The vaccinations were held at a big stadium, and while they were immunizing the babies we got to play sports with the older children who had already been exposed. They were all thrilled to see us and be able to play games with Olympic champions. It was an incredible experience, we all had a fantastic time," she said.
Aside from Hamill and the performers already mentioned, Champions On Ice has a variety of other acts in store. Three-time World silver medalist Surya Bonaly, U.S. champion Rudy Galindo and two-time Olympic bronze medalist Phillipe Candeloro are a few of the single skaters. Duet performances include Olympic champions Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev, U.S. dance champions Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow, specialty comedy duo Vladamir Besedin and Oleksiy Polishchuk and others.
Hamill promises fans of figure skating a live experience that television cannot offer.
“You're going to see a who's who in figure skating. It's really a great evening of all the skaters you see on television. The biggest thing I hear from people who haven't seen live skating is that you don't really get to see how fast the skaters are going. That's the one drawback of TV, it doesn't do justice to the skaters," she said. "Well, not me, but them.”