Dorothy Hamill

Dorothy Stuart Hamill (born July 26, 1956) is a retired American figure skater.

Hamill started skating in early 1965 at the age of 8, taking weekly group lessons.

She became more serious about the sport the next season, taking regular private lessons and passing her preliminary and first figure test before the seasonal rink closed in March.

She would wake early in the morning to go to the rink for practice at 4:30 am.

Hamill was first coached by Otto Gold and Gustave Lussi.

Ice time was limited in her area, so she eventually began training at Sky Rink in New York City, staying overnight in the city with friends when possible.

In the summers, Hamill trained in Lake Placid, New York and later in Toronto with her coach at the time, Sonya Dunfield.

During her career, her father would spend up to $20,000 a year on her skating expenses, including skating lessons, travel, living expenses, and costumes.

Hamill's first national success came in 1969, when she won the novice ladies' title at the U.S. Championships at the age of 12.

Later that spring, Hamill was invited to perform in Madison Square Garden with the exhibition tour (in later years known as Champions on Ice) that followed the 1969 World Figure Skating Championships.

Until the spring of 1970, Hamill attended public schools in Riverside, but at that point she switched to a small school with flexible tutoring to accommodate her skating schedule.

She attended and graduated from Colorado Academy high school.

She placed second at the junior level at the 1970 Championships, and made her senior debut in 1971.

The U.S. Figure Skating Association arranged for her to be coached by Carlo Fassi when she began to compete internationally.

Her eyeglasses with oversized frames also started a trend in the 1970s.

The media dubbed her "America's sweetheart."

Her skating style was considered "athletic" and was compared to the more artistic skating style of fellow skaters Peggy Fleming and Janet Lynn, although she was also praised for her elegant lines and carriage.

Hamill was U.S. champion from 1974 to 1976.

At the 1974 World Championships in Munich, Germany, she was in 3rd place after the compulsory figures and the short program.

She was set to skate directly after the West German skater Gerti Schanderl, whose marks were booed while Hamill was already on the ice.

Visibly upset, Hamill left the ice and burst into tears.

After the crowd settled down, she returned to the ice and won the silver medal behind Christine Errath of East Germany.

Hamill competed with an injured right leg at the 1975 U.S. Championships.

She said her leg was fine after receiving treatment for a pulled hamstring (earlier believed to be pulled ligaments) while training in Denver during the month before the 1975 World Championships.

She won silver at Worlds in Colorado Springs, Colorado, behind Dianne de Leeuw of the Netherlands and ahead of Errath.

She is the 1976 Olympic champion and 1976 World champion in ladies' singles.

Hamill was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Chalmers and Carol Hamill.

Her father was a mechanical engineer.

Shortly after her birth, her family moved to the Riverside neighborhood of Greenwich, Connecticut, where Hamill spent the rest of her childhood.

She has two older siblings, a brother, Sandy, and a sister, Marcia.

Hamill was disappointed by her performance at the 1976 U.S. Championships, admitting that she was outskated by Linda Fratianne because she had not trained properly.

Immediately after the national championships, her coach Carlo Fassi left the U.S. to accompany his other star pupil, John Curry, to the European Championships, leaving Hamill coachless with the Olympics only a few weeks away.

She began training with Peter Burrows instead.

She was pleased with their work together and wanted to bring him to the Olympics as her coach of record.

However, the USFSA refused her request, and she was reunited with Fassi for a brief period of training in Germany before the Olympics.

At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, Hamill came in second in the figures and then won the short and long programs, taking the gold medal.

She was the last single skater to win the Olympics without a triple jump.

Hamill also won the 1976 World Championships, and then turned professional.

Hamill is credited with developing a new skating move, a camel spin that turns into a sit spin, which became known as the "Hamill camel."

The bobbed hairstyle that she wore during her Olympic performance was created by stylist Yusuke Suga and started a fad, known as the "short and sassy" look.