 Hamill in 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | Dorothy Stuart Hamill (1956-07-26)July 26, 1956 (age 69) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 4 in (163 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Figure skating career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1976 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Dorothy Stuart Hamill (born July 26, 1956) is a retired Americanfigure skater. She is the1976 Olympic champion and1976 World champion in ladies' singles.
Hamill was born inChicago,Illinois, to Chalmers and Carol Hamill. Her father was a mechanical engineer.[1] Shortly after her birth, her family moved to the Riverside neighborhood ofGreenwich, Connecticut, where Hamill spent the rest of her childhood. She has two older siblings, a brother, Sandy, and a sister, Marcia.[1]
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.[1] Hamill was first coached byOtto Gold andGustave Lussi. Ice time was limited in her area, so she eventually began training at Sky Rink inNew York City, staying overnight in the city with friends when possible. In the summers, Hamill trained inLake Placid, New York, and later inToronto with her coach at the time,Sonya Dunfield.[2] 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.[1]
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 fromColorado Academy high school.[2]
Hamill's first national success came in 1969, when she won the novice ladies' title at theU.S. Championships at the age of 12. Later that spring, Hamill was invited to perform inMadison Square Garden with the exhibition tour (in later years known asChampions on Ice) that followed the1969 World Figure Skating Championships. She placed second at the junior level at the 1970 Championships, and made her senior debut in 1971.[2] TheU.S. Figure Skating Association arranged for her to be coached byCarlo Fassi when she began to compete internationally.[1]
Hamill wasU.S. champion from 1974 to 1976. At the 1974 World Championships inMunich, Germany, she was in 3rd place after thecompulsory figures and the short program. She was set to skate directly after the West German skaterGerti 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 behindChristine Errath of East Germany.
Hamill competed with an injured right leg at the 1975 U.S. Championships.[3] 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 the1975 World Championships.[3] She won silver at Worlds in Colorado Springs, Colorado, behindDianne de Leeuw of the Netherlands and ahead of Errath.
Hamill was disappointed by her performance at the 1976 U.S. Championships, admitting that she was outskated byLinda Fratianne because she had not trained properly. Immediately after the national championships, her coachCarlo Fassi left the U.S. to accompany his other star pupil,John Curry, to theEuropean 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.[1] However, the USFSA refused her request, and she was reunited with Fassi for a brief period of training in Germany before the Olympics.[1][4]
At the1976 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 lastsingle skater to win the Olympics without a triple jump.[1] Hamill also won the1976 World Championships, and then turned professional.
Hamill is credited with developing a new skating move, acamel spin that turns into asit spin, which became known as the "Hamill camel."[5] The bobbed hairstyle that she wore during her Olympic performance was created by stylist Yusuke Suga[1] and started a fad, known as the "short and sassy" look. Her eyeglasses with oversized frames also started a trend in the 1970s.[1] The media dubbed her "America's sweetheart."[6] Her skating style was considered "athletic" and was compared to the more artistic skating style of fellow skatersPeggy Fleming andJanet Lynn, although she was also praised for her elegant lines and carriage. According to figure skating writing and historian Ellyn Kestnbaum, Hamill, along with Lynn, "evoked associations with natural, outdoorsy wholesomeness", due to their athleticism, speed, freedom of movement, and appearance, which Kestnbaum states were "images that resonated with both conservative and feminist ideologies during the 1970s".[7]
Hamill became the face ofClairol's Short & Sassy shampoo and conditioner. After her performance in the 1976 Olympics, which was viewed by millions globally, her iconic wedge haircut became a trend among women and girls. Ads for Short & Sassy, both on TV and in print, highlighted Hamill's lustrous dark hair as she gracefully glided on the ice.[8]
Hamill was anIce Capades headliner from 1977 to 1984. She was asked to join Ice Capades by Donna Atwood, who had been its star for years and who had eventually acquired financial control of the Ice Capades. Hamill was asked to be Atwood's successor as its new star.[9] After Ice Capades folded due to competition and changing tastes, Hamill and her husband bought the financially strapped company's assets in 1993 in an effort to revive its earlier success, but they declared bankruptcy in 1994. It was sold to Pat Robertson'sInternational Family Entertainment, Inc. in 1995.[10]
In 1993, the Associated Press released results of a national sports study showing that Hamill was statistically tied for first place with fellow OlympianMary Lou Retton as the most popular athlete in America, ranking far ahead of other major sports stars such asMichael Jordan,Magic Johnson,Troy Aikman,Dan Marino,Wayne Gretzky,Joe Montana,Nolan Ryan, and 800 other athletes.[11]
At 40, Hamill experienced debilitating chronic pain and was later diagnosed withosteoarthritis. Her condition responded well to medication and she was able to return to skating professionally.[12][13]
Hamill has continued to skate in shows, including a regular principal role withBroadway on Ice. She was a special guest in theBrian Boitano–Barry Manilow skating extravaganza atAT&T Park in San Francisco in 2007.
In February 2013, it was revealed that Hamill would take part in thesixteenth season ofDancing with the Stars, partnering withTristan MacManus. After only two dances, on March 26, 2013, she was forced to withdraw from the competition upon advice from her spine surgeon due to a severe strain on her lower back sustained during practice.[14][15]
On March 3, 2017, Hamill was announced as one of 16 celebrities taking part in a cooking competition on the Food Network TV seriesChopped.[16] She was featured in the "Star Power: Culinary Muscle" episode, alongside former NFL playerLaMarr Woodley, Olympic medalist fencerMariel Zagunis, and UFC fighterPaige VanZant. Hamill was the third and last contestant to be eliminated, narrowly missing out on advancing to the final heat, losing to Paige VanZant in the final round.
Hamill wrote an autobiography titledOn and Off the Ice. She was married and divorced twice: toDean Paul Martin (1982–1984), and then to Kenneth Forsythe (1987–1995), with whom she had a daughter named Alexandra. Hamill married her third husband, John MacColl, in 2009.[17] Her second autobiographyA Skating Life: My Story, was published in 2007.
For much of her adult life, Hamill has experienced chronic depression, which is controlled through medication and therapy. Her daughter also suffers from the condition.[18] In her autobiography she describes her condition as atypicalseasonal affective disorder, which, unlike most such cases, tends to flare up for her in the summer rather than the winter. In 2008, Hamill announced that she was being treated forbreast cancer.[19]
Hamill was a mentor to 2010 U.S. national championRachael Flatt.[6] Flatt, like Hamill, trained inColorado Springs, Colorado.
| International | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 68–69 | 69–70 | 70–71 | 71–72 | 72–73 | 73–74 | 74–75 | 75–76 |
| Winter Olympics | 1st | |||||||
| World Champ. | 7th | 4th | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | |||
| Nebelhorn Trophy | 1st | |||||||
| Prague Skate | 1st | |||||||
| Richmond Trophy | 1st | |||||||
| St. Gervais | 1st | |||||||
| National | ||||||||
| U.S. Champ. | 1st N | 2nd J | 5th | 4th | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st |
| Levels: N = Novice; J = Junior | ||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
