Dorothy Hamill

Every four years the Olympic Games produce a new group of champions, but only rarely does one of these champions transcend their sport to completely capture our imaginations.

Such was the case when nineteen year old figure skater Dorothy Hamill won her Gold Medal at the 1976 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Her interpretation of music, fluid skating and infectious charm led all nine judges to unanimously vote her the winner.

Hamill is most proud of her World Championship title in Sweden following her win at the 1976 Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Everyone had advised her to retire from amateur competition, saying that even a second place would tarnish the luster of her Olympic gold. Characteristically, once she set her mind to it, she would not be dissuaded, and won.

As a professional, Hamill has skated with many productions, including eight years with the company she helped bring to preeminence among touring ice shows, the Ice Capades. She had an unprecedented four ABC television prime time specials produced in her honor. Along with winning five consecutive World Professional titles, Hamill has produced and starred in her own touring productions of “Cinderella – Frozen In Time”, “Hansel, Gretel, the Witch and the Cat”, and “Nutcracker On Ice” and won an Emmy for her starring role in “Romeo and Juliet.” Hamill was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame and the Figure Skating Hall of Fame and was very proud to run the torch into the Olympic Stadium in Salt Lake City with her friend Dick Button as well as skate the closing ceremonies with vocalist Harry Connick Jr. In addition to her skating roles, Hamill was the first recipient of the Stars of Madison Avenue Award for her continued roles in successful advertising campaigns.

In her book, A Skating Life, she reveals her lifelong struggle with a depression that sometimes left her contemplating suicide. She shares the story of her lifelong struggle and how she now successfully manages her depression with a compendium of exercise, medication, therapy, and the support of her family and friends.

Hamill’s charity work includes the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, the International Special Olympics, Big Brothers & Sisters of America, Buoniconti Fund, Olympic Aid, Vaccine Fund, American Cancer Society, Ronald McDonald House, and teaching blind children to skate through the March of Dimes. She does a lot of motivational speaking engagements to Women’s Organizations and Corporations and she was a featured speaker at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. Recently, after losing friends to AIDS, she has donated her time to helping raise money for many AIDS foundations.

Hamill was a judge on Skating with Celebrities on FOX TV, which aired during primetime beginning Winter 2006. She continues to tour with Champions on Ice and Broadway on Ice throughout the country.