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| Birth Name(s) : Kristi Yamaguchi |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Single
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Full Kristi Yamaguchi Biography
Kristi Tsuya Yamaguchi (born July 12, 1971) is an American figure skater. In December 2005, she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.
Kristi Yamaguchi was born on July 12, 1971 in Hayward, California, to Jim Yamaguchi, a dentist, and Carole Doi, a medical secretary. A fourth-generation Japanese American, Kristi’s grandparents were victims of the United States' anti-Japanese policies during World War II and were sent to an internment camp, where her mother was born. Kristi and her siblings, Brett and Lori, grew up in Fremont, California, where Kristi attended Mission San Jose High School. Yamaguchi began skating as a child, as physical therapy for her club feet.
With Rudy Galindo she won the junior title at the U.S. championships in 1986. Two years later, Yamaguchi won the singles and, with Galindo, the pairs titles at the 1988 World Junior Pair Championships. In 1989 Yamaguchi and Galindo won the senior U.S. championships pairs title and won again in 1990.
As a pairs team, Yamaguchi and Galindo were unusual in that they were both accomplished singles skaters, and in that they jumped and spun in opposite directions, Yamaguchi counter-clockwise, and Galindo clockwise. In 1990, Yamaguchi decided to focus solely on singles. Galindo went on to have a successful singles career as well, winning the 1996 U.S. championships and the 1996 World bronze medal.
In 1991, coached by Christy Ness, Yamaguchi placed second to Tonya Harding at the U.S. championships, her third consecutive silver medal at Nationals. The following month in Munich, Germany, Yamaguchi won the 1991 World Championships. That year the American ladies team, consisting of Yamaguchi, Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, became the first and only national team to have its members place first, second and third at Worlds. In 1992, Yamaguchi won her first U.S. title and gained a spot to the 1992 Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France. Joining her on the U.S. team were again Kerrigan and Harding. While competitors Harding and Japan’s Midori Ito were consistently landing the difficult triple axel jump in competition, Yamaguchi instead focused on her artistry and her triple-triple combinations in hopes of becoming a more rounded skater. Both Harding and Ito fell on their triple axels at the Olympics, (though Ito successfully landed the jump later on in her program after missing it the first time) allowing Yamaguchi to win the gold, despite errors in her free program, including a step-out on a triple loop and a double salchow instead of a planned triple. Yamaguchi went on to successfully defend her World title that same year.
Kristi Yamaguchi turned professional after the 1992 competitive season. She toured for many years with Stars on Ice and was also a fixture on the pro competition circuit. In recent years she has cut back on her skating schedule to concentrate on family life. Since July 8, 2000 she has been married to Bret Hedican, an NHL hockey player she initially met at the 1992 Winter Olympics. Yamaguchi and Hedican, who is currently with the Carolina Hurricanes, reside in Raleigh, North Carolina with their two daughters, Keara Kiyomi, born in 2003 and Emma Yoshiko, born in 2005. She also made a guest appearance as herself in the Disney Channel original movie Go Figure.
Rapper Young Dro references Yamaguchi in the remix to the song We Fly High proclaiming his car is "skating on the ice like Kristi Yamaguchi".
1914: Theresa Weld | 1918: Rosemary Beresford | 1920-1924: Theresa Weld | 1925-1927: Beatrix Loughran | 1928-1933: Maribel Vinson | 1934: Suzanne Davis 1935-1937: Maribel Vinson | 1938-1940: Joan Tozzer | 1941-1942: Jane Vaughn | 1943-1948: Gretchen Merrill | 1949-1950: Yvonne C. Sherman | 1951: Sonya Klopfer | 1952-1956: Tenley Albright | 1957-1960: Carol Heiss | 1961: Laurence Owen | 1962: Barbara Roles | 1963: Lorraine Hanlon | 1964-1968: Peggy Fleming | 1969-1973: Janet Lynn | 1974-1976: Dorothy Hamill | 1977-1980: Linda Fratianne | 1981: Elaine Zayak | 1982-1984: Rosalynn Sumners | 1985: Tiffany Chin | 1986: Debi Thomas | 1987: Jill Trenary | 1988: Debi Thomas | 1989-1990: Jill Trenary | 1991: Tonya Harding | 1992: Kristi Yamaguchi | 1993: Nancy Kerrigan | 1994: * | 1995: Nicole Bobek | 1996: Michelle Kwan | 1997: Tara Lipinski | 1998-2005: Michelle Kwan | 2006: Sasha Cohen | 2007: Kimmie Meissner*Title stripped from Tonya Harding |
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