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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.
Biography
Kristi Yamaguchi was born July 12, 1971 in Hayward, California and grew up in Fremont, California where she attended Mission San Jose High School. Yamaguchi began skating as a child, as physical therapy for her club feet. She is coached by Christy Ness. With Rudy Galindo she won the junior pairs title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1986. Two years later, Yamaguchi won the singles and, with Galindo, the pairs titles at the 1988 World Junior Pair Championships. Yamaguchi and Galindo won the senior United States Figure Skating Championships pairs title in 1989 and 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.
Yamaguchi was the first woman to have won both the U.S. Senior pairs and ladies figure skating titles.
Kristi also won gold in the 1992 Winter Olympics in the Women's Figure Skating Competition.
She is married to Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Bret Hedican.
Singles career
From 1990 on, Yamaguchi concentrated on singles competition. At the 1992 Winter Olympics she won the ladies singles gold medal. She also won the 1992 U.S. senior ladies title, and both the 1991 and 1992 World Championships. Unlike her rivals Midori Ito and Tonya Harding, Yamaguchi did not include the triple axel jump in her program, but compensated with superior artistry and inclusion of the triple lutz-triple toe loop jump combination. Oddly enough, while Yamaguchi regularly landed the relatively difficult triple lutz and triple flip jumps, she had problems with the comparatively easy triple salchow jump, landing it successfully only once in competition during the height of her career during the period from 1991 through 1992 -- this occurring at the 1992 U.S. national championships, at what is generally regarded to be her finest performance as a competitive singles skater.Professional life
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 currently with the Carolina Hurricanes. They have two daughters: Keara Kiyomi, born on October 1, 2003 and Emma Yoshiko, born on November 16, 2005.She established the Always Dream Foundation for children in 1996.
She is good friends with skater Michelle Kwan.
External links
- AlwaysDream.org: Kristi's official website
- Kristi Yamaguchi's U.S. Olympic Team bio
- olympic.org Athlete Profile - Yamaguchi
- Yamaguchi induction into US Olympic Hall of Fame
See also
- U.S. Figure Skating Championships (list of national champions)
- Olympic medalists in figure skating
- World Figure Skating Championships
Navigation
1971 births | American figure skaters | Asian American sportspeople | Figure skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics | Japanese Americans | Living people | People from the San Francisco Bay Area | Winter Olympics medalists | Olympic competitors for the United States
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"Kristi Yamaguchi"