Dorothy Hamill is a Chicago figure skater, gold medallist, writer and businesswoman. Throughout her career, she made a great contribution to the development of figure skating. Read more about the life and activities of this talented woman on chicagoka.com.
A childhood dream came true
The future legend was born in Chicago on July 26, 1956. As a child, she went to visit her grandparents every weekend. The children often went to the pond. There, the girl first got on skates.
Realizing that skating brings great pleasure, the girl began to beg her parents to enroll her in figure skating lessons and they agreed. Having started to practice in the figure skating section, under the guidance of Barbara Taplan, the girl began to make good progress.
Career and fame
Dorothy loved what she did. The girl devoted all her free time to training. More than once, she went to training at 4:30 AM. The path to success seemed difficult. Despite everything, Hamill was able to reach her goal. She became a legendary figure skater, famous all over the world.
In 1969, she won the first US Championship title in her age group. A year later, she made her debut at the World Championship.
In 1974, the athlete made another big step forward, winning a silver medal. She won another one at this level next year.
The talented woman won a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in 1976. After a great victory, she won the title of World champion in Gothenburg.
Soon, she was called America’s sweetheart. In addition to the fact that she mastered numerous figure skating skills, she was prescribed the invention of a new technique that became a classic. This type of sitting rotation is called ‘Hamill camel’. Dorothy achieved great success. It seemed that there were no athletes equal to her. She became a standard of beauty for many women. Most dreamed of having a haircut like hers. Her beautiful eyes and kind smile charmed millions of people around the world. When Hamill went out on the ice, the hearts of fans stopped beating for a moment. They showered the rink with flowers and did not want to let go of their idol from the ice arena.
Life after retirement from sports
After her professional career ended, she took part in the Ice Capades show. In addition, she produced and starred on her own. Cinderella and The Nutcracker were among the most popular. In 1983, she received the Daytime Emmy Award for the brilliantly played lead role in the ice production of Romeo and Juliet.
In 1993, the show was on the verge of disappearing because there was no funding. The woman bought out the company. Soon, she sold it but continued to perform in the show.
Thanks to her achievements, the athlete was awarded many times. She was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame and US Figure Skating Hall of Fame. She was also chosen to carry the torch at the 2002 Olympic Games.
In 2006, she became a judge on the TV show Skating With Celebrities. In 2007, a book entitled A Skating Life: My Story was published. In 2013, she was announced as one of the new participants of the show Dancing with the Stars.
In 2008, she told her fans about her breast cancer and its treatment. Despite her health problems, she continued active cooperation with charitable organizations.
As for her personal life, the legendary figure skater fell in love twice. The first time she married Dean Martin. After living together for 2 years, the couple divorced. Dorothy’s second chosen one was Kenneth Forsyth. The couple had a daughter. After 13 years of marriage, they divorced.