During the first 30 years of the Olympics, the United States was extremely weak in women’s figure skating. The team didn’t win a single gold medal until 1956, when Tenley Albright improved on her silver placing from the1952 Games and took first place. After that, U.S. women took home the gold at the next three Olympics, in 1960, 1968 and 1976.
After Dorothy Hamill’s 1976 victory, however, the United States suffered through another string of defeats. East German skating superstar Katarina Witt dominated the Winter Games for almost a decade, winning gold in both 1984 and 1988.
But everything changed again in Albertville, France, during the 1992 Games. Kristi Yamaguchi became the first U.S. woman to win the gold in 16 years. It was also that year Olympic viewers first saw American headline-grabber Nancy Kerrigan, who took home the bronze.
Scandal and betrayal in the sport of women’s figure skating marred the following Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway. Newspapers across the world ran pictures of Kerrigan holding her leg and screaming after she was clubbed with a crowbar. The American team was humiliated when it was revealed that teammate Tonya Harding was behind the attack. But in a story of Olympic triumph, Kerrigan skated through her injury and took home the silver that year. It was the young Ukrainian Oksana Baiul who won the gold. Baiul grabbed headlines for herself when she literally wept through the entire medal ceremony.
The U.S. figure skaters retook the lead and dominated the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan. Tara Lipinski took home the gold and Michelle Kwan the silver.
The Salt Lake City Games are shaping up to be a showdown between Russia and the United States. Michelle Kwan is favored to win the gold. If she does succeed in improving on her previous silver win, she will follow in the footsteps of U.S. women’s skating pioneer Tenley Albright. American Sasha Cohen is favored to take the silver, and Russia’s Irina Slutskaya is in a strong position to take the bronze. The other major competitors at this year’s Games are Russia’s Maria Butyrskaya and Viktoria Volchkova. The third U.S. skater, Sarah Hughes, also comes in with a promising record.
In addition to her Olympic medal, Kwan also took home first place in the 2001 World Figure Skating Championships. Slutskaya took second, and Cohen took third in the competition.
Overall, U.S. women figure skaters have taken home six Olympic gold medals.
