Dorothy Hamill and Scott Hamilton: The Price of Gold

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Academy of Achievement

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4.6 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2018

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Two of the greatest figure skaters to ever grace Olympic ice explain why winning a gold medal was not the absolute triumph you might think. For both Hamill (’76) and Hamilton (’84), skating offered relief from painful childhood circumstances; when their Olympic dreams were reached, the future seemed suddenly uncertain. Listen to these stories, both heartbreaking and victorious, and you will never watch the Olympics the same way again. (c ) American Academy of Achievement 2018

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Winter Olympics in Pyongyang Chang are just underway as I record this.
0:08.0	While you watch them, you'll be regaled with plenty of stories about the mighty, the cocky, the badass.
0:15.8	But it's worth remembering that cliche or not, appearances can be deceiving.
0:21.4	Take for example Skater Dorothy Hamill, for example, Skater, Dorothy Hamill. In 1976, she gracefully glided and leapt,
0:28.8	double-axled, and salkout her way into America's heart.
0:33.0	My goodness, she had a hairdo named after her.
0:36.0	And yet, behind the scenes,
0:38.0	she didn't feel like America's sweetheart at all.
0:42.0	Usually going to the bathroom and throw up.
0:45.2	I really would get violently ill.
0:48.6	So I never ate very much before I competed
0:51.5	because I couldn't keep it down.
0:55.0	And I often thought it was really like going to your own execution.
1:00.0	You know, from the time I got up in the morning you know I'd be
1:04.2	looking at the clock saying okay I've only got 12 hours until I'll be
1:08.1	finished and nine hours till I'm finished five minutes from now I'll be finished. It was just I couldn't wait
1:16.8	till it was over. Then there's Scott Hamilton, the 1984 gold medalist and four-time world champion.
1:25.0	When I won worlds, I was devastated.
1:28.0	I thought, I'm a world champion.
1:31.0	What's wrong with a sport?
1:32.0	If I can win the worlds, what's wrong with a sport?
1:32.7	If I can win the worlds, this is like a bad time for figure skating.
	...

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