Mabel Fairbanks: The Ice Breaker

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NPR

Society & Culture

4.6 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 March 2022

⏱️ 39 minutes

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Summary

Figure skating has always been about flair and drama. But what happens on the ice is nothing compared to what goes on behind the scenes. This week, with the help of our friends at the Blind Landing podcast, we're telling the story of Mabel Fairbanks. Fairbanks was a Black and Seminole figure skater who spent her career training figure skaters of color — while navigating the complicated racial and social dynamics that characterized the sport.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Coats, which from MPR, I'm Gene Demby.
0:02.8	And I'm Karen Griggsby-Bates.
0:04.4	All right, KGB, did you watch the Olympics? I'm curious.
0:07.0	Um, Gene, I did a little bit mostly for the figure skating.
0:11.0	And I was paying attention to the controversy around Camilla Valleyeva,
0:15.4	the 15-year-old Russian skater who tested positive for a band medical substance,
0:20.4	but was still allowed to compete.
0:23.3	And as you know, a lot of people, including former Olympians,
0:27.2	some of them, were not happy about that.
0:29.6	And since she was favored to win a medal,
0:31.7	the Olympic organizers had to figure out what to do if the champions
0:35.9	are not to be somebody who popped on the drug test.
0:37.9	I'm sure they were dreading that.
0:39.3	But Valleyeva ended up stumbling during her routine anyway
0:42.7	and finishing fourth, so that became better.
0:45.1	Yeah, figure skating is always so much drama, KGB.
0:47.7	It's like, man.
0:49.5	Yeah, it's a perfect cauldron for drama.
0:53.0	You got the sparkly costumes and the young women,
0:55.9	sometimes very young.
0:57.4	Yes.
0:57.9	Doing extremely difficult and even to me, dangerous routines.
	...

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