A Golden Career
By Mark A. Lund and Lois Elfman |
"I don't think I could have asked for anything more," says Kristi
Yamaguchi about her professional skating career.
Yamaguchi started skating professionally in 1992, after winning
the Olympic gold medal and her second World title. "When I begun, I didn't
have quite a specific outline of what my goals were, but slowly they seemed
to take shape," she says.
Today, Yamaguchi's career has many facets - principal on the
Stars On Ice tour, corporate spokesperson, competitor, philanthropist.
Unlike many other Olympic athletes, her public profile seems greater today
than it was seven years ago. Her agent, Yuki Saegusa of International Management
Group, says that's because the only changes in Yamaguchi are good ones.
"In the seven years I've worked with Kristi, she has never changed her work ethic or her integrity," Saegusa says. "She has become a businesswoman. I think that's the area where she's grown the most."
By her own admission, Yamaguchi, 28, has also grown more aware of the world around her. For 10 years, the Stars On Ice tour has as it's official charity the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. "They're the ones who really opened my eyes to a lot of children in need and some of the things that can be done for them," she recounts.
In 1996, the skater formed her own foundation, the Kristi Yamaguchi Always Dream Foundation, with a focus on children's charities. This year, the organization has broadened its mission to include breast cancer awareness and support. On Sept. 18, Yamaguchi is producing a skating show in Oakland, California, titled "A Golden Moment". It will feature a female cast of Olympic and World gold medalists, singers and a 40-piece orchestra.
"We feel that breast cancer affects the whole family," Yamaguchi says. "Our focus is raising awareness and helping families that have dealt with breast cancer. We wanted to have a grace theme to the show with all of the women skating and all the women performing as live vocalists. It all fit it."
Another area of her life that is undergoing change is the romance department. Last Christmas Eve, Yamaguchi accepted proposal from boyfriend Bret Hedican, a professional hockey player with the Florida Panthers. With a laugh, she says it was meant to be: Apparently Hedican, 29, received a nod of approval from Yamaguchi's mother, Carole, before the two had even started dating.
"The first thing that caught my mind was that he was just such a gentleman," Yamaguchi says. "He was soft-spoken and very polite. When you spoke to him, he listened intently.
"He's such a genuine person," she adds. "We have a lot in common. We have a lot of the same values."
When asked to describe their most substantial difference, Yamaguchi laughs again: "Size is one thing. He's about 6 feet 2 1/2 inches, and I'm 5 feet 1 inch. A lot of people ask him if he's my bodyguard."
The two respect each other's dedication to their career, Yamaguchi says. Although she once got Hedican to don figure skates and perform a death spiral with her, she doesn't expect an on-ice pairing reminiscent of the movie The Cutting Edge. However, that does not mean that Yamaguchi, two-time U.S. pair champion with Rudy Galindo, has ruled out a return to pairs skating.
"I have always thought I want to do this again," she says. "Obviously, not at the competitive level, because those pairs are just amazing right now.
"Over the last few years I thought, you know, I don't want to have any regrets in my career," she continues. "If I do retire without trying pairs one more time, then I think that will be a regret. So I think that's something definitely on my list of to-dos."
Yamaguchi is committed to at least three more seasons on the road with Stars on Ice. The 62-city tour can b grueling, but she still finds performing before appreciative audiences a thrill.
"What keeps a skater in a tour on the road are the crowds and the fans," she explains. "Every night, being in a new arena, seeing the faces out there - that's the greatest thing a skater can ask for. That's whom we're performing for.
"The other stuff - the hotels, the traveling, living out of a suitcase and not having home-cooked meals for four months - can be kind of wear on you. We kind of get through all of that so we could have the joy every night."
When she's not on the road, Yamaguchi delights in returning home to the condominium she recently brought in San Francisco. During the off-season, she practices on ice 90 minutes a day and then devotes another 90 minutes a day to off-ice workouts: cycling, stretching, taking dance classes and lifting free weights. Over the summer she averages two or three lessons a week with longtime coach Christy Ness.
She says she adores the "normalcy" of being off the road.
"I'm pretty much a homebody," she says. "I like being at home and fiddling around. I try to get into a routine."
She also spends as much time as possible with her family - her mother; her father, Jim; her sister, Lori and her brother, Brett. Saegusa says, "She has great family support." Yamaguchi agrees wholeheartedly: "I always feel my family has been the foundation."
Yamaguchi's genuineness and commitment to her family have not gone unnoticed in the corporate marketplace, where her presence is stronger than ever. She recently signed on for an eighth season as the corporate spokesperson for Celanese Acetate, the company that manufactures the synthetic fiber.
"I think her image is wholesome and sweet," says Ellen Sweeney, the company's director of public affairs and advertising. "She opens the way. The day after she did a recent appearance in the petite department at Bloomingdale's [in NYC], they had an increase in sales in both...the department and outfits that contained acetate."
Yamaguchi sat out much of the competitive season last year, unhappy with the change from professional competitions to open internationals. She made her return in April at a team event produced by the United States Figure Skating Association. (She won her round, but the U.S. team lost) She admits being back in competition was exciting, and she says if there are more professional competitions next season, she will likely jump back into the fray.
"No matter if you're two years or seven years out from the Olympics, you're still competitive," she says. "I don't think that ever really goes away."
It has not been easy to achieve and sustain the heights. Yamaguchi offers this advice to young athletes: "Set your goals high, and always keep them in focus. Set smaller ones daily or weekly in order to keep the ball rolling in the right direction. I think if it's something that you really want to pursue, then you've got to put 100 percent into it and go for it."
Saegusa says that's not just lip service, that Yamaguchi lives by those words: "The almost universal feedback is that Kristi Yamaguchi embodies the true meaning of being successful as an athlete - working hard, keeping up her level of performance and really caring about the sport.
"Kristi is the perfect example of good things happening to a good
person."
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