Show: Page 1 with host Nick Charles
The Sporting Life with Jim Huber: Skating On Thin Ice.
Guests Kristi
Yamaguchi and Bret Hedican talk humorously about their relationship on the
ice...and off.
Aired May 15, 1999 - 11:30 a.m. ET on CNN
NICK CHARLES: An American love story, but was it love at first sight for Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRETT HEDICAN, FLORIDA PANTHERS: She doesn't remember. Come on, she doesn't remember who I was. And that was the funny thing about it, was that when I went over and introduced myself again in Vancouver, it was fun to kind of just go over and say hello.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[In between other segments of the show...]
CHARLES: Kristi Yamaguchi's heating up the ice again, but this time she won't be skating on a rink, she'll be gliding down the aisle.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHARLES: Coming up on PAGE 1, women's figure skating is considered a refined sport filled with artistry, so marrying a professional hockey player is one of the last things Kristi Yamaguchi could have imagined doing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTI YAMAGUCHI, FIGURE SKATER: The hockey players come in and they're, you know, spitting all over the place and, you know, changing in the lobby of the rink, and, you know, they're just kind of a different breed from the...
HEDICAN: No class. No class.
YAMAGUCHI: ... from the figure skaters. So, you know, it was definitely the last type of athlete I thought I would ever date.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHARLES: Now, as he does each week on PAGE 1, Jim Huber joins us. This time, with the story of two athletes, who happily learned they had even more in common than they thought.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM HUBER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nick, America might need to find itself a new sweetheart, now that Kristi Yamaguchi is semi-officially taken. Hers is an interesting story. It's a relationship that was founded, literally, on very thin ice.
(voice-over): They met as fellow Olympians in Alberville. And it didn't take long for Bret Hedican to take notice of the newly crowned queen of the ice..
HEDICAN: She made an impression on all of us, because she would come up, and she was just excited to be there and happy to be watching the hockey team and the players and be a part of it. The United States and representing us, I guess,...
YAMAGUCHI: The Olympic spirit was there, you know.
HEDICAN: Yes, the Olympic spirit.
HUBER: Is it was three years before the two crossed paths again. Both had taken to professional ice: Kristi touring with Discover's Stars on Ice, Bret with the NHL's St. Louis Blues before being traded to the Canucks. Both were in Vancouver for the 1995 grand opening of the GM Place Arena.
YAMAGUCHI: It was pretty funny, because we had a post reception after the big event in Vancouver, and one of my choreographers was with me, and I said, oh, you know, I just met this guy. He was on the same Olympic team. He's like, oh, well he keeps looking over here. He's cute. Why don't you go talk to him? And I was so embarrassed, and, you know, I was back, you know, transported back to grade school.
HEDICAN: And I kind of embarrassed myself, walked over and said, hi, I met you in '92 at the Olympics, and I just wanted to introduce myself again and just say hello.
HUBER: They began dating soon after, but though ice was their common ground, it was an unlikely pairing.
YAMAGUCHI: Growing up, you're always fighting for ice time, the hockey players come in and they're, you know, spitting all over the place, and, you know, changing in the lobby of the rink, and, you know, they're just kind of a different breed from the...
HEDICAN: No class. No class.
YAMAGUCHI: ... from the figure skaters. So, you know, it was definitely the last type of athlete I thought I would ever date.
HUBER: Despite that, romance blossomed. But the distance made things difficult. The telephone often their only link for weeks at a time.
YAMAGUCHI: We're constantly in different time zones, and sometimes, you know, when he's in Vancouver, there's three hours difference. And by the time I'm back from a show, you know, he's out to dinner. And then by the time he gets back from dinner, it's 3:00 in the morning my time or whatever. So, yes, it was a challenge. But I think it kept the relationship, you know, fresh.
HUBER: By Christmas last year, Bret ready to propose. But even that was a challenge.
HEDICAN: The one thing I wanted for Christmas was just a night for her and I to go to dinner, and again she invites...
YAMAGUCHI: My sister and brother -- her husband...
HEDICAN: So I couldn't...
YAMAGUCHI: to go along with dinner.
HEDICAN: I obviously couldn't do at dinner then, so I had to wait for the right time.
YAMAGUCHI: I was just like, oh, my gosh. This is, like,...
HEDICAN: The moment.
YAMAGUCHI: ... the moment, you know. And, you know, you think about it all of the time and, yes, I was just speechless for a while. And -- but I knew my answer right away.
HUBER: Though they have the ice in common, they travel it in very different skates -- or figure eights.
HEDICAN: I had never tried figure skates before, so I put them on. I just wanted to see what it was like...
YAMAGUCHI: And they were rentals at that, so probably not in the best shape. But he was doing pretty good and, you know, trying to be graceful with his arms and, you know, doing crossovers still looking like a hockey player, though. But he was fine until I said, OK, let's do one fast lap around the rink.
HEDICAN: So as soon as you accelerate on hockey skates, you can. And on figure skates, you have the toe pick there. And down I went. I hit my elbow so hard.
YAMAGUCHI: It pretty much echoed through the rink.
HUBER: It's called falling head over heels, a malady they both hope will last the rest of their lives. And they will take their vows to that end next summer.
HUBER (on camera): Nick, marriage is about compromise, and there's been none tougher for Kristi Yamaguchi than the switching of allegiances. For years, she was a devoted San Jose Sharks fan. Now, of course, she must followed the Florida Panthers. I guess it makes for a little bit easier home life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHARLES: Jim, to say marriage is a compromise is an understatement.
At the very end of the transcript it states:
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Back to the Transcripts