|
Kristi Yamaguchi
b. 7-12-1971; Hayward, CA
It has often been said that the key to success in sports, as in life, is dedication. Kristi Yamaguchi knows all about dedication. she began practing to be a figure skating champion at the age of 6. As a teenager she used to get up every morning at 3:45 so she could be out on the ice by 5 am. All of her hard work and dedication paid off in 1992, when she became the first American woman in 16 years to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating.
Like many Asian-Americans, Kristi Yamaguchi has always lived in two worlds. Her father and mother are both Japanese, but both sides of her family have lived in American for almost 100 years. And both her mother's and her father's families faced discrimination during the 1940s, when many Japanese-Americans were cruelly and unfairly punished for Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Kristi's mother, Carole, was born in one of the so-called "internment camps" in which thousands of Japanese-Americans were imprisoned during World War Two. Her father's family was also sent tot he camps, and lost everything they owned.
Kristi Yamaguchi was born on July 12, 1971, and grew up in the California town of Fremont, mear San Francisco. Her father is a dentist, and Kristi is one of three children in her family. Although she was born with clubfeet, which means that her feet were bent in a way that made normal walking difficult, special shoes corrected the problem. In many ways, Kristi was a normal California kid – she loved sports and spent a lot of time outdoors. But Kristi also possessed an inner drive and strength that led her to take up the demanding sport of figure skating at a very young age. To be good at figure skating requires hours and hours of practice, and it can sometimes be boring and frustrating. But Kristi stuck with it, and in 1988 she won her first major amateur title at the World Junior Championships.
Early in her career, Kristi skated both singles and pairs. But after 1988, she concentrated on singles. The result was spectacular success, as Kristi finished second at the 1990 U.S. National Championships and first in the 1990 Goodwill Games. Kristi captured first place at the World Chamionships in 1991, and then went on to win the U.S. Nationals the following year. After that came her triumph at the Olympics, where she beat out her biggest rival, Japan's Midori Ito. Today, Kristi is a professional skater, and she continues to thrill audiences around the world with the beauty, grace and elegance of her skating.
• Great Asian Americans posters
|
