![]() ![]() She called skating her "passion" and "therapy." ![]() Her parents didn't push Hamill to the ice. She started skating at eight - on a frozen pond near her home - with socks stuffed in the toes of her older brother's skates. The youngest of Chalmers and Carol Hamill's three children, she was born on July 26, 1956, in Chicago and raised in Riverside, a division of the Connecticut town of Greenwich. Frankly, I didn't think she could do it, either, for a long while."Īlso, the high points of Hamill's life on the ice were offset by personal disappointments, including bankruptcy and failed relationships. "She had to be pushed and always said she couldn't win in competition. "Dorothy had a strong handicap in that she was negative," said her coach, Carlo Fassi. She also became the first female athlete to sign a $1 million-a-year contract, with the Ice Capades, which she would later purchase and manage.īut her public self-assurance often belied stage fright, loss of confidence and excessive self-criticism. Millions of young girls copied her 'do, which looked like a bowl haircut. She succeeded splendidly when, as a teenager, she captured the hearts of the American public by winning a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics.ĭorothy Hamill won gold in the 1976 Olympics in Austria.įollowing the Games, Hamill became a marketing sensation when her hairdo, a distinctive wedge cut, made a fashion statement. As a child, she wanted to be a famous ice skater. "Dorothy's special gift was her power, her straight back, and that fresh style that she could create with her movement over the ice," says 1968 Olympic champion Peggy Fleming on ESPN Classic's SportsCentury series.ĭorothy Hamill was from 'do to toe the American ideal of a 1970s icon.
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