Members MissLlanviewPA Posted November 7, 2015 Members Share Posted November 7, 2015 This should be in the Figure Skating thread, but I really think this deserves its own thread (That, and I couldn't find that thread--it's pretty far back here). Former Olympic Bronze winning figure skater and orthopedic surgeon Debi Thomas is now broke and living in a bug-infested trailer: http://www.mercuryne...rce=infinite-up http://www.huffingto...4b0307f2cac80c1 Full disclosure: I am a huge figure skating fan; it's my favorite sport, especially the ladies singles, as well as men's singles. I prefer a lot of the older era of skating, so I've watched a lot of older performances on 3Axel1996's YouTube channel over the last several years, and Debi Thomas is one of my favorites: The first (and so far, only) Aftican-American woman to ever win a National title--first in 1986, then again in 1988--a World title in 1986, and the first African-American to ever win a medal in the Winter Olympics (the bronze in 1988 in Calgary). She was also a great role model: at the height of her success in the amateur ranks, she was studying to become a doctor at Stanford medical school. She gave some of the best post-skate interviews I've ever seen, certainly in sports; always very articulate--her interview after her long program in the Olympics--a lackluster performance which nonetheless won her the bronze--is incredible. To see her at this point brings me to tears, because she really was one of the best in her sport. I wish her well. This was probably her greatest performance, at the 1987 World Championships in Cincinnati. She only finished second because Katarina Witt was right after her, and Katarina was a red-light on perfomer--she got it done when it counted. She also skated a great short program at the 1988 Olympics: Here's her long program, too. Less than perfect, but still got the bronze. And like I said, an amazing post-interview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW4LqC33TiU Can you tell I love this sport? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MissLlanviewPA Posted November 7, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 7, 2015 Actually, it was more her post-World long program interview I was thinking of. Not a great performance, but I think her education gave her a great perspective as far ad trying to get past things like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DramatistDreamer Posted November 7, 2015 Members Share Posted November 7, 2015 This makes me sad I remember as a kid watching that '88 Olympics and cheering her on. I was disappointed at the errors and the fact that it meant that she wouldn't get the gold but when I thought about it, I was happy that she won the bronze and I couldn't be made at Witt, who, like you said, really knew how to turn up her perfomance when showtime came. And when I really stopped to realize that this young lady was studying for medical school while training for the Olympics, I begin to think 'how amazing is that?!' Many people may ask how does a Stanford educated, orthopedic surgeon with an Olympic medal end up destitute? I read somewhere several months ago, that in the downturn in the economy that Black women fared the worst of all groups in terms of employment and I believe that it is irrespective of education. Debi probably didn't realize the old saying that when you're a minority you have to be twice as good. If she were a man, she would probably labelled difficult but brilliant but a woman, there's something wrong with you and a Black woman 'oh boy, she's gonna blow up at someone!' It's unfortunate because some people get many chances even after making missteps over years but others, if you make a misstep or disagree and you are out of there! I wonder whether she'd ever consider coaching, just for awhile maybe? If the Figure Skating community can embrace Steuer who was once a member of the East German Stasi, I would think they could accept Thomas. By the way, has Vanzant successfully help 'fix' anyone's life since she started that show? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MissLlanviewPA Posted November 8, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 8, 2015 I'm honestly not sure if she has ever coached. I do know that she occasionally called a few figure skating competitions on TV at one point, and has skated professionally here and there. One thing that has come up about her before--Scott Hamilton talked about this once--was that she may have felt like she could never really enjoy skating, because her parents were so concerned about her being a student. Which of course is great, and she always said that she never wanted to feel like skating was all she had, but I could understand how she felt torn between those two worlds. Here's a profile on her from Worlds in 1988, a month after the Olympics. She was obviously still reeling from not getting the gold*--she admitted that she all but gave up after missing her first combination--but there's a lot about how she didn't want to turn professional right away, so she could focus full time on getting her degree (she got got the bronze again here too, BTW): *Actually, the best performances that night in Calgary were by Canada's Elizabeth Manley (who won the silver), and Japan's Midori Ito. The compulsory figures are what kept them from ranking higher--Witt, while not bad, wasn't as strong in the long as her win would suggest--the compulsory figures helped her out a lot. I wonder if she's still in touch with her old coach Alex McGowan, if he's still alive? I'd be curious how many people in the skating world are in touch with her, if any, and know how she's doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wales2004 Posted November 8, 2015 Members Share Posted November 8, 2015 Maybe people who don't know that education doesn't make a person sensible. She seems to have made choices that helped put her in this position. Maybe she is not at fault for her two divorces but something has to be going on for her to have lost custody of her child. Mothers usually have the advantage when it comes to custody. And the fact that she is living with an alcoholic who says he has anger issues in that bug-infested trailer might be part of the reason why she doesn't have custody of her son. One of her gofundme goals is to get a reality tv show. Maybe she figures Iyanla might get her the hook-up on Oprah's network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DramatistDreamer Posted November 9, 2015 Members Share Posted November 9, 2015 I don't have OWN so I was not aware of the extent of the mess that Debbi's life has become. It's far worse that what I imagined, which was me speculating without knowing the full facts of the situation. I was able to watch through a link that someone sent me: https://t.co/MJdQrm14YO After seeing this episode, it got me kinda down. That someone could essentially be offered a chance for a new start and throw it away. There is truly something wrong there, mentally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wizzerkat Posted November 9, 2015 Members Share Posted November 9, 2015 I have been a die-hard skating fan since 1988 and remember loving Debi. There is more to this. A skating email list I am on was talking about this. Apparently she never passed her boards for orthopedics and had a short-lived private practice. She also has burned some bridges along the way including in skating. She put up video recently. She talks about this Karatbar thing(which appear to be suspect at best if you Google it) a lot on her Facebook page and the video spends half its time showing some Karatbar propaganda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cheap21 Posted November 9, 2015 Members Share Posted November 9, 2015 I saw Iyanla and its obvious she doesnt love herself. Its sad that she let herself fall so hard as I saw no reason why this even happened. She is in an abusive relationship and I think this man is a big reason for her problems. She lost her practice bc of a domestic dispute with him at work. She is in denial big time. Sad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DramatistDreamer Posted November 9, 2015 Members Share Posted November 9, 2015 There is video of her performing surgery that was aired on the episode of Fix My Life. Wouldn't she have had to have passed the boards in order to perform surgery? What kind of medicine was she practicing at the hospitals she worked at/got fired from before her failed private practice if she didn't pass the boards? I actually came across that You Tube video before I saw the Fix My Life episode and just saw it as a huge step down from where she had once been. According to the Fix My Life episode, Debi let her medical license lapse with seemingly no desire to renew/re-activate it. The segment where she and Inyanla went to her storage locker seemed to suggest that she had thought about pursuing sports medicine after her practice folded. I can't think of anyone who would've been better suited than a doctor and a former Olympic athlete! ITA with Cheap. It's obvious that this woman does not truly love herself or she'd see that she has options and shouldn't settle for the type of life that she lives right now. I kept wondering where her family is though. In one of the videos that MissLlandviewPA posted there was a brief interview with her father, which made me wonder whether he was still alive. What about her Mother? She seems to have isolated herself as I saw no evidence of any existing relationship with her relatives-makes me wonder what happened there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MissLlanviewPA Posted November 9, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 9, 2015 An old interview with Debi from 2000, when she was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Her son was just two years old then. Really sad to read this now, especially how she erased the Olympics from her memory. http://espn.go.com/skating/news/2000/0209/345701.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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