49 years ago, Dorothy Hamill also wins the World Cup after Olympic. However, your life is by no means.
If there was a synonym for a perfect athlete year, Dorothy Hamill could be used in 1976. That year, the figure skater brought about what is probably the epitome of a wonderful season for athletes.
The American won Olympic gold at the time of the games in Innsbruck, and on March 6th finally gold at the World Championships in Gothenburg. Olympic champion and world champion in just a few weeks – the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
At that time, Hamill brought great popularity – also because of a special trademark. Because the American did not go on the ice with walling hair or an artistically draped updo, but with a brisk short haircut.
Her hairstyle became a trend, after her career she became a business perspective for shampoo products. Even a doll was made according to her model.
Did a competitor try to run over?
Hamill is still the last figure skater who was able to win the Olympic victory with a freestyle without a triple jump. In terms of sport, she still left a lasting impression – and not only because she invented a pirouette in her active time that is named after her today. Keyword: “Hamill Camel”.
But as much as their life gave the impression of gloss and Gloria, this picture was so little right then. Shortly after her Olympic victory, Hamill said that a competitor and her trainer had tried to run over her in the Olympic village when she ran down the street with her coach.
“I will not say who it was. It was scary and they laughed, ”said the athlete, who got the nickname“ America’s Sweetheart ”, later.
Dorothy Hamill in the year of her greatest successes
Whole family Hamill suffered from depression
In addition: Hamill could not share the greatest success of her career, the Olympic victory in Innsbruck. This preferred to be in the hotel – without ever delivering an explanation for it – instead of celebrating her daughter in the hall.
“I guess it was once when I really hoped that she would say: ‘I’m proud of you’. Or: ‘We were well together’. It was sad and disappointing. “
The mother The American had done everything for her daughter’s career, was up to 4 a.m. countless times in the morning to drive her child for training in distant ice halls.
However, the relationship between the two was difficult, since the mother suffered from violent depression. Hamill’s father was also depressed, but it was not talked about the household. It was only many years later that the athlete realized that she too was affected.
The first husband died after divorce in the event of misfortune
However, she did not stop this from professional success. After her competitive career, she acted as a draft horse of the ice revue Ice Capades from 1977 to 1984, and she also produced and played in in -house productions such as “Cinderella” and “The Nutcracker”. Hamill even won an Emmy Award for her role in “Romeo & Juliet on Ice”.
In private, the 68-year-old found her first great luck with Dean Paul Martin, the son of the legendary actor and singer Dean Martin-but luck was not permanent.
He did not cope with the fame of his father and his wife, the divorce followed. A drastic moment, especially because it was in summer. The time when Hamill was much worse, she could not pursue figure skating as desired.
“I really noticed it ( the depression, editor’s note ). I was destroyed, depressed and sobbed for weeks because I had lost both my best friend and my husband. It was tragic. He was an incredibly funny, uncomplicated and talented man. “
Just a short time later, Martin, who worked as a pilot, died during a plane crash. It is difficult to cope with for Hamill.
Bankrott and second divorce
With her second husband Kenneth Forsythe, with whom she has daughter Alexandra, the athlete finally bought the ice revue, in which she acted as a star. But both had to sell the show after they had registered bankruptcy in 1994.
And it came even worse: After pictures of her husband appeared with a younger woman in the tabloid press, the second divorce followed.
Dorothy Hamill survived breast cancer
Not the last setback in your life. In January 2008, Hamill announced that he was ill with breast cancer. Since then she has been involved in the fight against cancer.
Figure skating as healing experience
Her big World Cup triumph in Gothenburg has now been for 49 years. Despite many appointments, busy life and a third marriage, depression continues to play a major role. And not only because daughter Alexandra is also ill.
On some days, the 68-year-old cannot even give the dishwasher. A “really paralyzing” illness. Help medication and therapies. Above all, the Olympic champion helps one thing: the sport she knows and loves all her life.
“This magical, cool air and the wind in my face and music. Somehow that always gets me out of my gloom. “
Perhaps one or the other memory of their perfect athlete year 1976 will also help.