Figure skaters become world-renowned at a young age, and many go on to live long, full
lives – and some get into shocking trouble with the law.
Here's what happened to some of the world's most famous figure skaters.
Kitty and Peter Carruthers are adopted siblings who competed as a pair throughout their figure
skating careers.
In 1984, their teamwork earned them a silver medal in the Winter Olympics.
After their time in the Olympics, the pair turned to professional skating, winning the
Challenge of Champions in 1985, 1989, and 1992.
In 1992, they told the LA Times that they had no plans to return for the 1994 Olympics.
They were both satisfied with what they'd already accomplished.
According to Kitty,
"The '84 (medal) was our dream come true.
I don't think we can top that emotionally."
Kitty now reportedly lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and three children.
Just like her own parents adopted her and her brother, Kitty adopted two children, and
has one biological child.
Her brother, Peter, has worked on television as a skating analyst.
Their career earned them a spot in the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1999,
and the pair continued to occasionally skate together, most recently reuniting on the ice
in 2013 for the "P&G & Walmart Tribute to American Legends of the Ice."
Debi Thomas became internationally famous at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
Not only did she perform wonderfully, but she was also a trailblazer in the sport.
When she earned the bronze medal that year, she was the first African-American athlete
to place in the Winter Olympics, and she became an inspiration to many as a result.
After her time at the Olympics, Thomas graduated from Stanford, went to medical school, and
became an orthopedic surgeon.
For a time, it seemed all her hard work was paying off.
But, in 2014, she declared bankruptcy, and her medical license expired.
When The Washington Post interviewed her in 2016, Thomas was bankrupt and living in a
trailer.
She also made an appearance on "Iyanla: Fix My Life."
So, what went wrong?
Well, according to Thomas, nothing.
Speaking to The Washington Post, she claimed, quote, "I'm trying to change the world."
However, from the outside, her vision is hard to follow.
At the time of her interview, she was living in Richlands, Virginia, an old coal-mining
town, engaged to an unemployed coal miner, and recruiting people for "Karatbars," a company
that specializes in the sale of gold bullion and operates similarly to an MLM.
But, Thomas believes the investment in gold will help her and others against future financial
catastrophe.
According to The Washington Post, she seems to have bought into many conspiracy theories.
"Are you open to the possibility that your brain is not working at maximum capacity?"
Fans of figure skating were shocked to see former Olympic Skater Nicole Bobek's mugshot
in 2009.
It was jarring to see the figure skater, who had once amazed audiences, look so different.
According to the Chicago Tribune, after pleading guilty to level two conspiracy of manufacturing,
distributing, and dispensing crystal methamphetamine, Bobek thought she'd be doing jail time.
But, she got a second chance when she was only given five years probation.
Bobek said her downward spiral began after she was let go from performing with the Champions
on Ice tour.
Soon after that blow, she also lost a close family friend and her former coach.
But, Bobek added,
"I take full responsibility for my actions.
Not everyone falls into a substance because of the loss of a job or the death of a loved
one."
Since that low point, Bobek has worked hard to rebuild her image.
Speaking of when she hit rock bottom, Bobek said,
"It is very scary.
I am thankful every day I am alive.
And I feel more alive than ever, because I am not behind bars."
She's been open about telling her story in the hopes that it helps others going through
addiction.
While telling her story she said,
"I am renewing precious relationships, I've learned to skate again, and I'm loving life
more than ever."
"I've hit rock bottom.
I've fallen.
But this time I'm getting up."
Another figure skater who struggled with addiction was Tai Babilonia.
Watching Babilonia skate in perfect harmony with her partner, Randy Gardner, no one would
have imagined the hardship she would have to overcome in the following years.
The two were huge successes, but after Gardner suffered an injury that caused them to miss
the 1980 Olympics, Babilonia started skating professionally.
She went from needing to achieve three high-profile performances every year, to needing to turn
in a pro-level performance every night.
The pressure was overwhelming.
She told CBS Los Angeles that that was when her problems really began.
Looking back in 2015, she said that losing the support system of Olympics training left
her feeling vulnerable and alone.
"I was 20 and probably 15 up here.
I didn't know I was allowed to say, 'No, I'm tired.'"
The skater started drinking to manage the pressure, sometimes even having a drink before
taking to the ice.
Eventually, it all got to be too much, and Babilonia tried to take her own life.
But fortunately, from that low point, she was able to get sober and turn things around.
Babilonia now volunteers with The Teen Project, a nonprofit for young women recovering from
substance abuse.
Speaking about the girls she works with, Babilonia said,
"They are so not alone.
I'm so there with them.
I understand it.
And it's not easy.
Anything is possible.
You have to want it for yourself and you have to want it from the heart."
Randy Gardner was famous for his pairs figure skating career with partner Tai Babilonia.
Sadly, eleven years of training and dreaming of the Olympics were cut short before their
biggest performance.
At the 1980 Olympics, the pair, who were favorites to win, had to drop out of the competition
due to Gardner badly pulling his groin muscle.
His injury was a big blow to Gardner's figure-skating career, and having it happen right before
such an important moment made it even harder.
Fortunately, Gardner has been able to move forward with his life, and even came out with
a movie, "Go Figure: The Randy Gardner Story," about his career in skating and his personal
life.
The film was based around a play developed by him and playwright Joshua Ravetch.
The film explores Gardner's journey to becoming open about his sexuality.
The story shares that at the height of his and Babilonia's popularity, he was secretly
dating British figure skater Robin Cousins.
Now, Gardner is able to be open about his story in the hopes he can help others going
through similar experiences in the closet.
The story of Nancy Kerrigan was one of the most dramatic events to rock the skating world.
Before the 1994 Olympics, Kerrigan was attacked at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in
Detroit, Michigan.
The attacker was hired by her rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and the
injury meant she could not compete in the Olympic trials.
However, the United States Figure Skating Association still named her to the U.S. Olympic
team, and she went on to win a silver medal in the competition.
After the Olympics, Kerrigan continued skating professionally, and in 2017, she competed
on "Dancing with the Stars."
Today, Kerrigan still enjoys figure skating, and recently shared a video of herself on
the ice on her Instagram.
The rivalry between Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan was quite sensationalized at the
time, but the story received new attention in January 2018 due to the release of "I,
Tonya," a film starring Margot Robbie that explored Harding's life.
Prior to the film's release, Harding sat down with ABC News to discuss her perspective on
the events.
At the time of the attack on Kerrigan, Harding always maintained that she had nothing to
do with it.
However, during the 2018 interview, she admitted that she, quote, "knew something was up."
In her ABC interview, Harding said she still gets angry thinking about how she was painted
as the villain.
As she put it,
"The media had me convicted of doing something wrong before I had even done anything at all,
before I had talked to anyone, before I get out of bed."
Despite maintaining that she didn't plan the attack, Harding did plead guilty to conspiring
to do it.
She had to pay a $160,000 fine and was banned from the U.S. Figure Skating Association for
life.
Despite losing her figure skating career, Harding said she's been able to move forward
thanks to her family.
She said,
"It's my faith in myself and in my father that comes back to me and makes me get back
up off my butt and be something worth being proud of.
I get my second chance at life to be loved and be happy."
Although Michelle Kwan is celebrated as one of the world's top figure skaters, she was
never able to win Olympic gold.
In 1998, she took home the silver medal, and in 2002 she earned bronze.
Then she had to withdraw from the 2006 Olympic games due to an injury.
Speaking to U.S. Figure Skating, Kwan said,
"After those 2006 Olympics, if I had been 22, then maybe I would have tried to make
it to 2010, But I was 26, and I had other interests, like going back to school and pursuing
a master's degree in foreign policy.
I had many chapters of my life ahead of me and it felt like it was time to turn the page."
Leaving competitive skating behind was far from the end of Kwan's success.
She graduated in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in international relations from the University
of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies.
Kwan started pursuing a career in politics, and after getting her master's in 2011, she
was made senior advisor for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
She also worked as an advisor to Secretary Clinton's U.S.-China Women's Leadership Exchange
and Dialogue.
Now, she's working for the Biden administration as the ambassador to Belize.
Kristi Yamaguchi overcame a lot to become an Olympic athlete.
She told Working Mother that she was born with clubbed feet and had to go through corrective
treatment as a child that included wearing shoes connected by a brace.
According to CNN, she said,
"I was lucky they corrected it when I was so young.
Skating wasn't assigned to me, but when I wanted to skate, the doctors said it would
help."
From then on, Yamaguchi worked tirelessly on the rink, eventually earning herself a
gold medal at the 1992 Olympics.
During the Olympics, Yamaguchi also first met her future husband, Bret Hedican, an ice
hockey player.
The two met again a few years later, and married in 2000.
Along with motherhood, the former athlete has also stayed busy promoting child literacy.
Her program, Always Dream, works to ensure children in low-income homes have access to
books and resources to engage with reading.
Tara Lipinski was an impressive skater from a young age, and at the 1998 Olympics, she
broke the record for the youngest skater to take home gold for an individual event.
At 15 years and 255 days old, she was two months younger than the former titleholder,
Sonja Henie, was when she won.
After winning the Olympics, Lipinski continued to compete in professional skating for a time.
But even after she officially hung up her skates, Lipinski still wanted a challenge.
Her next goal was to become a sports commentator.
She is now a figure skating analyst for NBC Sports.
Sasha Cohen became someone to watch in competitive skating when she placed second at the 2000
U.S. Championships.
She had to sit out most of 2001 due to a stress fracture, but she came back strong in 2002,
again taking second in U.S. Nationals and coming in fourth at the Olympics.
In 2006, she was considered a front-runner at the Winter Olympics and earned the silver
medal.
Though she's done some shows since 2006, she stopped skating competitively after the Olympics.
So, what's she doing now?
Well, the answer is: quite a bit!
According to her LinkedIn, Cohen graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University in
2016 and is currently working in investment management in New York City.
Cohen also hosts a podcast, "Sasha Sessions: A Team USA Podcast."
When Dorothy Hamill won gold at the 1976 Winter Olympics, she became a national sensation,
even inspiring a generation of girls to ask hairstylists for "the Dorothy" to copy the
figure skater's iconic bob.
After winning the Olympics, Hamill surprised many by returning to World Championships.
She'd come in second the year before, and years later she told "Today" that she knew
she'd "always regret it" if she didn't try again for gold.
She won first place and invented a new move, coined the "Hamill Camel" in the process.
Hamill then went on to skate professionally, spending several years with the Ice Capades
and winning an Emmy for "Romeo and Juliet."
In her memoir, "A Skating Life," she discussed her battle with depression, and since beating
breast cancer, she's been a supporter of breast cancer organizations and spreading awareness.
She told USA Today that after going through successful cancer treatment, her energy has
returned.
She's even been able to return to the ice, though she added she won't be performing.
She said,
"It's nice to be able to go around and be in the cool air, which is what I love."
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