Editor’s note: The “firsts” mentioned in this story only include accomplishments at the championship-level of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships© and senior level of international competition. There are numerous other skaters who have made important strides for diversity at the grassroots level and we commend them for their courage and perseverance. To learn more about some of these athletes, check out the 100 year interactive timeline.
By: Elvin Walker
American ladies have been trailblazers in the sport of figure skating, finding ways to stay at the forefront of a sport that is always pushing the limits of what is possible. The program has experienced unparalleled success on the international stage, capturing a record 26 World titles and an unprecedented seven Olympic gold medals. As the recipe for success has evolved, so too has the cast of champions who have kept the winning tradition alive and well.
Beatrix Loughran, the only American figure skater to have collected three Olympic medals, got the ball rolling in 1924 when she captured the bronze medal at the World Championships in Oslo, Norway. Not only was it the first medal for an American lady, but it was also the first at the World Championships for any figure skater representing the United States.
In the same decade, a young African American girl named Mabel Fairbanks discovered the sport when she saw other children skating on New York’s Central Park ice rink. At a time when separate but equal was the prevailing philosophy, Fairbanks challenged the status quo by simply lacing up a pair of skates and stepping onto the ice.
Undeterred by all the barriers in place designed to keep her out, Fairbanks persisted in finding ways to gain access to rinks so that she could continue to work on her craft. Because she was Black, Fairbanks was prohibited from entering competitions, and despite not having a single medal to her credit, she began producing her own shows, performing in supper clubs and making guest appearances on television programs. She would go on to coach future U.S. and World champions, mentoring other skaters in the Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) community as they continued her legacy.
In the first half of the 1900s, the landscape of the U.S. ladies figure skating podium was widely homogeneous despite the progress that Fairbanks had made for minorities in the sport. Tenley Albright had become the first U.S. woman to win a World title in 1953 and an Olympic crown in 1956, but it was not until Catherine Machado, a Latina, earned the bronze medal at the 1955 U.S. Championships that a non-white skater finished on the podium on the national stage. A year later she made history again in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, becoming the first American of Latin heritage to compete at the Olympic Winter Games in any sport.
Nearly three decades later in 1983, Tiffany Chin, a Chinese American skater who was at one time coached by Fairbanks, became the first Asian American to stand on the U.S. Championships podium. She would later become the first to win the coveted U.S. ladies title in 1985 and the first Asian American to represent Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games in any sport.
When Kristi Yamaguchi made her debut at the U.S. Championships in 1988, she just missed out on competing with Chin who retired from eligible competition a year earlier. The 1992 Olympic champion felt a special kinship with Chin, seeing for the first time what might be possible for Asian Americans in figure skating.
“It was a unique situation in that she was also from California, and there were times that I got to skate with her on the same ice,” Yamaguchi said. “There were so many qualities that were so great to try to emulate — not only her being a top Asian American skater in the country, but she also broke a lot of barriers technically as a skater. Artistically she had a unique and beautiful aesthetic on the ice, and the combination of all of that is what I really looked up to as an idol of mine. It’s so cliché, but representation really does matter, and to a young and impressionable athlete, believing that it is possible is the first hurdle.”
Yamaguchi’s historic win in Albertville, France, was the first Olympic medal, let alone gold, for an Asian American in the Winter Games. She also made history in pairs figure skating with partner Rudy Galindo when the duo won the U.S. title in 1989, becoming the first pairs champions of Asian and Latin descent, respectively. As she progressed through the ranks, Yamaguchi was unaware of the growing influence that she was having within the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. By the time she earned a spot on the Olympic team, she began to feel the pressure of expectations.
“Up until then I saw myself as any ordinary California girl who just happens to be Japanese American,” she explained. “I started to realize what (my success) meant to the Asian American community, and it was eye-opening, and I think a little intimidating at first because I didn’t really know how to handle it. It was also a big honor to be able to be in that position.”
Also following on the heels of Chin’s success, Debi Thomas became the first African American skater to land on the podium at the 1985 U.S. Championships, winning the silver medal, and later the U.S. ladies title in 1986. Thomas continued to make history, becoming the first Black athlete to win a medal at the Olympic Winter Games, a bronze in 1988.
In 2018 when Starr Andrews qualified for the U.S. Championships, it was the first time in seven years that a Black skater had earned a place in the senior ladies competition. Born in 2001, Andrews missed Thomas’ ascent to the top of the figure skating ranks and had few Black role models in the sport to emulate. Fortunately, 1979 World pairs champion Tai Babilonia helped Andrews learn about Fairbanks, one of Babilonia’s first coaches.
“Tai has told me stories about all of the things that Mabel did for the sport,” Andrews said. “She was such an amazing woman and so strong. She had so many people telling her that she shouldn’t skate, but she kept going.”
Andrews was announced as the inaugural Mabel Fairbanks Skatingly Yours Fund winner at the 2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Las Vegas. The award was established to support the training and development of skaters from the BIPOC community.
“I am so honored to receive the award,” she said. “The funding has helped me train the most that I ever have — I have been doing a lot of work on and off the ice.”
The pressure of being the only Black competitor in the ladies division ebbs and flows for Andrews, but her mother Toshawa, a skater herself, has helped to put things into perspective.
“Of course, you have people who say things that aren’t so nice online. You shouldn’t let that bother you. It’s just one person’s negative opinion,” Starr said. “When I have a rough day, my mom says, ‘What you’re doing is more than just you.’ I could be freaking out, but then I remember what she said and just try to be my best for me and my community.”
Amber Glenn is familiar with the negativity that often permeates the Internet. As the first American ladies singles skater to come out as pansexual, she has heard it all.
“I get very hateful direct messages and people will post things about me on social media,” the reigning U.S. silver medalist said. “I let it roll off my shoulders and focus on the positive messages from people who tell me their stories and who support me.”
Glenn decided to come out when she was at a crossroads in her career. Unsure if she wanted to continue, she decided that if she was going to walk away from the sport, she wanted to leave something behind.
“I was honestly getting to a point in my career where I was stagnating,” Glenn said. “I decided that if I can’t do anything else in the sport, that I wanted to make a difference. I never wanted to make a big deal about my sexuality, but I realized that I might be able to help others if I came out.”
When she decided to be open about who she is, Glenn admitted that she was concerned that it would impact her career negatively.
“I was a little hesitant because I had this fear of backlash,” she said. “Instead, I found that I could be myself, and I feel like the sport is encouraging us to be our authentic self.”
Glenn joined a long list of trailblazers in the ladies field at the 2021 U.S. Championships, becoming the first openly queer woman to earn a U.S. medal.
Nearly half of the ladies who vied for the senior and junior titles at the 2021 U.S. Championships had ties to the AAPI community, demonstrating the impact that Chin and Yamaguchi have had on the sport. Pooja Kalyan, who finished 10th in Las Vegas, hopes to build on that legacy, and make a similar impact with regards to the South Asian American community.
“As a young skater with dreams of being on Team USA one day, it was very difficult for me to find role models in the sport who were also of Indian origin,” said the first-year Brown University student. “There weren’t any Indian-American figure skaters that I knew of who competed at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships as seniors or who represented Team USA. As a result, part of my motivation to reach higher levels in figure skating was to inspire other skaters of Indian origin to pursue the sport and show them that they too can compete on the national and international stage.”
While it is too soon to measure the impact of athletes such as Andrews, Glenn and Kalyan might have on the future landscape of the ladies field in the United States, their presence provides hope that the sport will grow to support and represent the diversity of the country they call home.
