2010 Vancouver: None
2006 Turin: Sasha Cohen, silver
Kwan withdraws after one practice in Turin. It is her unofficial retirement from competition, leaving the sport without a female star in the United States for the first time in 50 years and accelerating a decline in interest that continues when U.S. woman do not win an Olympic or world medal in the next seven seasons.
2002 Salt Lake City: Sarah Hughes, gold; Michelle Kwan, bronze
Sarah Hughes, 16, fourth after the short program, pulls off the greatest surprise in Olympic women’s skating to win the gold. Short program winner Kwan stumbles to bronze, making her the greatest skater never to win the Olympics.
1998 Nagano: Tara Lipinski, gold; Michelle Kwan, silver
Lipinski, 15, becomes the youngest champion by upsetting heavily favored Michelle Kwan, 17, whose graceful acceptance of defeat becomes an element in her wide popularity and admiration. Never have both the gold and silver medalists skated as brilliantly in the Olympics as Lipinski and Kwan did.
1994 Lillehammer: Nancy Kerrigan, silver
As if the Tonya-Nancy affair weren’t enough to stir the pot, the women’s event finishes in a controversial victory by 16-year-old Ukrainian orphan Oksana Baiul over Nancy Kerrigan. Baiul, then the second youngest champion in history (after Henie), moves to the United States and spends a few years a wealthy wild child, with drinking issues that get widely publicized as skating is constantly in the spotlight.
1992 Albertville: Kristi Yamaguchi, gold; Nancy Kerrigan, bronze
Yamaguchi becomes first U.S. women’s gold medalist since Hamill but decides not to take advantage of the one-time change in the Winter Olympic schedule and try for another two years later in Norway.
1988 Calgary: Debi Thomas, bronze
1984 Sarajevo: Rosalynn Sumners, silver
1980 Lake Placid: Linda Fratianne, silver
1976 Innsbruck: Dorothy Hamill, gold
Champion Dorothy Hamill’s wedge ‘do quickly becomes the most copied hairstyle in the United States. In 1993, Hamill ties with 1984 gymnastics champion Mary Lou Retton for first place in an Associated Press poll of the most popular athletes in the United States. Michael Jordan is third.
1972 Sapporo: Janet Lynn, bronze
Lynn, daughter of an Evergreen Park pharmacist, becomes one of the most beloved skaters in history after winning a bronze medal because of her grace on the ice and the lighthearted way she handled a mistake in the free skate. Hers was a joy of skating so unfettered by judges’ marks that Lynn was able to smile after falling on a flying sit spin. As an ice show star, she was once the world’s highest paid female athlete. In her book “A Passion To Skate,” choreographer and NBC commentator Sandra Bezic wrote, “If an angel could skate, she would move like Janet.”
1968 Grenoble: Peggy Fleming, gold
Fleming’s chartreuse dress is a highlight of the first Olympics broadcast in color. She is the only U.S. gold medalist at the Grenoble Olympics and immediately became a celebrity. President Lyndon Johnson receives her at the White House twice. She is the first skater since Henie to have a huge commercial appeal, headlining ice shows and doing TV commentary.
1964 Innsbruck: None
Following the 1961 plane crash that killed the entire elite of U.S. skating, this is the only Olympics from 1952 through 2006 when U.S. women did not win a medal. But a 15-year-old named Peggy Fleming finished sixth, setting the stage for her triumph four years later.
1960 Squaw Valley: Carol Heiss, gold; Barbara Roles, bronze
Heiss does a film, “Snow White and the Three Stooges,” after winning gold. Marries 1956 men’s champion Hayes Jenkins and stays in the sport for years as a coach.
1956 Cortina: Tenley Albright, gold; Carol Heiss, silver
Albright becomes first U.S. woman to win gold. She goes on to a career as a Harvard-educated doctor.
1952 Oslo: Tenley Albright, silver
1948 St. Moritz: None
1944 No Games
1940 No Games
1936 Garmisch: None
After winning her record third Olympic gold medal, Norway’s Sonja Henie moves to California and stars in films and ice shows that inspire future Olympic champions from the United States, beginning with Tenley Albright in 1956. Of Henie, 1960 Olympic champion Carol Heiss said, “She made skating, especially women’s skating.”
1932 Lake Placid: Maribel Vinson, bronze
1928 St. Moritz: Beatrix Loughran, bronze
1924 Chamonix: Beatrix Loughran, silver
1920 Antwerp: Theresa Weld, bronze
1908 London: None
