Debi Thomas facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Debi Thomas
Personal information
Full name	Debra (Debi) Janine Thomas
Country represented	United States
Born	(1967-03-25) March 25, 1967 (age 58) Poughkeepsie, New York, United States
Height	1.67 m
Former coach	Alex McGowan
Skating club	Los Angeles Figure Skating Club
Retired	1988
Medal record Figure skating: Ladies' singles Representing the  United States Olympic Games Bronze 1988 Calgary Ladies' singles World Championships Gold 1986 Geneva Ladies' singles Silver 1987 Cincinnati Ladies' singles Bronze 1988 Budapest Ladies' singles

Debra Janine Thomas (born March 25, 1967) is an American figure skater and a doctor. She became the World Champion in 1986. She also won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympic Games. Debi Thomas was a two-time U.S. national champion in figure skating. Her friendly competition with East Germany's Katarina Witt at the 1988 Calgary Olympics was famously called the "Battle of the Carmens".

Early Life and Skating Start

Debi Thomas was born in Poughkeepsie, New York. She grew up in San Jose, California. Her parents separated when she was young. Her mother worked as a computer programming analyst.

Debi started skating when she was just 5 years old in San Jose. She entered her first figure skating competition at age 9. She won first place! After that, she loved competitive skating. She often said her mother helped her a lot. Her mom drove her over 100 miles every day. This was to get her to and from home, school, and the ice rink.

Early Coaching and Club

As a young child, Debi was coached by Barbara Toigo Vitkovits. At age 10, she met Scottish skating coach Alex McGowan. In 1983, she began skating for the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club. This helped her career take off. Alex McGowan stayed her coach until she stopped competing as an amateur at age 21.

Skating Achievements

Debi Thomas placed fifth in the World Championships in 1985. The next year, in 1986, she won the gold medal! She was eighteen years old. She won the short program and landed four triple jumps. This helped her win the overall competition.

Winning National and World Titles

In 1986, Debi also won the U.S. national title. Winning both the U.S. national title and the World Championship in the same year was a huge achievement. Because of these wins, she received the ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year award. She was the first female athlete since the 1950s to win these titles while also attending college full-time. Debi Thomas was also the first African-American woman to hold U.S. National titles in ladies' singles figure skating.

Balancing Skating and College

Debi was a pre-med student at Stanford University during this time. It was unusual for a top U.S. skater to go to college while also competing. In 1986, she received a Candace Award for Trailblazing. This award came from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.

In 1987, Debi had some challenges. She had tendinitis in both ankles. She placed second at the U.S. Nationals, behind Jill Trenary. But she bounced back at the World Championships. She finished a close second to East German skater Katarina Witt.

The "Battle of the Carmens"

Debi moved to Boulder, Colorado, in late 1987. This was to get ready for the Olympics. In January 1988, she won the U.S. national title again. At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, she and Katarina Witt had a famous rivalry. The media called it the "Battle of the Carmens". Both skaters performed their long programs to music from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen.

Debi's Carmen program had "big powerful jumps" and fast spins. She used sharp Spanish steps and had a strong, confident posture. Her program showed a powerful woman taking charge of the ice. In her short program, she used techno dance music. She wore a special outfit that showed off her long lines and muscles. This program also had "big jumps" and high-energy steps. It showed off her African American culture.

Olympic Medal and Retirement

Debi skated well in the first parts of the competition. She performed strongly in the short program. In her free skating program, she made some mistakes on her jumps. She started with a triple toe-triple toe combination. This was very rare for a female skater in the 1980s. However, the second triple jump was not perfect. She finished third overall and won the bronze medal. She placed behind Katarina Witt and Canadian skater Elizabeth Manley. By winning the bronze medal, Debi Thomas became the first black athlete to win any medal at the Winter Olympics.

Debi won the bronze medal at the 1988 World Championships. After this, she retired from amateur skating. She then performed in shows like Stars on Ice. She also won the World Professional Championships in 1988, 1989, and 1991.

In 2000, Debi Thomas was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame. In 2006, President George W. Bush chose her to be part of the U.S. Delegation. This group attended the Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. She joined other famous Olympians like Dorothy Hamill and Eric Heiden. Debi also returned to the ice for a special event called "The Caesars Tribute: A Salute to the Golden Age of American Skating".

Debi Thomas returned to competition in October 2023. She competed at the World Figure and Fancy Skating Championships in Lake Placid, New York. She placed second in the ladies figure championship.

Medical Career

Debi Thomas wanted to be a doctor from a young age. She studied at Stanford University while she was competing. She continued her studies after her skating career. She graduated from Stanford in 1991 with an engineering degree. Then, she graduated from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 1997.

Becoming an Orthopedic Surgeon

Debi then completed her surgical training. She trained at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Hospital. She also trained at the Martin Luther King Jr./Charles Drew University Medical Center in South Los Angeles.

Debi Thomas became an orthopedic surgeon. She specialized in hip and knee replacement surgeries. In June 2005, she finished her orthopedic residency program. She then worked at King-Drew Medical Center. In July 2006, she started a special fellowship. This training focused on adult-reconstructive surgery. In September 2007, she began working at Carle Clinic in Urbana, Illinois.

Personal Life

Debi Thomas is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She married Brian Vander Hogen in 1988. Later, she married Chris Bequette in 1996. They had a son named Luc Bequette (born in 1997). Luc played defensive tackle for UC Berkeley.

Debi Thomas currently lives and trains in Florida.

Programs

Competitive Highlights

Amateur career

Professional career