45°
Hamill, who grew up in Greenwich, turns 58 on Saturday. The figure skater was born July 26, 1956, in Chicago.
Hamill's first national success came in 1969, when she won the novice ladies title at the U.S. Championships at the age of 12. Later that spring, Hamill was invited to perform in Madison Square Garden with the exhibition tour (in later years known as Champions on Ice) that followed the 1969 World Figure Skating Championships.
She was U.S. senior champion from 1974 to 1976. At the 1974 World Championships in Munich, Germany, she was in third place after the compulsory figures and the short program. She was set to skate directly after the German skater Gerti Schanderl, whose marks were booed while she was already on the ice.
She returned to the ice and won the silver medal behind Christine Errath of East Germany.
She is the 1976 Olympic gold medalist in ladies' singles and the 1976 World champion.
She was an Ice Capades headliner from 1977 to 1984.
She wrote an autobiography titled "On and Off the Ice" and followed that up later with her second autobiography "A Skating Life: My Story," was published in October 2007 by Hyperion Press.
She is a mentor to 2008 World Junior Champion and U.S. champion Rachael Flatt, who competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Greenwich and receive free news updates.
