Athletes: Debi Thomas

Debi Thomas (1967-present) is an American figure skater who became the first Black athlete to win a medal in any sport at the Winter Olympics in 1988. She wasn’t content with just being a world class skater, she also became a doctor, earning degrees from Stanford University and Northwestern University. Now in her fifties, she recently returned to skating.

For Further Reading:

• The New York Times: Sports of The Times; One Slip in a Life of Great Balance
• NBC Sports: Debi Thomas, 1988 Olympic medalist, returns to a different figure skating competition
• World Figure & Fancy Skating Championships: Debi Thomas’ Comeback (Part 1)

This month we're celebrating the women who performed physical and mental feats in sports. They overcame societal barriers, personal struggles, and fierce competition to pursue their dreams of glory. We're talking about Athletes.

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Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello. For Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
is Wamanica. This month were celebrating women who performed physical
and mental feats in sports. They overcame societal barriers, personal struggles,
and fierce competition to pursue dreams of glory. We're talking
about athletes today. A trailblazing black athlete who was also

(00:26):
a star student. She changed figure skating and sports for
the better life. As such, a high achiever was a
challenge to maintain, but she recently took to the ice
again at the age of fifty six. Meet Debbie Thomas.
Debbie Thomas was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, on March
twenty fifth, nineteen sixty seven. When she was two years old,

(00:49):
her parents moved the family to San Jose, California. They
divorced shortly thereafter, and Debbie lived with her mom, Janis,
was a computer programmer, one of the few blocks back
women in a largely white, male dominated field. Debbie first
started ice skating when she was five years old. A
few years later, her mom hired a coach and Debbie

(01:11):
started competing. Everyone could see Debbie wasn't just good, she
was really good. A real prodigy, Debbie kept training and
winning competition after competition, and while Janis had a good job,
it wasn't enough to cover the exorbitant cost of competition fees, travel, coaching,
and costumes, sometimes totaling as much as twenty five thousand

(01:34):
dollars a year, so at times Debbie would have to
take breaks from training and competing while her mom caught
up on the bills. Figure skating has always been a
sport filled with people who are largely affluent and white,
and judging at the time was notoriously subjective. Debbie's family
noticed how judges would comment on her looks, telling her

(01:56):
to play down certain aspects and other couched racists comments.
She even received baffling reductions at times, seemingly based more
on appearance rather than performance. Still, Debbie had always been
deeply ambitious and determined. She knew what she wanted from
a young age to be a figure skater and a doctor.

(02:17):
She applied to colleges, and on her applications Debbie described
herself in one word, invincible. She received offers from Harvard, Princeton,
and Stamford. She chose to stay in California, and in
nineteen eighty five, she enrolled at Stamford, Debbie took on
a rigorous pre med workload while continuing with her grueling

(02:37):
skate schedule. It was a decision many in the skating
world were quick to question, but Debbie ignored them and
did it anyway. While on her sophomore year, Debbie really
hit her stride with skating. She landed five consecutive triple
jumps on her way to claim the US Figure Skating Championship.
She was the first black woman to win the title

(02:58):
at the senior level. Then she went on to Worlds,
where she took the gold again. In nineteen eighty seven,
Debbie started preparing for the Olympics. She took a leaf
from Stanford and moved to Denver to train. A year later,
she arrived in the Olympic Village in Calgary for the
main event. More than sixty million people tuned in to watch.

(03:20):
It was a huge moment for the sport European skaters
had dominated for years. If she triumphed, Debbie Thomas would
be the first American woman to win gold in more
than a decade. With the eyes of the nation and
the world upon her, she prepared to take the ice.
Debbie did well. In the first two events, compulsory figures

(03:41):
and the short program. She was in the lead going
into the final event, the free skate. That meant she
would be skating last. I see well, my monitor is
not quite clear on that. Her big rival was East
Germany's Katerina Vitt. Katerina had won gold in the last Olympics,
and she and Debbie hadsistently but in the top two
spots for the past couple of World Championships. This was

(04:04):
Debbie's first Olympics, but the two were a powerful matchup.
Katerina later said she was the only one who could
really beat me. Both women had unknowingly to the other
selected music from the iconic opera Carmen. It became known
as the Battle of the Carmen's It's Time to Compare Carmens.

(04:25):
Katerina's performance was awarded high marks for artistry, but her
technical score was underwhelming, so the door was opened for Debbie.
As she prepared to skate her own Carmen program, she
takes to the ice. She's wearing a black dress with
red and white embellishments, a subtle nod to the colors
of the opera. As the music begins, Debbie picks up speed,

(04:49):
arms outstretched, she winds up, preparing to jump. She leaps
and rotates in the air once, twice, a third time,
and she lands on her right leg, the left stretched
out behind her gracefully. There's no time for celebration. Immediately,
her outstretched leg becomes the catalyst for the next jump.
In the combination, Debbie launches into the air. She rotates

(05:12):
again one, two, three, but this time she stumbles. Debbie
lands on both feet. There was still time to recover.
She was just beginning her four minute program, but Debbie
never regained her balance. Off character fumbles and stumbles continued. Well,
there it is for Debbie. Debbie Thomas not her best moment.

(05:36):
As she got off the ice, Debbie was deflated. She
said she felt like she'd let America down. Debbie still
claimed the bronze medal, and in so doing, she became
the first black athlete to win a medal at the
Winter Olympics, but for her it didn't feel like a victory.
She was in a daze at the award ceremony and
failed to shake Katerinavit's hand at the podium. Many perceived

(06:00):
that to be poor sportsmanship. Debbie skated in another World Championship,
where she also won the bronze medal. She then decided
to retire from amateur skating. She returned to Stanford, earning
her bachelor's degree in nineteen ninety one. She got a
medical degree from Northwestern University in nineteen ninety seven and

(06:21):
started working as an orthopedic surgeon. She married and had
a son, but Debbie struggled to find her footing in
the medical world. She bounced around, moving to Indiana and
then Virginia, where she started her own private practice as
a specialist in a poor area. She struggled to make
ends meet. In twenty fourteen, Debbie declared bankruptcy. She got

(06:46):
divorced and lost custody of her son, and she continued
to clash with other medical professionals. She was detained in
a hospital and diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a diagnosis she
later challenged in a medical board hearing, saying it had
been reached too quickly. She has not since commented on it.

(07:06):
Debbie let her medical license expire. She moved into a
trailer with her boyfriend, and the challenging time in her
life became the subject of headlines and reality TV networks
declaring the best African American figure skater in history is
now bankrupt and living in a trailer. In twenty twenty three,
Debbie made news again, this time for her return to

(07:29):
the ice. What happened in the interim isn't clear. Debbie
lives in Florida now, and at fifty six years old,
she started competing again, placing second at the World Figure
and Fancy Skating Championships. She called it one of the
hardest things she's done. Mostly, she shared her joy at
returning to the sport she loves on her terms. All month,

(07:54):
We're talking about Athletes. For more information, find us on
Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast special thanks to Liz
Kapel and my favorite sister and co creator. Talk to
you tomorrow