HOT CORNER
A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.
What: “Intimate Portrait: Kristi Yamaguchi”
Where: Lifetime, Tuesday, 7-8 p.m.
Kristi Yamaguchi, who won the gold medal in women’s figure skating at the 1992 Winter Olympics, has never had a knee whacked or been involved with anyone who would do such a thing.
There aren’t any dark corners in Yamaguchi’s life. There have been no real tragedies, although she took the death of her grandfather and the death of one of her coaches of cancer fairly hard.
There are no scandals, no dirt. Yamaguchi comes from a good family. She has a pleasing personality and says all the right things. She might be considered a boring topic for a one-hour documentary. But Lifetime has chosen to feature Yamaguchi at a time when women’s figure skating comes to the forefront at the Winter Olympics, and she’s not a bad choice.
Yamaguchi’s life is traced from the beginning, when she was born on July 12, 1971, in the Bay Area. As a baby, she had club feet and had to wear casts to straighten them out.
Her parents, Carole and Jim, are interviewed at length. Others interviewed include her brother and sister, former skating partner Rudy Galindo, friends Scott Hamilton and Brian Boitano, longtime coach Christy Ness, and husband Bret Hedican.
Yamaguchi’s relationship with Hedican is one of the more interesting aspects of her life. The couple actually met at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, where Hedican was a member of the U.S. hockey team. But their relationship didn’t blossom until they met again in Vancouver in 1995, when Yamaguchi was touring with “Stars on Ice” and Hedican was playing for the Vancouver Canucks.
They were married in 1999 and currently have a long-distance relationship. Yamaguchi still tours with “Stars on Ice” and Hedican plays for the Carolina Hurricanes.
Yamaguchi’s story is an uplifting one. It’s about a young person who had dreams that came true.
Larry Stewart
