Yamaguchi, skateless now, ties up role hosting TV specials
Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi doesn’t get out on the ice all that much these days — at least not while TV cameras are rolling.
Since November, the Alamo resident has been hosting a series of figure-skating specials for ABC with the final one airing this weekend. It features dazzling performances by the likes of Nancy Kerrigan, Alissa Czisny and Meryl Davis & Charlie White and more. But not Yamaguchi.
So we pose the obvious question: What’s up with that?
“It’s just so hard to keep up (a routine). I’m busy being a mom. I just don’t have the energy and the time,” says Yamaguchi, who has two daughters — Emma, 14, and Keara, 11 — with husband and former NHL star Bret Hedican.
OK. Fair enough. Yamaguchi, 45, does admit, however, that she occasionally misses performing — especially when she watches others wow audiences.
“Every once in a while, I think, ‘Aw, it would be so fun to be out there with them.’ But I’m realistic. I know what it takes. ...”
The “Colgate Skating & Gymnastics Spectacular” (2 p.m. Saturday, ABC) combines two of the most popular Olympics sports under one roof with skaters and gymnasts performing their various routines. Among the gymnasts appearing is 2016 gold medalist Simone Biles. The special also features music by the indiepop band Echosmith.
“It’s a really fun dynamic to see both sports represented side-by-side with a lot of athleticism, as well as artistry, on display,” says Yamaguchi, who is hosting the program with Michael Weiss and Olympic gold medalist gymnasts Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci.
Yamaguchi, of course, knows a thing or two about blending athleticism with artistry. After capturing Olympic gold in 1992 and winning two world titles (1991 and ’92), the Fremont native went on to win Season 6 of “Dancing With the Stars.”
Last fall, she published her third children’s book, “Cara’s Kindness,” about a figure-skating cat who does a good deed and asks her friend to pay it forward. In January, she opened a pop-up store in Walnut Creek that features her line of women’s activewear apparel.
Still, Yamaguchi has enough time to follow her former sport, as well as “Dancing With the Stars.” She recently was thrilled to see 17-year-old Karen Chen, a fellow Fremont native, capture the U.S. figureskating title.
“I was so happy and excited for her,” she says. “She’s a fantastic skater with a great work ethic. She has the kind of potential to make a big mark on the world stage.”
As for that reality TV dancing show, Yamaguchi says it has “completely evolved” since she ruled the ballroom.
“The production values have gone way up, and the dancing just gets better and better.”
Yamaguchi says she still has the gaudy mirror-ball trophy that she captured on “DWTS.” It occupies a shelf in a “little movie room” in her home — just under Hedican’s mini replica of the Stanley Cup Trophy he won with the Vancouver Canucks in 1994.
Says Yamaguchi with a slight chuckle, “My husband likes to point out that he gets the top shelf.” Contact Chuck Barney at cbarney@ bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/ chuckbarney and Facebook. com/bayareanewsgroup. chuckbarney.