Debi Thomas
Debra Janine " Debi " Thomas ( born March 25, 1967 in Poughkeepsie, New York) is a former American figure skater who started in a single run. It is the world champion of 1986.
Thomas ran in 1983 for the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club and was coached by Alex McGowan. She was the first black skater who made it to the top. In 1985, she finished second at the national championships behind Tiffany Chin and denied their first world championship in Tokyo, where she promptly took fifth place. Just one year later, she was U.S. Champion and World Champion in Geneva before Katarina Witt. At that time she was still studying full-time, most recently her compatriot Tenley Albright during their World Cup win in the fifties. 1987 Thomas was struggling with tendonitis in both ankles. At the national championships, however, it was enough for second place behind Jill Trenary and at the World Championships in Cincinnati for second place behind Witt. In 1988 she won the national championships and went as in the Olympic Games in Calgary. There, the public expected the battle for gold between Katarina Witt and Debi Thomas, under the headline "Battle of the Carmens " ( Battle of the Carmens ) because both were selected for the freestyle Bizet's Carmen. Thomas showed strong performances in the duty as well as in the short program and went as best in the freestyle. This it failed, however, and so the final score was only too bronze behind Witt and the Canadian Elizabeth Manley. At the World Championships in Budapest, the result repeated a little later. After Thomas finished her amateur career.
In contrast to most other skaters Thomas took her medical studies after their competitive career back on and ran to fund the study only briefly in the pros. In 1991, she graduated from Stanford in 1997 at Northwestern Medical School. She works as an orthopedic surgeon.
1988 Thomas married her fellow student Brian Hogan. The marriage ended in divorce. In 1996 she married the former football player Chris Bequette, a year later their son was born.