Kristi Yamaguchi looks back on her journey as an Olympian in a wide-ranging interview with PEOPLE
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The star says watching Alysa Liu bring home the gold was "inspiring"
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Yamaguchi also opens up about her next chapter after ending her marriage with Bret Hedican last year
More than three decades after she became an Olympic gold medalist,Kristi Yamaguchiis going through a rebirth of sorts.
In 1990 Yamaguchi, now 54, competed in the World Figure Skating Championships held in Halifax, Canada, and came in fourth place for the singles event and fifth in pairs with Rudy Galindo. The following year, after dropping out of the pairs competition, the figure skater received her first-ever world championship title in 1991.
At just 20 years old, Yamaguchi won the gold medal in women’s singles figure skating at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and became the first Asian-American woman to do so in any Winter Olympic sport.
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In a wide-ranging interview, Yamaguchi tells PEOPLE that watching Liu win Olympic gold after her free skate program set toDonna Summer’s “MacArthur Park Suite” was thrilling.
“Closing out the Olympics with Alysa Liu and her incredible feat, for her to come out and skate the way she did so joyously and with such positivity all around was inspiring,” Yamaguchi says.
“I’ve seen her skate since she was very, very young, and I’ve just always had amazing respect and admiration [for her],” she continues. “The way she always brought so much — I mean, I know this word gets overused with her, but it’s pure joy... I’ve always watched her with a smile on my face, even from the time she was little.
“The fact that under the incredible pressure that she skated under, coming in as world champion with the hopes that she could come away with the win... It was a lot, but she handled it amazingly,” adds Yamaguchi. “I’m so proud of her and so proud of the way she’s represented herself. It’s been awesome to see her accomplish what she has.”
Supporting Team USA’s figure skating team at the Winter Olympics, Yamaguchi says, made her nostalgic and reflect on her own career as a figure skater.
“Once an Olympian, always an Olympian,” she explains. “Those emotions and those moments when you’re representing your country at an Olympics game is life changing, and you remember it forever.”
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Though Yamaguchi retired from competing at the Olympic level after she struck gold at the 1992 games, she went on to win several more championship titles at the 1994, 1996 and 1997 World Figure Skating Championships. She was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2005.
Aside from her athletic achievements, Yamaguchi has devoted her career to philanthropy. In 1996 she launched theAlways Dream Foundation, a nonprofit committed to inspiring a love for reading in children.
Over the past couple of decades, Yamaguchi alsoembraced her role as a wife and mother. In 2000, she married two-time Olympian and former NHL player Bret Hedican, 55. The pair, who first met at the 1992 Winter Olympics, share two daughters: Keara, 22, and Emma, 20.
In the past year, Yamaguchi and Hedican divorced, a decision she says was amicable.
“After 23 years together, we had an amazing marriage and loving family — especially bringing up our two daughters together — but I think it got to a point where we amicably thought maybe we aren’t at our happiest and we’d be happier separating,” Yamaguchi says. “We decided to separate and eventually divorce.”
Now, the Olympian says she is excited for this next phase of life and period of self-discovery.
“I'm looking forward to what is around the corner, or what the future could look like,” Yamaguchi says. “There’s a lot of life left to live, whether it's starting to date or new relationships, but also just personally enjoying where I am right now and the opportunities ahead. [I have] absolutely no regrets from the past. We’ve got a beautiful family and incredible memories, but I’m looking forward to creating new ones.”
Yamaguchi shares that she is also enjoying life as an empty nester, now that her daughters are in college.
“Being a mom andseeing them grow upand pursuing their own passions now, it’s been very rewarding and fun to see happen,” she says. “It’s bittersweet because you feel, as a mom, they’ve grown up so fast. You so vividly remember them as toddlers,starting grade schooland those moments. But, it’s so fulfilling to see how they’ve grown up and are going after their dreams now.”
“It’s fulfilling to see them spreading their wings,” she adds.
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