HAMILTON, SCOTT

born Aug. 28, 1958, Toledo, Ohio, U.S. American figure skater who was a four-time world champion and the 1984 Olympic gold-medal winner in men's figure skating. He has been credited with imbuing men's figure skating with an air of athleticism. He took to the ice in the 1983 world championships wearing a sleek black speed-skating suit rather than the customary beaded and sequined costumes worn by his fellow skaters, in order to portray figure skating as a sport. Hamilton was adopted at birth and plagued by a childhood illness that stunted his growth (at the peak of his amateur career he was 5 feet 2.5 inches [1.59 metres] tall and weighed 108 pounds ). He began skating at age 9 and was competing in local and regional events by the time he was 11 years old. In 1980, at age 22, he secured a position on the U.S. Olympic team by placing third in the U.S. national championships. Hamilton was chosen by his Olympic teammates to carry the U.S. flag in the opening ceremonies of the 1980 Olympic Winter Games held in Lake Placid, New York. He placed fifth that year but his ascent had begun. From 1981 through 1984 Hamilton won both the U.S. and world figure-skating championships. At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Hamilton was considered unbeatable. His performance in the compulsories was stellar, but Canadian skater Brian Orser outshone Hamilton in both the short and long programs. Nevertheless, Hamilton's superior athleticism in the compulsories carried him through, and he won the first U.S. gold medal in men's figure skating since David Jenkins's victory in 1960. He went on to win the 1984 world championships with a stronger and more decisive performance. In March 1984 he announced the end of his amateur figure-skating career. As a professional Hamilton was the world figure-skating champion in 1984 and 1986, and he continued to win professional titles into the 1990s. In 1986 he helped form Stars on Ice, a traveling figure-skating show. He received the U.S. Olympic Committee's first Olympic Spirit Award in 1987 and the International Skating Union's (ISU) highest honour of merit, the Jacques Favart Award, in 1988. In 1990 he was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame and the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. He also worked as a television analyst for amateur skating competitions. Diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1997, Hamilton made a full recovery and in 1999 helped to form the Scott Hamilton C.A.R.E.S. (Cancer Alliance for Research, Education and Survivorship) Initiative, a nonprofit organization.