A feature article on 1984 Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton. In the article, Hamilton reflects on his experience at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo.

1. Scott Hamilton,
with sons Aidan
and Maxx, enjoy a
perfect fall day.
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2. While on his way to Paris to prepare for the
1984 Olympic Winter Games, Scott Hamilton sat
in the Chicago airport, passing the time by reading
at an open gate. His wait was long, so he asked a
fellow traveler for the time.
“The person I asked kind of brushed me off,
and the first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t get the
time of day on my way to represent the USA in the
Olympics,’” Hamilton said.
Three weeks later, it was a different story.
“When I was on my way home from Sara-
jevo and was connecting through Chicago, I was
mobbed by high school students,” he said. “It’s fun-
ny how things change.”
With his lightning-fast footwork, endearing
smile and crowd-pleasing abilities, Hamilton cap-
tured audiences’ attention like no other male skater
had before. His victory at the 1984 Olympics was
the start of a new era of figure skating in the United
States — a decade where the sport would become
immensely popular and skating would be reshaped
in favor of a more athletic style.
When Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now Bosnia-Her-
zegovina) was selected as the host city for the 1984
Olympic Winter Games, it was the first time in
history the Winter Games were held in a commu-
nist country. Being situated between Turkey, Italy,
Greece and many Eastern European countries, Sa-
rajevo at the time was a true collection of different
cultures. So it was only fitting that a skater from the
United States — arguably the world’s biggest melt-
ing pot — would capture one of the most exclusive
titles in all of sports.
After a fifth-place finish at the 1980 Olympic
Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., Hamilton was
set up perfectly for 1984. Prior to the start of the
Games, he was one of the most successful and con-
sistent athletes in the world — a three-time U.S.
champion, a three-time World champion with
countless other titles to boot.
Being on the verge of a life-defining moment,
as well as the pressure of creating Olympic history,
Hamilton was conscientious about the image he
wanted to portray.
“I don’t know why I had this feeling, but
when my coach (Don Laws) and I were ramping
up for the biggest event in my life, we were aware
of the fact that this Olympics is one we will always
remember to the point where we made decisions
to ensure those memories would be timeless,” he
explained.
Hamilton’s choices also had an unexpected
impact on men’s figure skating — a shift from the
effeminate style that was popular in the 1970s to
the more masculine approach.
“I may have had ’80s’ hair, but I wanted pho-
tos of that time to stand the test of time,” he said.
“We modified a speedskating suit so I could break
the artistic image of male figure skating and look
more athletic. I look at those photos from that time
ONE FOR THE AGESWinning ’84 Olympic Games changed Scott Hamilton’s life forever
by KAMA KORVELA
Scott andTracie Hamilton
PHOTOSBYMANDYJOHNSON
SKATING 15

3. and realize we were smart and lucky to have
had that frame of mind.”
Like many other host cities, Sarajevo
built brand-new facilities especially for the
1984 Games, including Zetra Hall, where
all of the figure skating events were held.
Though the ice arena would eventually be de-
stroyed by bombing and fires from the Bos-
nian War in 1992, the facility was an ultra-
modern competition space when it opened
in 1983.
The intimate venue was unlike any oth-
ers Hamilton had performed in.
“Zetra was small compared to the build-
ings that had held the World Champion-
ships,” he said. “It was small enough that you
could see the entire audience without even
trying.”
The facility also presented problems for
the skaters.
“It was very loud — I remember freak-
ing out during my warm-up for the short
program,” Hamilton said. “It was so loud
that I got a giant adrenaline rush that pre-
vented me from being able to concentrate.”
There was an unfinished quality to
Zetra Hall as well.
“My most vivid memory was the smell
of wet paint,” he said. “The construction was
still going on during the Games and you had
to be careful where you sat.”
The men’s competition kicked off with
the compulsory figures, where Hamilton
was unmatched by any of his competitors.
Despite being unnerved by the loudness in
Zetra Hall in the short program, he per-
formed well, placing second overall.
Like most skaters in his position, Ham-
ilton longed for a storybook ending to cap
off his trip to Sarajevo — a performance that
would be as close to perfection as humanly
possible, a skating program that he could
happily relive for this rest of his life.
But, as the old saying goes, sometimes
things don’t go as planned.
“The day of the long program, I was sick
as a dog,” Hamilton said. “The right side of
my head was so full that I couldn’t hear my
own voice in my brain and my balance was
way off. I knew I had a huge lead, but I still
wanted it to be the best long program ever.”
As he skated to the center of the ice to
begin his free skate, Hamilton was all busi-
ness, fully concentrating on what he needed
to do. He started his free skate with a breezy
triple Lutz, but then popped his next jump,
a triple flip. The rest of the routine was solid,
and the small mistake was barely a blip in his
overall performance.
“It felt like I was out there for 20 min-
utes, not four-and-a-half minutes,” he said.
“But it was good enough to secure the gold.”
During the medal ceremony, he was
well aware that, like it or not, his life was
about to change.
“There was one moment while standing
on the podium where I felt like I was looking
over the edge of a cliff,” Hamilton revealed.
When an athlete reaches their ultimate
goal, such as winning an Olympic title, they
deal with a plethora of feelings, he explained.
“The only way to describe it is you are
experiencing every possible emotion at the
same time,” he said. “Exultation for realizing
a dream. Pride in your country. Sadness that
the journey is officially over. Desperation of
not knowing how to thank all the people that
made that moment happen. Devastation that
everything you have ever been in your life has
now changed drastically.”
Those three performances in the com-
pulsories, short and free skate programs
would shape many areas of his life.
“To this day, everything I am as a profession-
al was made possible by those few minutes I
spent on the ice in Sarajevo,” Hamilton said.
“At the time it meant I was true to an un-
believable set of circumstances that I never
would have thought to ask for. Ultimately
winning a gold medal at the Olympics is a
gigantic event that offers a window of oppor-
tunity to create a professional life.”
After the Sarajevo Olympics, he began
a highly successful professional skating career
that lasted 20 years. In addition to compet-
ing in numerous professional events and tele-
vision specials, Hamilton, along with Bob
Kain of IMG, co-founded Stars on Ice. The
tour was created due to the lack of oppor-
tunities for professional skaters at the time.
Hamilton is still involved with the show as a
producer.
Today though, he is officially retired
from skating, choosing to focus on his main
priority — his family.
“The most important aspect of my life is
my family,” Hamilton said. “I stopped skat-
ing to be home with my wife (Tracie) and
two boys (Aidan and Maxx).”
His Olympic win has allowed him to
branch out into other areas as well, including
philanthropic activities. Hamilton continues
to raise funds for cancer research through his
C.A.R.E.S. (Cancer Alliance for Research,
Education, and Sponsorship) Initiative at
the Cleveland Clinic, which was founded
in 1999. The Cleveland Clinic holds special
meaning for Hamilton, as he was treated
there for testicular cancer in 1997, as well as
2004 and again in 2010 for battles with a pi-
tuitary brain tumor.
He will also be at the Olympic Games
in Sochi, Russia, as a commentator for NBC.
And though a new men’s champion will be
crowned in Sochi, it’s impossible to forget
about Hamilton’s irreplaceable contribution
to the sport.
“The ‘Classes of 1984 and 1988’ had an
awesome impact on the popularity of the
sport,” he said. “A lot of those names are fad-
ing in memory, but for the years they graced
the ice, there was never-been-seen excite-
ment. I was honored to be a part of it.”
Hamilton continues to serve as one of the sport’s greatest ambassadors
and is a highly sought-after motivational speaker.
Hamilton and coach Don Laws go over details at the 1981World
Championships in Hartford, Conn.
Hamilton says his Olympic triumph in 1984 set the tone for the rest of
his life.
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4. Scott Hamilton earns the gold
medal at the 1984 OlympicWinter
Games in Sarajevo.The victory
cemented Hamilton’s legacy as
one of the sport’s greatest stars.