Dates: March 25, 1967 -
Occupation: figure skater, doctor
Debi Thomas’ Ice Skating Career
Debi Thomas, a popular figure skater during the 1980s, was the first African American to win a medal in the Winter Olympic Games. At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Thomas won a bronze medal in figure skating. Katarina Witt won the gold medal.Thomas’ success prior to the Olympics included winning the titles at the 1986 National and World Figure Skating Championship while she was a freshman at Stanford University. She is the first and only African American to hold these titles. That same year, she was named Athlete of the Year by the Wide World of Sports. In 1988, prior to the Olympics, Thomas won the national championship.
Thomas Enters the Medical Profession
In 1991, Thomas graduated from Stanford University with a degree in engineering. Thomas had plans to become a doctor, but rather than enter medical school immediately, she decided to skate professionally. Soon thereafter, she began attending medical school at Northwestern University and graduated in 1997. She completed her residency at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Hospital and began a residency in orthopedic surgery at the Martin Luther King Jr./Charles Drew University Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.In 2000, Thomas was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
