Kristi Yamaguchi: TSL's Interview with the Olympic Champion

[@doctorjames7454]

This is hands down one of my all-time favorite TSL interviews. Love Kristi's warmth, professionalism and candor!

[@teresaphillips8488]

Fantastic interview with one of my all-time favorites!! What a gracious, lovely person Kristi is. I also love that Rudy coaches her daughter and that they continue to have a bond to this day, albeit in a different way. Really enjoyed the whole interview; thanks for seeking her out at Nats, and I'm so glad she agreed to do it :)

[@skatefan9495]

Love Kristi. She is so open and real. It was really interesting hearing about her impressive career.

[@mikeg4576]

She seems like a really nice person. Very articulate and honest in this interview.

[@meems914]

Wow! What an interesting interview. I felt as though I was going through her skating experiences with her as she talked about them. Kristi was and is my all-time favorite skater. She always showed up at the pro competitions prepared too.

[@MANMARTRE]

What a heart warming interview, she's really personable, kind and big hearted and you guy's brought your best game and produced one of the finest interviews of a retired athlete I have ever seen!!!

[@joselitodecastro3895]

Q

[@MANMARTRE]

Joselito De Castro ???

[@alisonmidgley107]

Wow she is still stunningly beautiful!❤

[@WHATTHEBUCKSHOW]

AN AMAZING INTERVIEW!!!!

[@followyourbliss973]

Great interview guys! It's so nice to get such a personal viewpoint of her life and different stages of her career! Thank you Kristi!

[@TheSkatingLesson]

[@willpinkow9714]

My heart is full of love hearing how Rudy and Kristis' relationship has come full circle. A wonderful ending for two lovely people.

[@BmcC102]

OMG, I loved it! Kristi is such a great person to interview, and David and Jenny did so well. I do question why Kristi seemed to think that Jenny had competed against her during the figures age, but maybe she was thinking of Nancy?

[@skatergirl8019]

I love her even more!

[@kennethku7407]

Thank you for posting it.

[@jindasukbunma9657]

She such kind person,

[@MrSk8ingfan]

Great video! Always amazed with how practically perfect Kristi is. Great role model! Is there a part 2 to this? There were interviews with her in 94 when she mentioned wanting to return to the Olympics as a pairs skater. Any clue why that never materialized?

[@jindasukbunma9657]

I love kristi, I still wish her ,on, tv, with stars, she have Relly humble ,ways about her, peoples love her,

[@tigertank06]

Finally you guys get Kristi Yamaguchi. Now you have to get the Shibutani twins on and Mirai Nagasu! Lol. Was Kristi a little a sick in this? Her voice sounds different than from the last time I heard. Maybe her voice is changing since I haven't heard her speak in a longtime. I would have liked her to talk about her worlds championship after her Olympic gold - if she had to train for that at all, was the training different compared to her Olympic training, was she expected to win Worlds after the Olympics, if she was going to compete in 94, and why did she decide to retire after Worlds. I know what I wrote is a lot but I kinda wanted her to go more in depth about her Worlds championship after the 92 Olympics. To echo someone else's comment below: is there a part 2 to this because the last few minutes are added on and it feels like a teaser for more to come. Lol. One final thought: I wonder if her daughter Emma does find skating as her passion and she wants to compete in the Olympics, will there be any expectations of since she's a child of an Olympic gold medal winner.

[@nolango6160]

Does she not age? She still looks the same since she won the OGM

[@littlebachmonster]

I cant believe she did singles and pairs

[@leotatem4879]

She is just lovely!

[@Constantin9va]

My life goal is to conduct myself like this woman does.

[@wackybrinyc29]

Huh? Kristi was done with eligible skating almost 10 years before our lovely miss Kirk hit the ice on the national level. When did she ever compete with Jenny in figures? I want receipts!!! Oh and can we not mention how gorgeous she looks?!! Not a damned wrinkly on the woman! Beautiful and a class act! Although her memory seems a bit dodgy! :-D

[@nondescriptnyc]

I wonder if Kristi confused Jenny Kirk with somebody else, as there have been skaters with somewhat similar names--like Jennifer Karl, Jeri Campbell, etc...or somebody that Jenny Kirk somehow reminded Kristi of otherwise.

[@ferrivera7159]

She is so likable

[@TheKatykeenan]

A wonderful, personable, thorough, fascinating and interesting interview! You guys transition from one question to the next effortlessly. I find that I want to research and find youtubes etc. of programs referenced in the interviews too. (...eg....look for "the dress" --- see if i can find Rudy coaching etc). Technical considerations: the sound was better than Michelle's but still needs tweaking...good with clip mic on kristi--maybe you guys need a little mixer -- at least a mic attenuator -- to get all 3 of your levels even. Your camera seems to be ok but since you are getting interviews that are worthy of historic significance .....now might be the time to step it up a bit in terms of consistency, audio, visual, lighting etc. Not go crazy but you might want to show your vids to a technical person and get advice on best placement of camera...lighting...sound etc.....but kudos!!!!!

[@madeasimmons9746]

a true champion and bay area native like me

[@anfaneygladwin6759]

She is so pleasant! "Crazy skating grandma. " LOL!

[@timothyhh]

I agree with Kristi re: the loop and the cheek(s).

[@bethannesperring3482]

Can you get Jayne Torvill on

[@piznoctsauo8141]

Why this has to look like a police interrogation session? Production, guys... PRO-DUC-TION.

[@TheSkatingLesson]

Piznoc Tsauo it was the only quiet location available in St. Paul when Kristi was available.

[@piznoctsauo8141]

@@TheSkatingLesson Oh, I see. But, at least Jenny and you could've appeared both on camera and arrange it to look more like a natural conversation, instead of an interrogatory. Thanks for the answer. (=

[@TheSkatingLesson]

Piznoc Tsauo we have experimented with different things over the years. We filmed Michelle Kwan with two cameras. It is challenging in person. For this, the focus was on Kristi. Many of the bigger names prefer to do interviews in person.

[@jindasukbunma9657]

She come from relly nice family,s I’m Thai, I can see alost to do with how she bough up, Alost of despect and love,

[@laurievuitton1624]

Yay!

[@samhing]

Lol Dave, i see you throwing shade on Ashley

[@tigertank06]

Another thing too is that the only reason why she's had this resurgence and revival of her career is because she was on Dancing with The Stars. Had she not done it then she wouldn't so popular now and probably would only be known in figure skating circles.

[@metsdudenj]

wrong/ The explosion of the Nacy/Tonya saga make figure skating a household word and the exposure on TV was constant until about 2004.

[@tigertank06]

@@metsdudenj She had been fading since her time ended with Stars on Ice and she was fading into semi-celebrity status until Dancing with the Stars came along.

[@metsdudenj]

@@tigertank06 fading is a word you assign.. she chose to also have a family which took priority over being a celebrity Plus she is already a multi millionaire

[@willnill7946]

@@metsdudenj every star fades, what’s your problem with what he’s saying. Kids today don’t know who Peggy Fleming is

[@metsdudenj]

Compared to now when no one knows ( or cares) who the US skaters are outside of figure skating circles.

[@SonOfAGun1814]

love this!!! great interview!! i miss kristi she was my first love before michelle.