There is a very strong tradition of U.S. Olympic women’s figure skaters. The United States has produced seven gold medalists, and as Dana Greene shows us, Gracie Gold hopes to live up to her name.
Gracie Gold has the perfect olympic name, but if you think you’ve come up with something clever, don’t bother. She’s heard them all.
“Like Gold gets gold. Gracie goes for Gold. The worst one was probably fall from Grace when they used the first name.”
Gracie hasn’t fallen lately. She won the silver medal at the U.S. nationals and finished 6th at the worlds. With her talent and personality, gold could be one of the faces of the entire American winter Olympic team.
“It would be my ultimate dream. It would be so exciting not just to go to the Olympics, but to be one of the faces and compete in a sport that’s iconic such as women’s figure skating.”
Gold is becoming an international skating star, and that’s something she’s just coming to terms with.
“I walked into a rink and a couple little skaters were like, ‘That’s Gracie Gold.’ I thought, Oh, stop. You really have to turn the pressure and anxiety into excitement and fuel just to motivate you every day.”
So how does Gracie stay so relaxed before competitions? Well she juggles of course.
“It started with a gym teacher in elementary school and she had read some articles about eye-hand coordination. You were the cool kids if you got in early to do the juggling. In my school, juggling was cool.”
And now Gracie hopes to go from cool to gold to be a part of American Olympic history.
“The U.S. women’s has such a rich history, like Peggy Flemming, Kristi Yamaguchi, Sarah Hughes, Michelle Kwan, Sasha Cohen, just so many names that you can throw out.”
Gracie Gold may be the next.
Gracie Gold has the perfect olympic name, but if you think you’ve come up with something clever, don’t bother. She’s heard them all.
“Like Gold gets gold. Gracie goes for Gold. The worst one was probably fall from Grace when they used the first name.”
Gracie hasn’t fallen lately. She won the silver medal at the U.S. nationals and finished 6th at the worlds. With her talent and personality, gold could be one of the faces of the entire American winter Olympic team.
“It would be my ultimate dream. It would be so exciting not just to go to the Olympics, but to be one of the faces and compete in a sport that’s iconic such as women’s figure skating.”
Gold is becoming an international skating star, and that’s something she’s just coming to terms with.
“I walked into a rink and a couple little skaters were like, ‘That’s Gracie Gold.’ I thought, Oh, stop. You really have to turn the pressure and anxiety into excitement and fuel just to motivate you every day.”
So how does Gracie stay so relaxed before competitions? Well she juggles of course.
“It started with a gym teacher in elementary school and she had read some articles about eye-hand coordination. You were the cool kids if you got in early to do the juggling. In my school, juggling was cool.”
And now Gracie hopes to go from cool to gold to be a part of American Olympic history.
“The U.S. women’s has such a rich history, like Peggy Flemming, Kristi Yamaguchi, Sarah Hughes, Michelle Kwan, Sasha Cohen, just so many names that you can throw out.”
Gracie Gold may be the next.
