Ice Skating Stars of the '90s and '00s: Where Are They Now?

Where did these star athletes skate off to after their big Olympic moments?

01 of 16

Michelle Kwan, 41

MICHELLE KWAN, 33
Mike Powell/Getty; Michael Loccisano/WireImage

Olympic moments: The five-time world champion and nine-time U.S. champion earned silver in 1998 and bronze in 2002. Though she qualified for the 1994 Olympics, her place ultimately went to Nancy Kerrigan, who was unable to compete in the trials after being attacked by an associate of rival Tonya Harding. Kwan instead served as an alternate that year.

In 2006, she worked her way through injuries to be named to the team once again, but withdrew after suffering another injury after arriving in Turin, Italy.

Today: Kwan retired from figure skating in 2006 and earned her master's degree in international relations. She served as a U.S. State Department adviser and on Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign staff, and was recently nominated by President Joe Biden to be the U.S. ambassador to Belize.

In 2013, Kwan wed former White House security strategist Clay Pell, though the two divorced in 2017. But she had happy news to share at the start of the new year: the arrival of her first child, a girl named Kalista.

02 of 16

Sasha Cohen, 37

SASHA COHEN, 29
Ron Jenkins/Fort Worth Star/Getty; Derrick Salters/WENN

Olympic moments: Skated in two Olympics, finishing fourth in 2002 and earning silver in 2006.

Today: After 10 years of pro touring, Cohen completed her political science degree at Columbia University and took a job in N.Y.C. with Morgan Stanley. She also dipped her toes (er, skates) into the acting world with bit parts on shows including CSI: NY.

In early 2020, she welcomed son Dashiell with fiancé Geoffrey Lieberthal, followed by daughter Paloma in 2021.

03 of 16

Sarah Hughes, 36

SARAH HUGHES, 28
Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty; Theo Wargo/WireImage

Olympic moment: As a member of the 2002 U.S. Olympic team, she vaulted from fourth in the short program to winning gold thanks to a joyous free skate.

Today: Hughes is a New York City-based attorney who served as a representative of former First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign. She recently opened up about her fertility journey and her decision to freeze her eggs.

04 of 16

Tara Lipinski, 39

TARA LIPINSKI, 31
David Madison/Getty; Paul A. Hebert/Getty

Olympic moment: She remains the Winter Games' youngest individual gold medalist, winning in 1998 at age 15.

Today: Lipinski almost immediately went pro with no regrets: "I left everything on the ice that I wanted to," she told PEOPLE. She and pal Johnny Weir were tapped by NBC to cover various Olympic games, as well as the Kenturky Derby and other sports specials. Despite cameos on TV shows like The Young and the Restless, "I would not consider myself an actress," she told PEOPLE. But, she admitted, "I still feel like I have more dreams."

In 2017, she wed sports producer Todd Kapostasy.

05 of 16

Nancy Kerrigan, 52

NANCY KERRIGAN, 44
PCN/Corbis; Bryan Bedder/Getty

Olympic moments: She won bronze at the 1992 Games, then almost had her 1994 dreams quashed when an associate of rival Tonya Harding whacked her in the knee at Detroit's Cobo Arena at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships that January. She persevered, though, and went on to win silver one month later.

Today: Though that event has followed her through life (thanks in part to the 2017 film I, Tonya), Kerrigan was able to retreat a bit from the spotlight, marrying manager Jerry Solomon in 1995 and welcoming three children in the years that followed. She appeared on Skating with Celebrities in 2006 with partner Dave Coulier, plus the 2017 season of Dancing with the Stars and 2018's Bachelor Winter Games.

She tragically lost her father in 2010, and runs a foundation that raises funds for the visually impaired in honor of her mother, who is legally blind.

06 of 16

Tonya Harding, 51

TONYA HARDING, 43
Bob Thomas/Getty; Bobby Bank/Getty

Olympic moments: A two-time Olympian, finishing fourth in 1992 and eighth in 1994, Harding was banned from the sport after pleading guilty to learning details of Kerrigan's attack afterward and not reporting it.

Today: Long divorced from the husband at the center of the 1994 controversy, Harding remarried in 2010 for a third time, and has a son. "She seems to love being a mom," said filmmaker Nanette Burstein, who spent time with Harding for the ESPN documentary The Price of Gold. "But I think it's always hard for her. She's always going to be known as the woman who was somehow involved in the whack heard 'round the world."

Said Harding in the film: "Just having my life with my husband and my son, that's what I need, and want, and have." She has resurfaced in the spotlight from time to time, though, pursuing a short-lived boxing career following her skating controversies, joining the 2018 season of Dancing with the Stars and 2019's Worst Cooks in America, and enjoying a moment surrounding the Oscar-winning 2017 film I, Tonya, based on her life.

07 of 16

Kristi Yamaguchi, 50

KRISTI YAMAGUCHI, 42
Eric Fefererg/AFP/Getty; Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage

Olympic moment: One of America's sweethearts, she won gold in 1992, after two world and one U.S. championship.

Today: Wed to retired NHL hockey player Bret Hedican, Yamaguchi isn't a pushy rink mom. But when daughter Emma wanted to skate, Mom did enlist her former pairs partner Rudy Galindo, the 1996 U.S. men's champion, as a teacher. "I don't see it as her passion," Yamaguchi, whose other daughter, Keara, prefers soccer and softball, once told PEOPLE. "At 8 it was already my thing; it was all I wanted to do. I see it as a different experience for her, but I'm fine with it."

Yamaguchi's own passion now: advocating child literacy through her Always Dream Foundation, and via the books she's written through the years. She also appeared on Dancing with the Stars, winning season 6, and hosted WEtv's Skating's Next Star.

08 of 16

Debi Thomas, 54

Olympic Skaters WATN
Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage; Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage

Olympic moment: The "Battle of the Carmens" ended with Thomas taking bronze in 1988 behind East Germany's gold-winning Katarina Witt, after both skated to music from Bizet's opera. The win made Thomas the first Black athlete ever to earn a medal at the Winter Olympics.

Today: "Everyone said it was impossible to go to college and win a world championship. I was just too stupid to think it was, so I did," Thomas said years later, after graduating from Northwestern and becoming an orthopedic surgeon. A 2016 Washington Post story painted a different picture, though: Thomas had stopped practicing medicine and was living in a trailer with her then-fiancé and two of her three sons, diagnosed with bipolar disorder (a diagnosis she contested).

09 of 16

Rosalynn Sumners, 57

ROSALYNN SUMNERS, 49
Steve Powell/Getty; Frederick M. Brown/Getty

Olympic moment: She won silver in 1984, after three national and one world championship.

Today: "I don't skate, I don't teach, I don't commentate. I don't really have anything to do with skating anymore, which is kind of nice," said Sumners, who married in 2004 and now works in interior design after stints in home building and running retail shops. As an original Stars on Ice cast member, she told PEOPLE, "I don't miss the athletic part. But I miss the performing."

10 of 16

Brian Boitano, 58

Olympic Skaters WATN
American Broadcasting Companies via Getty Images; Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images

Olympic moments: The 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary turned into the Battle of the Brians – Boitano versus Orser, two exceptional figure skaters competing for the gold medal. In the end, Boitano's triple jumps and axels edged out Orser's, and he landed in first.

Today: Though the champ still performs in exhibitions and teaches skating to disadvantaged youth, he is also focused on another creative pursuit – cooking! He grilled, sautéd and baked on his Food Network series, What Would Brian Boitano Make?, and even wrote a cookbook of the same name (a take on a South Park song about him). In 2013, he came out as gay.

"I have always been a private person," he said on Today. "I've kept my private side of my life special for family and friends who really knew me. I've never been ashamed of who I was."

11 of 16

Meryl Davis, 35 & Charlie White, 34

Olympic Skaters WATN
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images; Andrew H Walker/Shutterstock

Olympic moments: The striking pair won silver in ice dancing in 2010 and gold in 2014. They also won bronze with their team in 2014.

Today: Family friends who were paired at a young age, the partners had lots of fans shipping them throughout their careers. But he wed ice dancer Tanith Belbin in 2015, while she tied the knot with former figure skater Fedor Andreev in 2019. The two went head-to-head on season 18 of Dancing with the Stars, with Davis ultimately taking home the trophy. While they sometimes still perform together, they left competitive skating in 2017.

12 of 16

Timothy Goebel, 41

Olympic Skaters WATN
Rick Bowmer/AP/Shutterstock; Amy Sussman/Shutterstock

Olympic moment: He took home bronze at the 2002 Games and earned the nickname "quad king" after he became the first person to land three quadruple jumps in a program.

Today: He graduated from Columbia University and pursued a career in data science, retiring from skating in 2006. He wed partner Thomas Luciano in 2017.

"I'm still coaching a little bit, still trying to stay involved in skating," he told NBC in 2014. "I definitely want to give back to the sport however I can. It did so much to enrich my life. I'm trying to pass that along to the next generation."

13 of 16

Johnny Weir, 37

Olympic Skaters WATN
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images; Kelsey McNeal via Getty Images

Olympic moments: He competed but did not medal in the 2006 and 2010 games, and now works as a figure skating analyst for NBC at the Olympics and beyond.

Today: Like many before him, Weir went on to find some success in the pop culture sphere with a 2019 stint on The Masked Singer and a 2020 run on Dancing with the Stars. These days, he joins friend Tara Lipinski on NBC specials and draws fans with his elaborate fashion choices.

He wed partner Victor Voronov in 2011, though filed for divorce in 2014.

14 of 16

Gracie Gold, 26

Olympic Skaters WATN
Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images; Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images

Olympic moment: The promising young skater (with the perfect name to back it all up) earned a team bronze at the 2014 Games.

Today: Gold hit some bumps in the road following her rise to fame, entering treatment for her mental health in 2017 and ultimately missing the 2018 Olympics.

"I don't think people realized how bad it was," she told PEOPLE in 2019 of her battle with depression, anxiety and an eating disorder. She added, "If I could help anyone, even one person in any way, then it's all worth it, right?"

She made a triumphant return to the ice in early 2022, giving a near-perfect performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships (though she won't be competing at the Beijing games).

"I was just overwhelmed that I really did everything that you could want," she told the Washington Post after her routine. Gold added, "I built a whole career of bombing shorts at nationals and not from a lack of training."

"To nail almost everything," she told the Post. "Not perfect-perfect, but what can you want?"

15 of 16

Evan Lysacek, 36

Olympic Skaters WATN
Donald Kravitz/Getty Images; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Olympic moment: The 2010 gold medal winner was everywhere after his win, named the the 2010 United States Olympic Committee's SportsMan of the Year and earning endorsement details and a place within the fashion world.

Today: Married to Thai real estate developer Dang Bodiratnangkura since 2019, Lysacek continued skating through the 2010s and was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2016. He also competed on Dancing with the Stars, coming in second immediately after the Olympics in 2010.

16 of 16

Tanith Belbin & Benjamin Agosto

Olympic Skaters WATN
Youri Kochetkov/EPA/Shutterstock; Mike Coppola/FilmMagic

Olympic moment: The pair took silver in 2006, becoming the first American ice dancers to medal in 30 years.

Today: They continued to skate together for years afterward, though retired from competition in 2010. Each has gone on to new careers that include choreography; she has also done work as a commentator. In 2015, she married fellow ice dancer Charlie White, with whom she has one child.

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