Profile: Scott Hamilton
Olympic Hall of Fame

"The only disability in life is a bad attitude."

Scott Hamilton has been the world's most celebrated figure skater since 1981, when he won the first of eight consecutive national and world titles. This winning streak has never been equaled. The Olympic gold medal he won at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia in 1984 was the first won by an American male in this sport since 1960. His accomplishments are all the more remarkable because of the daunting obstacles Hamilton had to face. When he was a child, a mysterious illness halted his growth and confined him to hospitals for almost six years. Doctors predicted he would not survive childhood. His growth resumed when he took up skating, but at his adult height of five feet, three and a half inches, some judges told him he was too short to compete successfully. Even after he had proven himself at the highest level of competition, his professional career was impeded by an entertainment industry that only recognized the drawing power of female skaters. Scott Hamilton overcame it all, and forged a dazzling post-Olympic career as the star of television specials and his own touring ice show. He is a champion in the truest sense of the word.