Power and Grace
by Nick Pilgrim

In 1985, a new U.S. athlete burst onto the international scene. Filling the void left by Sarejevo Olympians, Rosalynn Sumners and Elaine Zayak, Debi Thomas redefined American skating. Flouting tradition, her look was contemporary and sleek. More often than not, she would perform to upbeat rock music, commanding audience involvement.

At her first world championship, Debi immediately proved her physical and mental toughness, placing fifth against strong competition. Skating with a pinched nerve in her back, Thomas nevertheless landed three solid triple jumps in her free program, including the difficult double axel/triple toe loop, a combination no other skater was trying.

The next year, 1986, was her breakthrough season.

Initially, Thomas decided to withdraw from the U.S. national championship, ripping up her entry in frustration. Citing a lack of preparation, lately, practice had taken a back seat to her increasingly heavy university schedule. However, wanting to prove that she could be a world-class athlete and a student at the same time, Debi taped the form back together, determined to rise to the challenge.

Her path to victory would not be easy.

Skating against the defending champion, 1985 world bronze medallist, Tiffany Chin, Debi won the compulsory figures. But, when rising star, Caryn Kadavy, placed first in the short program, the result put all three skaters in a virtual tie. Therefore, heading into the long program, Thomas knew she would have to go all out if she stood a chance of winning. By her own admission, Debi hadn't been skating well at all. Still, pushed by the audience's enthusiasm, she hit everything, including the tough triple loop, then the glamour jump for ladies.

In interviews leading up to the world championship, Debi made an outrageous but (according to skating's insiders), realistic claim. Katarina Witt, known as the foremost competitor of her generation, was the current world and Olympic champion. "Katarina does what she has to do, and she blows everyone away. But, I know that if I go out and do what I have to do," Thomas undaunted, declared, "I can take her title from her."

At worlds in Geneva, Witt made a costly error in the short program, stumbling on the required double loop in the two jump combination. Her mistake opened the door for Debi. Providing the East German won the long, all Thomas had to do now was to place second. When Katarina did exactly this, Debi skated clean as well, winning the championship.

The next season, 1987, was a tough transition for the champion. As many before her had stated, it is always easier to win a title than to defend one. Such was the case at the U.S. championships in Tacoma, Washington.

Again, due mainly to her intense course load at Stanford, Debi entered the championship, unprepared and injured. Pushing herself to make up for lost ice time, Thomas got tendonitis in both ankles. Jill Trenary, stable mate of Kadavy, took the crown with an electrifying performance. Debi, later conceding that she didn't want to be there, finished a disappointing second. Now the question was, how well could she defend her world title?

Two things would place against her. Firstly, Witt was coming off a fifth straight victory at the European championship. Secondly, if the pressure wasn't bad enough, the world competition would be held on home soil, in Cincinnati, Ohio. All eyes would be on Debi.

Kira Ivanova of the Soviet Union, won the compulsory figures. Debi was second. Witt placed fifth. Trenary, succumbing to competition jitters, stood a distant eleventh. Mathematically, Thomas now stood a great chance if she held everything together.

It is said that you can't win a championship with the short program. Make a mistake, however, and you sure can lose it. Witt won the short, moving up to second and within striking range of the title. Debi though, touched down on the mandatory double axel, placing seventh, and dropped to third overall. The race was on again. Later, Debi signed Katarina's program, "Good Luck. May the best man win."

The long program was scheduled for the next evening. Trenary made up for her poor start, performed well, and came seventh overall. Kadavy skated a personal best, won the bronze medal. It was now up to Thomas and Witt. While Debi drew to skate second last, Katarina would be the final performer of the championship.

Performing with a determination she lacked only weeks earlier at the national championship, Debi landed four difficult triple jumps. Her only error, was a slight two-footed landing on the fifth, the triple loop. The possibility of victory seemed in reach.

But, when Witt took to the ice, Katarina pushed the competition to another level. Skating to West Side Story, she charmed the crowd, hitting a triple loop of her own. Until that point, it was a jump she had never landed in competition. Watching from the sidelines, "That girl," Debi said, "is blazing."

The stage was set for the Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada, barely eleven months away.

Soon, Debi took three months off to cure her tendonitis. Eventually returning to the ice, she was out of shape and really disenchanted with herself. Driven by the fact that she was only human, of course she was going to make mistakes. "If I just keep my head screwed on straight," Thomas said, "I know I can do it."

Suddenly, there was a bigger problem for Debi to deal with. If the Thomas versus Witt rivalry wasn't intense enough, now, it seemed, both women were skating to the same music. The press, quick to pick up on the hype, labelled their intended showdown, The Battle of the Carmens.

Upon learning that her arch rival metaphorically, would be attending the ball wearing the same dress, Katarina was quoted, "that you can skate to the music, or you can feel it." Debi countered Witt with, "She dies at the end. I don't."

As insurance, Debi armed herself with a choreographer, George de la Pena, from the American Ballet Theatre. She also had a session with the renowned dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, helping Debi to fine tune little performance nuances.

Thomas' last big test on the road to Calgary would be the U.S. championship in Denver, Colorado. The defending champion, Trenary, skated beautifully. Debi knew she would need something extra to win. In the first twenty seconds of her long program, Thomas unleashed her secret lethal weapon, a combination of two triple toe loops. Later in the performance, she landed the best triple loop of her career. Now, the pundits were saying, if Debi skates like this in Canada, Witt was in big trouble.

The games loomed on the horizon. Media scrutiny was huge. Along with the men's competition between American's Brian Boitano and Canada's Brian Orser, labelled The Battle of the Brians, figure skating reached a level of popularity unseen.

Again, Debi placed second in the compulsory figures behind Kira Ivanova. This time, though, Witt was much closer, in third.

Katarina was first of the two to skate her short program. Performing to a selection of show tunes, she was sexy and flirtatious. However, Witt barely squeaked out the required double loop in her two jump combination. Thomas, dressed in a striking black body suit, performed to techno music, nailing a more difficult jump variation than Witt.

Both the audience and Thomas thought she had beaten Katarina in this round of the competition. Debi was palpably taken aback though, when the judges thought otherwise. Still, she had risen to first overall.

Two nights later, the final group of ladies took to the ice. Earlier, Kadavy had to withdraw due to the flu. Trenary skated well, if somewhat conservatively. Ivanova performed poorly, dropping out of medal contention.

When Witt doubled her triple loop, the door immediately swung open for Debi. All Thomas had to do now was skate clean. Would she risk the difficult triple toe / triple toe?

Debi decided to go for it for two reasons. Like Brian Boitano, victor of the men's event, more than anything, Debi wanted the performance of her life. Winning the gold was secondary. She also hadn't missed the combination once all week during practice.

As the last skater of the event and the 88 Games, Debi stood poised at centre ice. This was it. Everything she had worked for, narrowed down to four critical minutes. No sooner did the music begin, that Thomas set up for the do-or-die jump sequence. The audience held its breath.

Debi unfortunately, stumbled. Her heart sank. It wasn't to be. She dropped to third, barely winning the bronze behind Witt, and the star of the evening, Canada's own Elizabeth Manley.

Brian Boitano said, if she had skated the rest of her performance clean, she still could have won. Thomas, interviewed on Oprah, years later, wondered jokingly how bad it would look if she could just slink off the ice there and then.

Turning professional after the 1988 world championship in Budapest, Hungary, Debi had a great professional career. Away from the pressures of competition, she often displayed a terrific sense of humour, modelled after her idol, Mr Frick. Retiring from the sport in 1992, Debi continued her studies, eventually graduating as an orthopedic surgeon.