She is most often introduced as figure skating's 1988 Olympic bronze medalist, an acknowledgement of a pinnacle in the career of Debi Thomas, athlete.

As one of America's best known female sports stars of the 1980s, there were numerous pinnacles. Debi was crowned skating's World champion in 1986 and twice won the U.S. National Championship title in 1986 and 1988. She later captured three World Professional skating titles and entertained audiences as a frequent headliner in shows and tours, skating for four years with the popular Discover Card "Stars On Ice" cast.

Still, these achievements represent only a part of Debi's identity, for she rarely has been content to pursue excellence one objective at a time. While gaining elite status in skating, Debi stubbornly maintained a grasp on educational goals, completing high school and enrolling at Stanford University to obtain a degree in engineering. Despite the demands of training and competing, Debi stayed the course in academics. She took a brief respite from her studies to win her Olympic medal in 1988, and graduated from Stanford in 1991. Her proudest achievement in skating occurred in 1986; during her freshman year at Stanford, Debi won both the U.S. and World Championship titles, a feat many said "couldn't be done". Until the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Debi was the first and only black athlete to win an Olympic medal at the Winter Games.

But the journey is far from over. On June 6, 1997, Debi graduated from Chicago's prestigious Northwestern University Medical School, and recently completed what she's worked so diligently toward: a residency in orthopaedic surgery. In June 2005, Debi graduated from the Orthopaedic Residency Program at Charles R. Drew University in Los Angeles. This summer she passed Step I of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons' exam and completed her work at King-Drew Medical Center as a junior attending physician specialist.

In July 2006, Debi began a one-year fellowship at the renowned Dorr Arthritis Institute at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, California, for sub-specialty training in adult reconstructive surgery. In August Debi will begin a career as a sub-specialist at the Carle Clinic in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where she hopes to develop a center of excellence for arthritis care in the future.

Despite her academic and professional objectives, Debi always seems to find time to utilize her fame to help others. She periodically works with the Women's Sports Foundation and is a member of that organization's speakers' bureau. Debi has always been partial to children's charities (such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation). She has served on the advisory board of Athletes Against Drugs and the U.S. Olympic Committee's (USOC) Sports Medicine advisory board, and was recently appointed to the World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame advisory board.

Debi has also applied her considerable insights on figure skating to work in broadcasting, frequently appearing as a guest on numerous sports-related radio and TV programs. In 1994, she was the expert television analyst for CBS affiliate WBBM-Chicago as the dramatic women's skating competition unfolded at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics.

Leading up to and during the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games, Debi appeared in a Minute Maid orange juice consumer promotion; appeared on various television talk shows and news programs; and made several corporate appearances in addition to working behind-the-scenes with CBS New York on various taped viewer features that aired during the figure skating coverage.

The U.S. Olympic Committee asked Debi to be their on-site celebrity representative at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games, and she took a brief vacation from her residency to do so. Debi was in great demand with the media, participating in numerous interviews and forecasting the skating competitions, in addition to helping entertain the USOC's corporate sponsors and major benefactors attending the Games as guests of the USOC.

During the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Debi was part of the official White House delegation that accompanied First Lady Laura Bush to the Olympics. She thoroughly enjoyed her time with Mrs. Bush and the other delegates and was honored to be chosen as the President's official representative at the Games.

In November of 1998, Debi was inducted into the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame in San Jose, California, along with football coaching legend Bill Walsh and Olympic swimmer Pablo Morales. During the 2000 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Cleveland, Ohio, Debi was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame, certainly one of her most cherished honors.

As busy as she is, Debi is still very recognizable worldwide, and occasionally takes time to make appearances. From 2005-2007 she appeared in infomercials for the Easy Shaper exercise system and American Signature mattresses. In February 2006, Debi was featured in a public service announcement (PSA) for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Washington, D.C. AHRQ is the lead Federal agency charged with improving the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. Since delivering her first message, which was to stress the importance of seeking a doctor's advice for common medical concerns that can become serious if left untreated, Debi has become a media spokesperson for AHRQ/HHS and frequently participates in media interviews and PSAs delivering various messages on their behalf.

Debi has a particular interest in studying the properties of musculoskeletal tissues in microgravity environments, and has contemplated the idea of someday applying her research at the International Space Station. She has visited the NASA Space Center in Houston and the Huntsville, Alabama, Space and Rocket Center in 1995 with astronaut and former skater Jan Davis. In 1996, Debi was appointed to the "Mission HOME" (Harvesting Opportunities for Mother Earth) Advisory Board by former astronaut Jim Lovell.

Debi and husband Chris Bequette (a financial analyst with Linsco/Private Ledger in Fountain Valley, Calif.), welcomed their first child, Christopher Jules Bequette II, on July 1, 1997, just weeks after Debi received her medical degree from Northwestern University. Says proud mom Debi of her son (now nine), whom they call 'Luc', "He is perfect in every way. Luc is by far my greatest accomplishment." Debi, Chris and Luc make their home in Fountain Valley, Calif.

Jeanne Martin
Mentor Management