Hieis biography

American figure skater and actress (born )

Carol Elizabeth Heiss Jenkins (born January 20, ) is an American former figure skater and actress. Competing in ladies' singles, she became the Olympic champion, the Olympic silver medalist, and a five-time World champion (–).

Career

Competitive

Heiss, a daughter of German immigrants, started skating as a six-year-old in New York.^[2][3] She was coached by Pierre Brunet. She first came to national prominence in , when she won the U.S. novice ladies' title, at age She won the U.S. junior ladies' title in and then moved up to the senior level in From to , she finished second to Tenley Albright at the national championships. She competed with a slashed Achilles' tendon at the U.S. Championships.^[4]

Heiss was named in the U.S. team to the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. She won the silver medal, while Albright took the gold. However, at the following World Championships, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany, Heiss defeated Albright for the title; it was the first of her five consecutive world titles.^[5]

After the Winter Olympics, Heiss had offers to turn professional and skate in ice shows. But her mother, Marie Heiss, was quite ill with cancer at the time, and before her death in October , she asked Carol to win a gold medal for her. Between and , Heiss dominated women's figure skating like nobody since Sonja Henie. She was the World and U.S. Champion each year, and at the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, Heiss captured the gold medal, being ranked first by all nine judges. She also took the Olympic Oath as representative of the organizing country to open the games.^[6] By winning the World Championships held after the Olympics, Heiss became one of three women to have won five consecutive World Championships. She then retired from competitive skating.^[1][2]

In , Heiss became the first female skater to land a double Axel jump. One of her trademarks was performing a series of alternating clockwise and counterclockwise single Axels.^[7] She normally rotated her jumps clockwise and spins counterclockwise; it is much more common for skaters to do both in the same direction (usually counterclockwise).

Heiss was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame.^[2]

Post-competitive

Heiss played the female lead in the film Snow White and the Three Stooges. In the late s, she began coaching several skaters in Lakewood, Ohio. Her former students include Timothy Goebel, Tonia Kwiatkowski and Miki Ando.^[2]

Personal life

Carol Heiss was born on January 20, , in New York City, and grew up in Ozone Park, Queens.^[1][2][3] Her younger sister and brother, Nancy Heiss and Bruce Heiss, were also elite figure skating competitors. During the s, the three skating Heiss siblings were featured in publications such as Life magazine.^[8]

During her run of world titles, Heiss attended New York University, graduating after the Winter Olympics.^[9] In , she married American figure skater Hayes Alan Jenkins, who had won the Olympic gold medal.^[1] They have three children together.^[10]

Results

References

External links