Debi Thomas/
Figure Skating
Made history by becoming the first, and only, African American athlete to win an Olympic medal in the Winter Games when she captured the bronze at the 1988 Winter Games.
In 1986 and 1988, she won the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships. In 1986, Thomas also became the first African American to win the World Figure Skating Championship. She was the 1985 Figure Skater of the Year, the 1986 Amateur Female Athlete of the Year, and ABC's “Wide World of Sports” Athlete of the Year. That same year, she won the Women's Sports Foundation Amateur Sportswoman of the Year in 1986. Thomas is also a three-time World Professional Figure Skating Champion.
After graduating from Stanford University with a degree in engineering in 1991, Thomas is currently a medical student at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, and has future plans of joining NASA's astronaut training program. (3/97)