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Figure Skaters Glide Into Arena On Sunday

By Susan English susane@spokesman.com

If you think you’ve just seen Scott Hamilton and Kristi Yamaguchi skate, you’re right.

Since his return to the ice in October, Hamilton has filmed one figure skating special after another for TV. And in his spare time, he starred in a bunch of pre-Christmas TV commercials for Target (or it’s the same commercial and it only airs a bunch of times each evening).

Yamaguchi won her fourth World Professional Figure Skating Championship trophy in mid-December, which was broadcast in prime time.

Both skaters are now mainstays in the ninth Discover Stars On Ice Tour, which began Nov. 29 in Lake Placid, N.Y., and stops in Spokane for a performance Sunday.

That tour alone sets a grueling schedule. For example, the skaters performed Saturday in Baltimore, Sunday in Charlotte, N.C., and Monday in Greensboro, N.C. The tour’s in Portland, Ore., Friday and Seattle on Saturday. By the first of April, it will have stopped in 57 cities, with the longest break being three weeks in February for the Winter Olympics.

By itself, the tour may seem manageable. But some of the skaters are also taping the plethora of TV specials that will air before the Olympics, and some are training to compete in the Winter Games that open in Nagano, Japan, on Feb. 7.

As for the universally popular Hamilton, he’s been booked solid since he returned to performing after his battle with testicular cancer earlier this year.

He was diagnosed on March 19 and almost immediately began chemotherapy treatments. Surgery followed and by late September, the 1984 Olympic champion was back on the ice training for the Discover tour.

This is one of two major-league ice shows to come through Spokane each year, the other being the Champions on Ice Tour that performs in the Spokane Arena on June 13. Both boast lineups loaded with top-notch talent.

In addition to Hamilton and Yamaguchi, the Discover tour includes Katarina Witt, the 1984 and 1988 Olympic gold medalist, and Rosalynn Sumners, the 1984 Olympic silver medalist.

Also on the program is Ekaterina Gordeeva, who won two Olympic gold medals and four world titles as a pairs skater with her husband, Sergei Grinkov. After her 28-year-old husband died of a heart attack while training in Lake Placid, N.Y., in 1995, she took some time off and returned as a singles skater.

Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur, the two-time U.S. ice dance champions, will perform Sunday night as will pairs skaters Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov, the 1992 Olympic silver medalists.

The Discover Stars on Ice Tour raises money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, an organization which grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses. Two dollars from each ticket purchased with a Discover Card goes to the local Make-A-Wish chapter.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: FIGURE SKATING The Discover Stars On Ice Tour will appear at the Spokane Arena Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $50, $38 and $28, available at G&B Select-a-Seat outlets or call (800) 325-SEAT.

This sidebar appeared with the story: FIGURE SKATING The Discover Stars On Ice Tour will appear at the Spokane Arena Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $50, $38 and $28, available at G&B; Select-a-Seat outlets or call (800) 325-SEAT.