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Figure skater Scott Hamilton offers life advice in new book
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Scott Hamilton has lived enough triumph and misfortune to fill three lives, not just one.
He won Olympic figure skating gold in 1984, founded a famous pro skating tour that became Stars on Ice, and is one of the sport's most candid and knowledgeable TV commentators. (He'll be working next month's U.S. Championships in Cleveland Jan. 18-25, and the 2010 Vancouver Games.)
Hamilton was adopted as an infant, suffered a digestive disorder as a child that stunted his growth, and battled not only testicular cancer, but then brain cancer -- both in remission.
All of which makes him more than qualified to write a book, or two, about his life. Hamilton's latest book, which the L.A. Times veteran Olympics writer Helene Elliott calls "part self-help guide, part life manual," is due for a Jan. 6 release. It's Called "The Great Eight: How To Be Happy (Even When You Have Every Reason To Be Miserable)." Hamilton previously wrote a 2000 autobiography.
In the new book, Elliott says, Hamilton tells of his affinity for the number eight, and how that number was ingrained early while training for compulsories -- the "figure" part of figure skating that's now extinct. As part of their total score, skaters had to trace the figure eight on ice to demonstrate things like patience, precision, discipline and edge control.
Because it didn't make for scintillating TV, the sport did away with figures. Hamiton bemoans their absence. He disliked the mundane hours spent practicing figures as a kid, when he'd rather be spinning and jumping. But now he appreciates what they gave him as a skater and an adult, laying "the foundation of everything I was able to do afterward," including developing a philosophy and faith to handle life's obstacles.
Now married and the father of two boys, Hamilton travels to skating competitions with a wallet he eagerly opens to photos of his family, and talks with a happy weariness about sleep deprivation and diapers. For Hamilton, it's yet another life well worth living.
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