Debi Thomas Wants Only to Be the Best : Figure Skater From San Jose Makes Her Mark at National Sports Festival

The graceful, athletic elegance is reminiscent of an accomplished ballerina, but Debi Thomas does her dancing in figure skates. The stage is an unyielding stretch of ice, but Thomas glides effortlessly across the treacherous surface, drawing an enraptured crowd of 7,000 into her music. Suddenly, the audience grows still as Thomas whirls into the first of four triples. The prayers of her legion of well-wishers are answered after a few agonizing seconds, however, as Thomas comes out of the third revolution unscathed and touches down safely.

The applause resumes and Thomas breaks into an infectious smile, one befitting an 18-year-old visitor from San Jose, who in three short days has been crowned the belle of Baton Rouge.

Thomas’ scintillating program Sunday earned her a gold medal in competition at Sports Festival VI. In terms of prestige and quality, the victory doesn’t rival the World Championship, but it does stamp Thomas as the lady in waiting to the current U.S. best, Tiffany Chin. Chin has been bothered by injuries and is not here.

“This is so wonderful,” said Thomas after coming off the ice. “I’m so happy because I wasn’t going to come here until the last minute. I had taken off 10 weeks and really hadn’t trained hard. But I wanted to compete.

“Maybe that’s how I should train from now on . . . by not training. This is the best I’ve skated in weeks.”

The lack of practice is certainly an abnormal situation, for the young woman who stunned the skating world last year by upsetting Japan’s Midori Ito in a portion of the NHK Trophy competition. “She spends about six hours a day, five days a week on the ice,” said Coach Alex McGowan of his protege, who in the last year has climbed to No. 5 in the world. “When I first saw her back in 1977, she wasn’t very good. I was building my club and her mom asked me to work with her.

“But Debi has great athletic ability, artistry, discipline and she has an ear for music. But to have her come this far is definitely a shock because it’s so difficult to reach the point where you are one of the top skaters in the United States.”

Thomas started skating when she was 5, falling in love with the performers in ice shows. As she competed more, she fixated on Scott Hamilton, the reigning men’s gold medalist, who has since moved on to the professional ranks. However, Peggy Fleming, who lived in the area, was a frequent visitor to the Redwood City training site, and McGowan often sat the young skater down to watch.

“I love Scott’s determination and his athletic ability,” Thomas said. “Plus, he never lost his friendliness. He never got big-headed. He’s a perfect champion in attitude, always trying to improve, never satisfied with less than the best.

“The men are better athletes, but I try to do an athletic routine. I think I’m able to blend everything well and that has helped. The crowd seems to enjoy the more dramatic things though.”

The crowd, indeed, enjoys her takeoffs and nerve-wracking landings, but it also appreciates her swan-like arm and leg extension.

“To me Peggy Fleming was always the most graceful skater, the most stylized,” said McGowan, a dapper Englishman. “She was truly elegant. Her stretches were beautiful to watch. I would tell Debi, ‘that’s what I expect from you.’

“Debi also has great courage. She is willing to take high risks and she handles pressure so well. At world, she attempted five triples. She fell once, but she got back up and landed four more, only one where she grazed her hand on the ice. She meets challenges and she wants to succeed.”

Success is never guaranteed, but Thomas is already the highest-ranked black skater in history. But she resents the label.

“I don’t want to be remembered as the best black skater in history, I want to be the best skater,” she said. “I had a dream to be in the Olympics. Everyone says that but most of the time it never happens.

“But in the last year, it’s beginning to become a reality and that is a good feeling.”

However, the gold-medal pursuit will never totally dominate her life. An excellent student, Thomas will enroll at Stanford in the fall. McGowan believes the extra effort involved in getting a degree will put her behind other competitors who spend 24 hours a day fantasizing about salchows and triple toe loops.

McGowan cites Tenley Albright as the only skater to ever win a U.S. championship and earn a degree at the same time. Despite the ominous warning, Thomas thinks that will be the least of her problems.

“I’ve been doing school and skating all along so I don’t think it will be a problem. I’m not even going to worry about it,” she said. “Sometimes, however, when you have a bad day, you always come up with some goofy reason for quitting. I always think about quitting. And after I come off the ice I’m disgusted with skating.

“But then I know I love skating and I’d be sorrier if I was off the ice. Then I go back to work because my parents have put themselves in debt for me and sacrificed to achieve my dream. I owe it to them and to myself to fulfill it.

“Winning here brings it a little closer. I like the feeling. This is great.”