Thomas Melts the Doubts; On the Ice, She’s Still No. 1

The U.S. Figure Skating championships began Tuesday night with ice dancing compulsories, which didn’t end until it was almost Wednesday morning.

Even though the two leading teams were even after the “Westminister Waltz” and “Yankee Polka” phases of the competition, few who had been among the Tacoma Dome crowd waited to see the all-important “Rumba.”

Renee Roca, who, along with partner Donald Adair, emerged from the final dance as the leaders after the compulsories, was surprised to see anyone still there when she arrived at a post-midnight interview with reporters.

“Usually, no one pays attention to anything but the singles,” she said.

Certainly, more attention is paid to the singles than the other events, as was the case when the ladies--girls, actually--began their competition Wednesday morning with compulsory figures.

They were held at a community recreation center on the edge of town, but the atmosphere was strictly main event.

Many among the crowd there were eager to discover whether the stories that have been circulating were true about Debi Thomas, 19, the reigning national and world champion from San Jose.

There was one story that she had been seriously training for less than a month, another that she was injured and still another that she was so unfit for this competition that she considered petitioning the United States Figure Skating Assn. for an automatic berth in next month’s world championships in Cincinnati.

The stories are true, more or less.

But if the other ladies expected Thomas to perform Wednesday like anything other than America’s best, they were disappointed.

Entering Friday’s short program, she will have a comfortable lead over her closest competitors, Jill Trenary and Caryn Kadavy, both of whom skate for Carlo Fassi in Colorado Springs.

Toluca Lake’s Tiffany Chin, third in the world the last two years, was a disappointing fourth in Wednesday’s compulsories.

The first three after Saturday’s long program advance to the world championships.

The men begin their competition today with the compulsories.

“I feel really relaxed,” Thomas said. “I’ve always dreamed of the day I’d go out and do figures and feel really relaxed. I think I’ve improved.”

There should have been no doubting Thomas.

As the first U.S. ladies champion since Tenley Albright, Radcliffe ‘58, to carry a full class load in college, Thomas, a Stanford pre-med student, is proving that an elite skater can pursue ambitions outside the rink.

This quarter, Thomas is enrolled in biology, Shakespeare, Greek mythology and writing.

“Don’t laugh,” she said. “This is the art quarter. They want us to be well-rounded.”

To make sure she qualified, she recently was initiated into a coed fraternity.

Considering she’s been able to do all that and still compete at a world-class level, couldn’t all skaters handle such a schedule?

Shakespeare for everyone?

Well, no.

In order to fulfill her school commitments, Thomas, who hasn’t competed since the 1986 world championships in Geneva, didn’t begin training until five weeks ago.

“I thought that was short, but not impossible,” she said.

Then she pulled the calf muscles in both legs and couldn’t practice for a week. When she tried to come back too soon, she developed tendinitis in both ankles. If it weren’t for ice packs and aspirin, she wouldn’t be here.

“If I’m numb enough, I don’t feel the pain,” she said.

She didn’t necessarily have to be here in order to return to the world championships. U.S. officials say that, as the defending world champion, she probably would have been awarded a berth even if she hadn’t been able to compete in the nationals.

But all parties agreed such a decision would send the wrong signal to international judges, who might have been partial toward East Germany’s Katarina Witt if they believed Thomas was not in her best form. Witt won the 1984 Olympic championship and the 1985 world championship before finishing second to Thomas in Geneva last year.

So Thomas came to Tacoma, even though she has made only minor changes in the long program she used last year because she has had so little time. She and her coach, Alex McGowan, didn’t choreograph her short program until last Friday.

But Thomas has expressed nothing but confidence.

“This is about as comfortable as I can feel,” she said Wednesday. “I can’t go out and do my short program Friday and fall down and say I’m still No. 1.

“But I like this position of defending a title. All I have to do is stay up there. Right now, I feel like I can do it. I feel stronger than I did last year.

“If I mess up, it will be only because of some stupid psychological things.”

If she improves on her 1986 performances, no one will be more impressed than McGowan, her coach for the last nine years who so far this week has resisted the urge to cover his eyes while she has taken fall after fall during practices.

He was so frustrated with Thomas during one of her figures practices that he walked out.

But when it was showtime Wednesday, she was ready.

If Thomas wins, some coaches here say they will reconsider the amount of ice time their skaters need to prepare for a competition. McGowan is not among them.

“I can’t say everybody would be able to handle everything Debi has,” he said. “Debi’s special.”

He laughed. “And I’m a special kind of coach. Not every coach could handle this.”

He nodded toward the demanding Fassi, who coached Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill.

“I wouldn’t advise people to try to do what Debi’s doing,” McGowan said. “I wouldn’t tell them not to do it if they have a chance. But if they have a choice, I’d obviously tell them to train harder.

“Debi knows how I feel, but it’s her choice. It’s not what I’d like. I get more gray hairs like this.”

Presumptuously looking ahead to the world championships, McGowan asked Thomas hopefully the other day about her schedule for next week.

“I’ve got to make up two exams because I came here,” she told him.