Skater Refused to Let Bug Keep Her Out in the Cold

The usual remedy for a sore throat and a stuffy nose does not include an outing on a slab of ice, but try telling that to Tisha Walker.

Walker, a 15-year-old sophomore at Thousand Oaks High, would not let a bug keep her from representing the United States last week in the World Junior Figure-Skating Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo. Given antibiotics by the team doctor, she finished seventh among 30 competitors in the junior ladies’ division.

“I was skating great all week up until the long program, then I fell twice,” Walker said. “Everything just felt off and I didn’t feel like myself, but overall I was still happy about my performance.”

After finishing fourth in the short program and 11th in the compulsories, Walker was fifth going into the long program. Even a normal showing in that event, her mother Bonnie said, and Tisha probably would have finished at least third behind gold medalist Yuka Sato of Japan.

Aside from an illness, Walker had to handle the electronic media for the first time. CBS-TV was doing a special on the three members of the U. S. junior ladies’ team: Tisha, Jessica Mills and Kyoko Ina. According to Bonnie, TV cameras were a big distraction, following the girls to dinner and practice.

“Tisha was able to skate wonderfully all week despite not feeling well, and she handled the press fantastically,” Bonnie said. “It was a real learning experience for her.”

Last March, Tisha passed a skating test and qualified to move up to senior ladies, but because of her age, she still is able to compete as a junior. She competed as a senior in the U. S. Olympic Sports Festival last summer and finished fifth, then won a senior invitational in Paramount last August and placed first among senior ladies in an international meet last month in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Walker’s next big meet is the Pacific Coast Championships next month in San Diego. The top four finishers in senior ladies qualify for the U. S. Nationals in February in Salt Lake City.