Henie Skated Off With Norway’s Legacy on Ice

Go figure. Norway, the country that gave the world the original ice princess, Sonja Henie, has no figure skaters entered in the 1994 Winter Olympics.

For people who follow the sport, that is no news flash. Only six Norwegians have competed in Olympic figure skating since World War II, none since 1964.

Henie won a record three gold medals in women’s individual competition in 1928, ’32 and ’36 and a record 10 straight world championships between 1927 and ’36. But she had no impact on the sport in her native land.

Some claim that is because of her purported friendship with Adolf Hitler, who fawned over her. But historians here contend it probably has more to do with the fact that after her competitive career ended she moved to Southern California, where she starred in movies and ice shows and led a much-publicized lavish, promiscuous life.

After becoming a U.S. citizen by marriage in 1940, she lived in a Holmby Hills mansion most of the time until her death in 1969.

One of the world’s first female sports stars, Henie left more of a legacy in the United States, where figure skating became a popular competitive pursuit for girls because of the exposure she gave the sport.

“Every little girl wanted to be her,” said Carol Heiss Jenkins, who won the 1960 gold medal for the United States. She cited “the fame, the glitter, the way she’d glide across the ice.”

Norway, however, discourages the sport.

“We don’t put money in figure skating,” said Arne Myhrvold, president of the Norwegian Olympic Committee. “You have to start children when they are 6 and 7 years old. We think it’s wrong to start sports too early.

“If another Sonja Henie shows up, we will help her. But we won’t spend the time or money to create another one.”