The Former Olympian Is Still Achieving Great Things. The 2018 Olympics are about to begin in just a few weeks on Feb. 9, and one event has always garnered the greatest attention at the Winter Games: ice skating. Throughout their Olympic careers, the athletes become household names. During their off-years, they often continue to achieve great things. Kristi Yamaguchi is a perfect example of an athlete who's still making waves more than 20 years after her last competition. The former figure skater from the United States won three gold medals at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and was named the Best Female Skier of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine. She has also been listed as number 35 on Vogue's list of the "100 Most Powerful Women in World Business". Yamaguchi became famous at a very young age and remained so throughout her career. She started competing in national competitions when she was only five years old and finished first in both the overall and technical events of the 1987 Junior Championships. At the following year's championships, she successfully defended her titles without any problems. That same year, she made her international debut at the CRO National Ski Championships in France where she took third place behind Canada's Julie Dickson and France's Marie-France Kerleroge. In 1989, Yamaguchi went back to school to study psychology but decided to resume her figure skating career one year later.