Fleming, Peggy G.
Figure skating
b. July 27, 1948, San Jose, CA
Dick Button described Fleming as "a unique combination of athletic ability, technical control, great style, and immense musicality."
Fleming started skating competitively when she was eleven. Two years later, her coach was among those killed when a plane carrying the U. S. figure skating team crashed in Belgium. She said later, "For a long time, I didn't feel like going out there to skate."
But she kept skating, and her parents did everything they could to advance her career. The family moved to Colorado Springs in 1965 so she could train with Carlo Fassi and prepare for the high altitude of Davos, Switzerland, where the next world championships were to be held. Her mother designed and sewed the dresses she wore in competition.
The 5-foot-3, 109-pound Fleming won five consecutive U. S. championships, from 1964 through 1968, and she was the world champion three years in a row, from 1966 through 1968. She won the only gold medal for the U. S. team at the 1968 Winter Olympics.
Named the Associated Press female athlete of the year for her 1968 triumphs, Fleming signed a long-term $500,000 contract shortly after the Olympics. She appeared in her own television specials and also performed with the Ice Follies and Holiday on Ice. Fleming later did figure skating commentary for ABC television.