Debi Thomas Biography, Husband, Son, Parents, Family, Quick Facts

The first thing you learned about Debi Thomas was her status as a retired American skater.Among her categories, she stands out for a variety of reasons, ranging from world champion in 1986 to an Olympic bronze medalist in 1988 and two-time US national champion.

The first thing you learned about Debi Thomas was her status as a retired American skater. Among her categories, she stands out for a variety of reasons, ranging from world champion in 1986 to an Olympic bronze medalist in 1988 and two-time US national champion.

Neglecting the above, there’s more to who she is; Debi trained as a doctor and later practiced the noble profession. Here are the facts of his life.

Debi Thomas – Biography,

Debi (Debra Janine Thomas) was born March 25, 1967, in Poughkeepsie, New York and grew up in San Jose, California. As a toddler, little Debi revealed to her mother that she would love to make a living skating after watching a skating show Ice Follies. Additionally, she received her first skating shoes at the age of 5 and began skating seriously, while learning and having fun at the same time under the tutelage of Barbara Toigo Vitkovits at the Eastridge Mall in San Joseph.

She won her first skating competition at the age of 9. This silver medal was won at the age of 12, despite several discriminations from the judges because she was black. She did, however, begin representing the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club in 1983, which gave her career a boost and shamed judges who racially discriminated against her. Debi Thomas signed with Scottish coach Alex McGowan for official skating lessons and he guided her career to her Olympic wins.

For the Sports Athlete of the Year award in 1986, which she won, she won both the US national title and the world championships. She is the first athlete to win these two titles while continuing her studies at Stanford University. She also received the Candace Trailblazer Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.

Her youth saw plenty of career achievement for her as a skater – thanks to her perseverance despite the discrimination she faced while still rising as an amateur skater. In February 1989, she placed 12th in the Q Athlete rankings as the only female in the top 22.

Debi didn’t stifle her dream of becoming a doctor in favor of her skating career. She received her engineering degree in 1991 before continuing her studies at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, where she graduated in 1997. She then trained as a surgical resident at the Hospital des medical sciences from the University of Arkansas, then a residency in orthopedic surgery. at the Martin Luther King Jr./Charles Drew University Medical Center in South Central Los Angeles, where she graduated in 2005. She specialized in hip and knee replacement as an orthopedic surgeon.

Her Family – Parents, Husband and Son

Although Debi was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, she was raised in San Jose, California, where her parents, both computer scientists, were offered a job at one of the tech companies that helped create the Silicon Valley we know today.

His family was one of the few African American families who resided in the neighborhood then. Sadly, her mother, Janice Thomas, raised her as a single parent because her father, McKinley Thomas (computer program manager), separated from her mother in 1974 when she was still young.

So it can be said that Debi’s mother is well off and able to support her child as she worked as a computer programming analyst in Sunnyvale, California.

Although Debi Thomas has had an enviable career as an athlete, her life as a couple has nothing to envy when it was filled with turbulence.

She married in Boulder, Colorado to Brian Vander Hogen on March 15, 1988, but did not last long in the marriage, the love that previously united them cooled and filed for divorce in 1991.

Then came Chris Bequette, a sports lawyer. She married him in 1996 and had a son with him in 1997. They named him Christopher Jules “Luc” Bequette. The couple later divorced in 2010. Now Debi lives with her fiancé – Jamie Looney and her two sons, Ethan and Austin, in southwestern Virginia.

Quick Facts About Debi Thomas

1. Debi Thomas was born on March 25, 1957;

2. His birthplace was Poughkeepsie, New York, USA;

3. She attended Northwestern Medical School and Stanford University;

4. She is 5ft 5.5in tall and weighs 53kg.

5. She now has gray hair;

6. She lost custody of her son during her second divorce;

8. Debi reportedly lost all of her savings and is now struggling to live.

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