Olympic Champion Peggy Fleming on ‘Heartbreaking' Similarities Between D.C. Midair Collision and 1961 Crash (Exclusive)
Fleming recently told that her coach was among those killed in the crash more than six decades ago
The 1968 figure skating champion says she wouldn't have missed the event honoring the victims of the January crash "for anything"
Peggy Fleming, a 1968 Olympic champion in figure skating, is opening up about the 'heartbreaking' similarities between the Washington D.C. plane crash and the 1961 plane crash at the beginning of her career.
Fleming, 76, is one of many who attended the Legacy on Ice event at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. on Sunday, March 2, honoring the members of the figure skating community who were killed when an American Airlines plane and U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday, Jan. 29.
The former Olympian tells PEOPLE that she is familiar with the feelings that she and others are experiencing after the devastating collision, having gone through a similar situation decades prior.
Eighteen members of the U.S. figure skating community died when their plane went down as they traveled to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in the Czech Republic, according to NPR and CBS News.
Fleming says she was just 12 years old and about to start her skating career when the 1961 crash occurred. 'Now it's happening again. It's unreal, and it's so heartbreaking,' the retired skater says.
Fleming recently told Today that she lost her coach in the 1961 crash, which "really affected" her. "But we rose up,' she told the outlet.
U.S. Figure Skating said 28 members of the community died in the January crash, which killed 67 people in total.
Eleven of the victims were young skaters from five different clubs, according to a tribute video shared to the U.S. Figure Skating Instagram page on Monday, Feb. 3.
Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Sunday's event honoring the victims included an emotional performance by 23-year-old Maxim Naumov, whose parents, 1994 World Figure Skating pairs champions Evgenia 'Zhenya' Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were among those killed in the crash.
Fleming tells PEOPLE she wouldn't have missed the Legacy On Ice event 'for anything.'
'To watch this show tonight, this audience got the best show ever,' she says, adding, 'It has to make the skaters feel loved and supported. This was a very strong show.'
Legacy on Ice will air on NBC on March 30 at 1 p.m. ET.
Read the original article on People
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
19 minutes ago
- The Hill
College at center of USA Fencing fight agrees to deal with Trump admin on trans athletes
Wagner College, a small, private liberal arts college in Staten Island, N.Y., has agreed to comply with the Trump administration's restrictions on transgender student-athletes following a federal investigation that stemmed from an incident at a women's fencing competition in March, the Education Department announced on Friday. The department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) launched an investigation into Wagner after USA Fencing officials disqualified a woman from a tournament at the University of Maryland on March 30. Stephanie Turner, 31, had refused to compete against Red Sullivan, a 19-year-old Wagner student, taking a knee to protest Sullivan's participation in violation of the competition's rules. A video of Turner's disqualification quickly went viral, amplified by conservative activists, political figures and Fox News. 'This is heroic on her part,' Rep. Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote in a post on X, responding to a video of the exchange posted by Riley Gaines, a frequent critic of transgender women in women's sports. In May, the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) held a hearing on the incident and invited Turner to testify. Participation in the University of Maryland's Cherry Blossom Open, hosted annually during springtime, is not limited to college students, according to the school's fencing club, of which Turner, who now lives in suburban Philadelphia, is a former member. Sullivan, a sophomore at Wagner, entered the competition individually. She had competed for the college's women's fencing team until February, when the NCAA said it would comply with President Trump's executive order to ban transgender student-athletes from girls' and women's sports. In an interview with Rolling Stone in April, Sullivan said the exchange with Turner left her bewildered. 'Nothing close to this has ever happened. No one has ever had a problem with me fencing in a women's event,' said Sullivan, who became medically eligible for women's tournaments last year. USA Fencing, the sport's governing body, announced in July that it would amend its transgender and nonbinary participation policy to align with a new U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee policy barring transgender women from competing in Olympic women's sports. As part of its deal with the Trump administration, Wagner will formally amend its athletic policies to reflect 'biology-based' definitions of the words 'male' and 'female,' consistent with an executive order Trump signed on his first day back in office proclaiming that the U.S. recognizes only two unchangeable sexes. The college will also issue a public statement pledging to comply with Title IX, the federal civil rights law against sex discrimination in schools that the Trump administration has said prohibits transgender students from competing in girls' and women's sports. The University of Pennsylvania, Trump's alma mater, agreed to a nearly identical resolution in July. In a statement on Friday, Wagner College President Jeffrey Doggett said the school would continue to foster a welcoming and supportive community, but that it has a responsibility to comply with federal laws as the government interprets them. He apologized to any student-athletes who were negatively impacted by the school allowing transgender women to compete. The college's agreement with the administration, Doggett said, is 'markedly different' from those of other universities found to have violated Trump's orders. 'Working cooperatively with the OCR investigators, we were able to negotiate terms that are limited, minimally intrusive and tailored to the particular facts of Wagner's situation,' he said. Doggett added that the college had been following NCAA and USA Fencing rules applicable at the time when it allowed Sullivan, whom the statement does not name directly, to participate on the women's fencing team. The agreement with OCR 'makes clear that there was no admission or finding of any wrongdoing by the College,' he said. 'As we know, higher education is in the midst of great change,' Doggett continued. 'Like many institutions, Wagner College is doing what it must to advance its mission during this period of turbulence. I believe that it is of the utmost importance that Wagner set a course that ensures its long-term success, and part of that is to continue to foster an open and supportive community that follows the laws and regulations with which it must comply. In bringing an end to this investigation I believe we can continue to do both.'
Elle
2 hours ago
- Elle
Here's Where You Know the Cast of ‘The Hunting Wives' From
Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. In the mood for a mystery thriller that's just the right amount of unhinged? The Hunting Wives might scratch that itch. Based on the 2021 bestselling novel of the same name by May Cobb, the series follows Sophie (Brittany Snow) as she moves with her family to Maple Brook, Texas, and becomes enraptured by an alluring Southern socialite. When the series landed on Snow's desk, she told People that she 'read the scripts of all eight episodes within a couple hours. I was completely hooked. I was desperate to find out what was going to happen.' All eight episodes are now streaming on Netflix. Ahead, get to know the main cast—and see where you might already recognize them from. Brittany Snow (Pitch Perfect, John Tucker Must Die) plays Sophie, a former PR exec who moves with her family from Massachusetts to Texas. There, she quickly gets wrapped up in a cliquey socialite circle. Malin Åkerman (Dollface, Billions) plays Margo, the wife of an oil tycoon and the HBIC of a group of MAGA-esque socialites known as the Hunting Wives. Dermot Mulroney (Shameless, Chicago Fire) plays Jed, Margo's husband and a successful oil tycoon. He's also running for Texas governor. Evan Jonigkeit (Sweetbitter) plays Graham, Sophie's husband. While in Texas, he begins working for Jed as an architect for a big project. Chrissy Metz (This Is Us) plays Starr, a devout Christian and single mother who is a bit of an outsider in the Maple Brook community. Jaime Ray Newman (Dopesick) plays Callie, Margo's close friend and ex-lover who is very possessive of her. Katie Lowes (Scandal) plays Jill, the disregarded wife of a reverend at a megachurch. She mostly focuses on her son, Brad, and the Hunting Wives. Madison Wolfe (The Conjuring 2) plays Abby, girlfriend to Brad—Jill's son—and daughter to Starr. Joyce Glenn (Checkmate) plays Monae, a member of the Hunting Wives.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Reneé Rapp Is Anything but 'Shy' with 'Late Show 'Performance as She Climbs Out of a Window in Heels — Watch!
NEED TO KNOW Reneé Rapp's dramatic rendition of "Shy" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is anything but that The Mean Girls actress' dramatic performance was New York City-coded from the exposed brick set and casual fire escape acrobatics Her new album Bite Me is available to stream, and she will embark on her tour in support of it in SeptemberReneé Rapp is anything but shy in her latest performance. The Mean Girls star appeared on the Thursday, July 31 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform "Shy" from her sophomore album Bite Me. Rapp, 25, sings on a set decorated like a small apartment before leaning backwards out of a brick window and gracefully climbing to the fire escape — while still carrying a tune and wearing heels. "Don't handle me with care / When you're pullin' my hair / Baby, ruin my life," she croons. "I want it bad, I swear / That I'm really not scared / I'm just a little bit shy." "Shy" appears on Rapp's new album Bite Me, which she announced in May and came out on Friday, Aug. 1. She spoke about how her mom manifested her becoming a pop star during an appearance on Amy Poehler's podcast Good Hang with Amy Poehler in May, thanks to her name's alliteration. "My mom chose my first and last name to be, well, okay, arguably chose my first and last name to both have [two letter R's]," she recalled. "She was like, 'Alliteration, just in case she wants to be a pop star' before I was born." Though Rapp admitted that her mom's decision was "conceited," she is "obsessed with the way [her mother] did it." "I'm like, thank you, God," she added. Poehler, 53, was impressed with how things came to be. "She gave you a pop star name just in case, because Reneé Rapp is a huge pop star name," the Parks and Recreation star said. Rapp, who released her album Snow Angel in August 2023, told PEOPLE about the inspiration behind the project. "All the songs I write obviously are about things that I've been through personally, but I think that any relationship I've ever had in my life is all culminated into one on this project and in these songs," she said at the time. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "I love relationships. I love so hard. I am very protective of the people that I love. I'm very protective of myself, and all of these situations were taken from relationships that I had, whether they be good or bad." She also said that Snow Angel featured a "really mature version of myself" with "a little more bite." "I think that a lot of my EP thematically had more of a, 'Oh, no, this is what's happening to me," Rapp said. "This is what I'm going through' thing, which is great, but I think that Snow Angel is a bit more resilient and it's a bit more matter of fact and has a little bit more bite." Up next for the Sex Lives of College Girls actress is a tour through North America in support of her latest album. Kicking off on Sept. 23, Rapp will stop in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Toronto, among other cities, through Oct. 29. Bite Me is available to stream. Read the original article on People
