A talented skater from the age of nine, Fleming was just 12 years old when her coach, Bill Kipp, was killed along with the entire U.S. figure skating team in a horrific plane crash. The team was headed to the 1961 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia, when their Boeing 707 crashed on approach to Brussels Airport. The lives of 18 young skaters, in addition to family members, judges, officials and coaches, were lost in the tragedy, leaving the sport absolutely devastated.
Suddenly, Fleming was thrust into the spotlight, according to Brennan
Italian bronze medalist Carlo Fassi took over as Fleming's coach, changing her life "immeasurably" in the process. Though she competed at the 1964 Winter Olympics when she was 15, Fleming wasn't quite ready yet. Four years later, with five national titles and back-to-back world titles under belt, she was more than ready.
"She put a whole lot of thought, maybe too much thought, into this color," Fleming said. "Because of the Olympics in '68 being in Grenoble, France...she heard that there was a little town called Chartreuse near Grenoble that made this liqueur and she thought if I wore that color, it would endear me to the French people."
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As Fleming told Today in 2018, “My most memorable moment, I think, at that Olympics was seeing my mother's face. She put so much into me and guided me and made me feel strong. And that she really saw the big picture of what I could do. She helped me be strong. And she pushed. And I needed that.”
“I could see it. It's the happiest I've ever seen her,” she said.
"She dropped into American living rooms while literally rising from the ashes of one of the greatest tragedies in American sports history," Brennan said. "It’s a story linked in tragedy, but it’s also a story of the ultimate triumph in sports.”
Related: 1992 Figure Skating Legend, the 1st Woman to Land a Triple Axel During the Olympics, Started a 'New Era in Women's Skating'
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