Dorothy Hamill

She has an island fantasy camp to run this week, a fall wedding - her own - to plan, an Olympic hopeful to mentor and a televised holiday show to prep for. Yet Dorothy Hamill, the figure skater crowned "America's Sweetheart" after her gold-medal performance at the 1976 Winter Olympics, still finds time to stop for a phone call to her summer home on Nantucket to catch up. Although she wasn't a summer camper growing up, Hamill started to get the bug...

She has an island fantasy camp to run this week, a fall wedding - her own - to plan, an Olympic hopeful to mentor and a televised holiday show to prep for. Yet Dorothy Hamill, the figure skater crowned "America's Sweetheart" after her gold-medal performance at the 1976 Winter Olympics, still finds time to stop for a phone call to her summer home on Nantucket to catch up. Although she wasn't a summer camper growing up, Hamill started to get the bug...

From the cover It seems as if we've known her forever: the Olympic gold medal, the wedge haircut, the sweet smile telegraphing a message that life couldn't be better for Dorothy Hamill. But now, at 51, this most private of champions has decided to let us into her life just a little bit with a new autobiography, A Skating Life: My Story. And we learn that being the star girls adored and boys wanted to date wasn't as rosy as her complexion. An alcoholic father. A distant mother. Two divorces.

From the cover It seems as if we've known her forever: the Olympic gold medal, the wedge haircut, the sweet smile telegraphing a message that life couldn't be better for Dorothy Hamill. But now, at 51, this most private of champions has decided to let us into her life just a little bit with a new autobiography, A Skating Life: My Story. And we learn that being the star girls adored and boys wanted to date wasn't as rosy as her complexion. An alcoholic father. A distant mother. Two divorces.

CLOTHED IN AN eclectic assortment of warm-up duds, members of the Next Ice Age stroke the virgin ice at the Dominic M. "Mimi" DiPietro Family Skating Center in Patterson Park. Silently, they get a feel for the surface, executing crossovers, counter turns, and other basic skating moves in preparation for the demanding rehearsal ahead.The skaters from throughout the country and Canada have gathered in Baltimore for the artistic skating ensemble's upcoming week of performances at Columbia Ice Rink.

One in an occasional series about the fitness habits of Marylanders. You've had dreams like this, where your aging body doesn't hold you back from taking a step out over the edge, and instead of falling headlong you glide until you finally come to a gentle stop on the other side of the chasm. That's what it must be like to be Dorothy Hamill when she skates, almost 30 years after she won a gold medal at the winter Olympics in Innsbruck. Close up, Hamill still looks great, with expert makeup emphasizing her gray eyes and wide smile.

In the early mornings, after dropping her 11-year-old daughter off at school, Dorothy Hamill drives down to Millersville, to a low-slung gray building just off Interstate 97. There, in an old ice rink, she puts on classical music, or James Taylor, or sometimes K.D. Lang, laces up her white boots and steps out onto the milky surface. Away from here, she's a single mom making a home in Baltimore, a twice-divorced woman who has found a new love, a star who has endured scrutiny, bankruptcy and, lately, arthritis.

Walking with the aid of crutches, Cara Cooper arrived at the Mimi DiPietro Family Skating Center in Patterson Park yesterday anxious to see an Olympic performance and hoping to show off her prowess on the ice. Unfortunately, she could not get a skate over the soft ankle cast. But she did land a front-row seat just before Dorothy Hamill took to the ice. "I came to see Dorothy Hamill skate," said Cooper, a 12-year-old newcomer to the sport who recently sprained her ankle on the ice. "She is really good.

Before Kristi Yamaguchi went onto the ice yesterday to compete for an Olympic gold medal, she got some tips on winning from the last person to bring the United States gold in women's figure skating.Yamaguchi said she met with 1976 gold medalist Dorothy Hamill just before taking the ice. Hamill claimed her gold at the Winter Games in Innsbruck."I did meet with Dorothy right before the competition ," Yamaguchi said. "She's one of the reasons I'm in the sport right now. And it was just a thrill to meet with her."

In the story of "Cinderella," the heroine dreams of a future of style and grace. So does Dorothy Hamill.The one-time queen of American ice skating, who won an Olympic gold medal in 1976, purchased the venerable "Ice Capades" last winter as it operated under bankruptcy proceedings. She dreams of turning it into the world's premier ice show and hopes to lead skating entertainment into a new realm.When "Dorothy Hamill's Ice Capades" makes its first stop in Baltimore for six performances beginning tomorrow at the Baltimore Arena, audiences will find something different.

The tent next to the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall had the air of a reunion going on. Hundreds of folks in fine feather (and satin and lace) were acting like they hadn't seen each other in years. So, maybe it had only been a few months. But the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Gala signaled the end of the summer party drought, and the welcome kick-off to a busy fall party season. First, there was the two-hour dinner reception before everyone would head into the hall for a BSO concert featuring the orchestra's new conductor, Marin Alsop.

The Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks has taken over management of the Mount Pleasant Ice Arena after the city was unable to negotiate a contract with the company that had managed the site for more than two decades, officials said. The ice arena -- which is used by Olympic gold-winner Dorothy Hamill -- is set to reopen in October, and patrons will not be affected by the change, said Portia Harris, associate director of recreation and parks. A representative from Baltimore Ice Sports Inc., which managed the site in Northeast Baltimore for the past 23 years, could not be reached for comment.

Getting into the Picture If you could meld the three classic films that will be showcased at this year's Maryland Film Festival, a proper British nanny would fly away from her tearful charges while holding an umbrella and riding a stolen bicycle. After being caught, she would be brought to trial and defended by Atticus Finch. This demonstrates how varied are the films -- and the celebrities who chose them -- that will be featured beginning Friday at the seventh annual Maryland Film Festival: Comic book artist Harvey Pekar will discuss The Bicycle Thief ; Sen. Barbara Mikulski will hold forth about To Kill A Mockingbird and figure skater Dorothy Hamill will introduce Mary Poppins Sing-along.

One in an occasional series about the fitness habits of Marylanders. You've had dreams like this, where your aging body doesn't hold you back from taking a step out over the edge, and instead of falling headlong you glide until you finally come to a gentle stop on the other side of the chasm. That's what it must be like to be Dorothy Hamill when she skates, almost 30 years after she won a gold medal at the winter Olympics in Innsbruck. Close up, Hamill still looks great, with expert makeup emphasizing her gray eyes and wide smile.

Walking with the aid of crutches, Cara Cooper arrived at the Mimi DiPietro Family Skating Center in Patterson Park yesterday anxious to see an Olympic performance and hoping to show off her prowess on the ice. Unfortunately, she could not get a skate over the soft ankle cast. But she did land a front-row seat just before Dorothy Hamill took to the ice. "I came to see Dorothy Hamill skate," said Cooper, a 12-year-old newcomer to the sport who recently sprained her ankle on the ice. "She is really good.

Choral music The Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra Association, In collaboration with the Children's Chorus of Maryland, will perform a joint concert with Russia's Galaktika youth choir at 2p.m. Saturday at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hail, 1212 Cathedral St. Galaktika, based In St. Petersburg, is a choir of young women, 21 of whom are in Baltimore as part of a cultural exchange. The event is part of the citywide Vivat! St. Petersburg celebration. The concert, titled "Antiphony of Youth," will feature Russian folk songs as well as works by Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Mussorgsky.

Getting into the Picture If you could meld the three classic films that will be showcased at this year's Maryland Film Festival, a proper British nanny would fly away from her tearful charges while holding an umbrella and riding a stolen bicycle. After being caught, she would be brought to trial and defended by Atticus Finch. This demonstrates how varied are the films -- and the celebrities who chose them -- that will be featured beginning Friday at the seventh annual Maryland Film Festival: Comic book artist Harvey Pekar will discuss The Bicycle Thief ; Sen. Barbara Mikulski will hold forth about To Kill A Mockingbird and figure skater Dorothy Hamill will introduce Mary Poppins Sing-along.

In the early mornings, after dropping her 11-year-old daughter off at school, Dorothy Hamill drives down to Millersville, to a low-slung gray building just off Interstate 97. There, in an old ice rink, she puts on classical music, or James Taylor, or sometimes K.D. Lang, laces up her white boots and steps out onto the milky surface. Away from here, she's a single mom making a home in Baltimore, a twice-divorced woman who has found a new love, a star who has endured scrutiny, bankruptcy and, lately, arthritis.