Yamaguchi

After talking with her parents, her coach, her agent and her peers, reigning Olympic women's skating gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi finally listened to her heart and arrived at the most important decision of her career yesterday.The result: She shut the door on appearing at the 1994 Winter Games of Lillehammer, Norway."I let my heart decide, and this is what I want to do," Yamaguchi said during a conference call yesterday.Yamaguchi, winner of the women's gold at the 1992 Albertville Games, declined to join the rush of professionals who are regaining their competitive eligibility with the International Skating Union.

LANDOVER -- Brian Boitano sat nervously on a table in the hallway outside the locker room, trying to retain his focus on his program. It wasn't easy. The Zamboni ice-smoothing machine had broken down, and the four-time professional world champion was being asked to hold that thought a little longer."

LANDOVER -- Wearing tight red stretch pants and a glittering halter top, Kristi Yamaguchi proved she's not just the little girl next door anymore.Skating a hot, sultry routine to "My Lovin' (Never Gonna Get It)" byEn Vogue, Yamaguchi beat a hauntingly beautiful performance by Denise Biellmann to win her first Durasoft World Professional Figure Skating Championship in her pro debut last night at the Capital Centre."I have to show more now," she said. "And this is a little daring for me. But I can do it now. I couldn't have done it a few years ago. It's pretty sexy."

Event: DuraSoft Colors World Professional Figure Skating ChampionshipsSite: Capital CentreWhen: Tonight, 7 p.m.Tickets: 500 availableOutlook: Brian Boitano will defend his three consecutive titles and test his Olympic prospects against Viktor Petrenko, Paul Wylie and Brian Orser. On the women's side, Olympic gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi will make her professional debut against the likes of Jill Trenary, the world champion and three-time U.S. national champion. It will be their first meeting since Trenary defeated Yamaguchi for the U.S. National Championship in 1990.

LANDOVER -- Four-time world professional figure skatin champion Brian Boitano wanted to put figure skating on the same plane as other sports. He wanted professional skaters, like professional basketball players, to be able to compete for an Olympic gold medal.He campaigned actively for it. But when the International Skating Union Congress passed a rule last summer that will allow that to happen, Boitano wasn't quite ready for what happened next.The rule became known as the "Boitano Rule," and he has been thrust into the position of being its champion.

In the new world of Olympic figure skating, Kristi Yamaguchi can still skate for cash and medals.Just not all at once.Yesterday, Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic women's gold medalist, announced that she will make her professional debut at the DuraSoft World Professional Figure Skating Championships at the Capital Centre in Landover on Dec. 12.Five nights later, she will appear in the DuraSoft Challenge of Champions at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, Calif.And,...

Kristi Yamaguchi's name conjures up a swirling image of skirts, sequins and silver skates, but that image is about to change.Soon you'll see that shy smile turn into a very knowing look, the ingenue image give way to a sophisticated lady and the princess pose take a punk-chic turn. Yamaguchi goes through these chameleon changes and others in her new role as spokeswoman for acetate fibers.A preview of the 20-year-old Olympic gold medalist's turn from skating to modeling ran earlier this month in a six-page spread in Women's Wear Daily, the clothing industry trade publication.

The lines are as rehearsed as her performances on ice. Kristi Yamaguchi has heard all the questions, and provided all of the answers.About her future.Her endorsements.Her gold medal.Life is changing for the 20-year-old from Fremont, Calif., the one whose dream was to win the ladies' singles figure skating Olympic gold medal, to emulate her idol, 1976 champion Dorothy Hamill."Even now, it's still overwhelming to think I could be up there, on the medal podium," she says. "But you have to remember that I'm a skater.

Yamaguchi, Chen 1-2 going into free skateKristi did her part. Nancy and Tonya fell apart.Still, chances for a second consecutive medals sweep by American women was strong after the original program at the World Figure Skating Championships yesterday in Oakland, Calif.Olympic and defending world titlist Kristi Yamaguchi waltzed to the top spot, as expected. Using the same flowing program to "Blue Danube" that catapulted her to her first national crown in January and to the Olympic gold medal last month, Yamaguchi was as polished as ever.

THERE SHE WAS, a vision of beauty in a star-spangled costume, gliding across the ice in Albertville, France, to the beat of that old flag-waving anthem "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy."Her name was Yamaguchi, Kristi Yamaguchi. The gold-medal winner, a Valley Girl with a Japanese surname, dazzling the Olympic crowd at the final-night skating exhibition.America Firsters like Pat Buchanan must have choked on their caviar.Mr. Buchanan is the right-winger who is challenging George Bush for the Republican presidential nomination.