Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 208 pages
- Published by: Emmis Books December 16, 2005
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 1578602602
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-1578602605
-
Book Dimensions:
8.9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
- Weighs: 15.8 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
As the U.S. Figure Skating team prepares take center ice at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, competitive figure skater and journalist Nichols takes a soft look at the sport's pivotal moment in this reverential tribute to the 18 skaters (plus friends, family and coaches) who died in 1961 when their plane crashed en route to the world championships in Prague, eliminating the U.S.'s hope for a successful 1964 Winter Olympics and setting into motion a rebuilding process that rushed young skaters into the top echelons of international competition. Nichols's account of the rivalry between Laurence Owen, the daughter of Olympic figure skater Maribel Vinson who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated the very week of the crash, and Stephanie Westerfeld (both died in the crash) is the extent of scandal readers can expect to encounter here. Nichols does little to disguise her admiration for the team and is primarily concerned with maintaining a legacy, perhaps explaining her naïve and timid writing. Skating enthusiasts will want to add this to the shelf.
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Product Description
Most sports fans have heard the tragic story of the plane crash that killed all the members of the 1961 U.S. World Figure Skating Team, along with sixteen of their friends, family and coaches. Now, for the first time,
Frozen in Time takes readers inside the lives of the skaters, telling one of the most iconic stories in the history of American sport.
The dramatic focus lingers on two families of powerful women. Maribel Owen—the most famous lady in figure skating at the time—who relentlessly drove her two young daughters, pairs champion Mara and the spectacular Laurence, who graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. Myra Westerfeld, meanwhile, lost her marriage while guiding her daughters Sherri and Steffi to the pinnacle of the sport.
Author Nikki Nichols also explores the crash’s aftermath, an unprecedented period in American athletics. The U.S. skating program had lost all of its stars and struggled to rebuild with very young competitors, such as Peggy Fleming. But, perhaps the most far-reaching effect was the creation of a memorial fund that would support skaters who would not otherwise be able to afford the sport—among them Scott Hamilton, Kristi Yamaguchi, and others.
Reader ReviewsNikki Nichols did a fantastic job in researching the stories of each the 18 figure skaters - and their family members - that were on the ill-fated 1961 flight that crashed in Belgium on its way to the World Championships in Prague. Little has been written over the years on the lives of these talented athletes and it is wonderful to see their stories fleshed out far beyond just being a morbid statistic. Special attention - and deservedly so - is giving to the Owens family: Maribel Sr. (the many times National champion in singles and pairs whose students had included Tenley Albright and Frank Carroll), Maribel Jr. (the reserved, newly crowned pair champion with her boyfriend Dudley Richards), and Laurence Owen (the 16 year old, vivacious singles skater who was poised to succeed Albright and the lovely Carol Heiss as queen of the ice). The loss of this young skating team and many of its top coaches obliterated US skating internationally for years and Nichols effectively captures the void this accident left on the sport. It would be three years before an American would medal at a major event - young Scott Allen's bronze at the '64 Olympics - and a World champion would not emerge again until 1966 when Peggy Fleming won the ladies title. My only complaint with the book is that Nichols includes fictional conversations attributed to the victims based on their known personality traits and the actions that transpired leading up to - as well as their time on - the airplane. For me, it crosses the line from biography - and Frozen In Time is a good biography - into romance novel cliche when she occasionally takes this dramatic license.
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