Sonja Henie, Female Fred Astaire on Ice
August 3, 2006 by Sasha Manuel
Filed under Sports Rumors
Norwegian Sonja Henie won 10 world championships and 3 consecutive Olympic gold medals out of 4 appearances.
Her first gold was won during the 1928 Winter Games in Switzerland, also known as the 2nd Olympic Winter Games and was considered the first true Winter Games as it was not in conjunction with a Summer Games.
Henie was the youngest woman to win a gold medal. She held on to that title for 70 years until US Figure Skater Tara Lipinski won during the 1998 Nagano Games.
The other 2 golds she won was when she came to defend it in the 1932 Winter Games in Lake Placid and 1936 Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
She then turn professional after the 1936 Olympics and went on to Hollywood to do what Fred Astaire was doing, only she plans to do it on ice and with skates. She came out with a dozen films and the first one was, One in a Million.
Her popularity increased when she starred in a traveling ice-skating show and she then toured the world, sharing her fantastic skating until the early 1950s. She died in 1969.
i had the plesure of seeing sonja henie in person when she did her show in baltimore, md in the early 50’s. i thought than and still feel she looked like an angel on the ice. her show was one of my fondness memories. i also saw every movie she was in i would love to see events like her show again