The determine skating group skilled immense grief this week after 14 members of the group have been tragically killed in a midair plane collision in Washington D.C. on Wednesday night time.
Their loss got here only a day earlier than two-time Olympic gold medalist Dick Button, a pioneer within the sport who would additionally go on to have a legendary broadcasting profession, died at 95.
FILE – Dick Button of Englewood, N.J., a North American males’s determine skating champion and winner of the European title, executes a leap throughout a apply session at St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Jan. 19, 1948, in preparation for the Winter Olympics of 1948. (AP Picture, File)
“On this horrible, unhappy day for determine skating with the lack of younger upcoming expertise and their relations and coaches within the airplane crash, I’m additional heartbroken with the lack of determine skating legend, my good friend, Dick Button,” Brian Boitano, who received a gold medal within the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, wrote in a publish on social media.
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“RIP, Dick Button,” former American sports activities reporter Michele Tafoya stated in one other publish.
“I wish to suppose you went to heaven in time to welcome the younger skaters and coaches who perished in Wednesday’s tragedy. Could you all glide among the many stars collectively.”
Everly and Alydia Livingston have been killed in a airplane crash between an American Airways flight and an Military helicopter close to Reagan Nationwide Airport in Arlington, Virginia on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. All 67 individuals onboard each plane are presumed useless. (Instagram/@ice_skating_sisters)
A winner of two Olympic gold medals, 5 consecutive world championships, seven straight U.S. titles, and three-straight North American titles, Button was one of the crucial achieved males’s determine skaters.
OLYMPIC MEDALIST SCOTT HAMILTON RECALLS FINAL MEETING WITH CHAMPION RUSSIAN SKATERS DAYS BEFORE PLANE CRASH
He was the primary to land a double axel and triple leap in competitors, each resulting in victory on the Olympics. After his skating profession ended, Button would enter the world of broadcasting, ultimately incomes the identify “The Voice of Determine Skating.”
Button died Thursday in North Salem, New York, his household confirmed Thursday.
“U.S. Determine Skating mourns the lack of the legendary Dick Button,” the group stated in an announcement. “The 2-time Olympic champion’s pioneering fashion & award-winning tv commentary revolutionized determine skating. His legacy will dwell on endlessly. We lengthen our deepest condolences to his household & family members.”
FILE – Dick Button, of Englewood, N.J., the reigning determine skating champion of the world, is proven tuning up at Oslo to defend his Olympic title within the Winter Video games. He’s performing a stag leap on Feb. 12, 1952 in Oslo, Norway. (AP Photos)
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Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton spoke about Wednesday’s tragedy and lack of Button, a great good friend, in an look on TODAY Friday.
Hamilton was in Wichita, Kansas, on the U.S. Determine Skating Championships and was accustomed to a number of the victims in Wednesday’s crash, together with world champion pairs skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
“It’s simply been past something I can deal with,” a tearful Hamilton stated of the losses.
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