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 soar throughout a apply session at St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Jan. 19, 1948, in preparation for the Winter Olympics of 1948. (AP Photograph, File)
“On this horrible, unhappy day for determine skating with the lack of younger upcoming expertise and their members of the family and coaches within the aircraft crash, I’m additional heartbroken with the lack of determine skating legend, my pal, Dick Button,” Brian Boitano, who gained 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 assume 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 aircraft 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 completed males’s determine skaters.
He was the primary to land a double axel and triple soar in competitors, each resulting in victory on the Olympics. After his skating profession ended, Button would enter the world of broadcasting, finally 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 a press release. “The 2-time Olympic champion’s pioneering type & award-winning tv commentary revolutionized determine skating. His legacy will stay on ceaselessly. We prolong 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 soar 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 pal, in an look on TODAY Friday.
Hamilton was in Wichita, Kansas, on the U.S. Determine Skating Championships and was conversant in a few 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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