She Was The First Black Athlete To Win A Medal At The Winter Olympics, And Then She Became A Surgeon

In 1988, at 21, Debi competed in the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. She won a bronze medal and became the first black athlete to win a medal at the Winter Olympics. 

Debi picked her studies at Stanford back up in 1989 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1991.

She then decided to retire from skating to pursue further education and attended Northwestern University Medical School until she graduated in 1997. She then completed orthopedic and surgical residencies at two different hospitals.

Because of her achievements in skating, Debi was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2000.

While practicing medicine, she began having some personal issues. She was diagnosed as bipolar and struggled to keep up her own practice, and had issues with money.

Debi appeared on an episode of Iyanla: Fix My Life, where motivational coach Iyanla Vanzant works with people who have fallen on hard times.

On the show, Debi revealed that she had to sell her gold medal to stay afloat while living in a trailer with her fiancé Jamie Looney and his two sons. 

Although Debi has seen some dark days, her impact on the professional skating world will never be diminished. She was a pinnacle example of how important representation is in competitive sports.