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Olympic figure skater Debi Thomas broke, living in trailer with bed bugs (Remember her from 1988?)
NBC Sports ^ | 11/7/2015 | Nick Zaccardi

Posted on 12/02/2015 7:13:00 AM PST by simpson96

Debi Thomas, an Olympic figure skating bronze medalist, is broke and living in a bed bug-ridden trailer, according to an Oprah Winfrey Network show that aired Saturday night.

"I did the best I could," Thomas said, crying, in a sitdown interview (clips here). "I don't have a plan.

"When things aren't right, and you're doing the best you can, it can be really hard. I'm a kind of person who made goals from the time I was 5 years old, and then you get to that point in life, and you're like, this isn't what I was expecting, and I've got to go in a different direction."

Thomas, now 48, won the 1986 World Championship at age 18 and, in the "Battle of the Carmens," rivaled Katarina Witt going into the Calgary 1988 Winter Games.

Witt repeated as Olympic champion, while Thomas took bronze.

Thomas then graduated from Stanford with an engineering degree in 1991 and from Northwestern Medical School in 1997 and became an orthopedic surgeon.

Thomas said she was fired twice from doctor jobs and, according to the TV show, divorced twice.

Thomas, who lost custody of her son, moved to Virginia and into a trailer with her fiance and his two boys. She said that they’ve had domestic disputes that required police intervention.

(Excerpt) Read more at olympics.nbcsports.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: debithomas
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Just wow. She and her husband put a video on Youtube, asking for donations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElIPLawZ2Qk

1 posted on 12/02/2015 7:13:00 AM PST by simpson96
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To: simpson96

Can’t she get a job?


2 posted on 12/02/2015 7:14:38 AM PST by angcat
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To: simpson96

Very sad to hear... I always liked her.


3 posted on 12/02/2015 7:15:08 AM PST by ScottinVA (If you're not enraged...why?)
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To: simpson96

For such a high-achiever to come to this, there must be more the story. Drugs? Mental illness?


4 posted on 12/02/2015 7:15:27 AM PST by Calpublican (B.O. stinks.)
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To: simpson96

5 posted on 12/02/2015 7:15:27 AM PST by simpson96
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To: simpson96

I know the discipline and drive it takes to become a good skater, not to mention an Olympian. She also had the smarts and drive to go to Stanford and become a surgeon.

There’s much more than just “bad luck” at play here. Is it drugs? Mental illness?


6 posted on 12/02/2015 7:15:49 AM PST by PGR88
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To: simpson96

Was she the one who’s main talent was back flips and solid landings?


7 posted on 12/02/2015 7:16:00 AM PST by poobear (Socialism in the minds of the elites is a con-game for the serfs, nothing more.)
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To: simpson96

Interesting. Thanks for posting.


8 posted on 12/02/2015 7:16:24 AM PST by PGalt
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To: simpson96
became an orthopedic surgeon

Obamacare won't take her?

9 posted on 12/02/2015 7:16:32 AM PST by MUDDOG
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To: simpson96

Reminds me of Erin Moran from “Happy Days”. Things didn’t work out well for her either. Nothing is guaranteed.


10 posted on 12/02/2015 7:16:38 AM PST by rbg81 (is pr)
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To: simpson96

Fifty Five Minutes Long! They’re crazy if I’m gonna watch two losers begging for money longer than 30 seconds.


11 posted on 12/02/2015 7:17:40 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: angcat
Thomas then graduated from Stanford with an engineering degree in 1991 and from Northwestern Medical School in 1997 and became an orthopedic surgeon.

Thomas said she was fired twice from doctor jobs and, according to the TV show, divorced twice.

 

 

I suspect drugs. Life can throw some cruel hardballs at you sometimes. And sometimes you willingly step in the minefields of life. By using.

Just a hunch.

12 posted on 12/02/2015 7:17:50 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (With Great Freedom comes Great Responsibility)
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To: simpson96

Former international skating champion, degreed engineer and a doctor and she can’t support herself? Something’s seriously wrong here. She needs help, but not with my money. She needs professional help...she’s a Dr., she can diagnose her own problems and find a solution. And it probably starts with leaving the boyfriend with whom she has fights that require police intervention.


13 posted on 12/02/2015 7:18:42 AM PST by pgkdan (But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
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To: simpson96

“Thomas, who lost custody of her son,...”

Wow.

When going through my divorce, my attorney said that for the mother to lose custody, she’d have to be homeless, on crack, convicted multiple times - and THEN the judge may not even give the children to the father..

How does one become destitute while having an engineering degree and work experience as a surgeon???

I’m thinking someone’s trying PRETTY hard to remain destitute...


14 posted on 12/02/2015 7:18:43 AM PST by joethedrummer
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To: Responsibility2nd

Wow all that education for nothing.


15 posted on 12/02/2015 7:19:11 AM PST by angcat
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: simpson96

I think lack of opportunity can be eliminated in this tragic drama


17 posted on 12/02/2015 7:20:25 AM PST by Insigne123 (It is the soldier, not the community organizer, who gives us freedom of the press)
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To: Calpublican

More to the story? Gotta be. BUMP.


18 posted on 12/02/2015 7:20:25 AM PST by upchuck (In all the world the only forbidden trigger warning is the one which alerts us to our ignorance.)
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To: simpson96

There is more to this story that’s not being reported.


19 posted on 12/02/2015 7:20:52 AM PST by Lazamataz ( If they try firearm confiscation or gun registration, I go ballistic.)
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To: simpson96

People shouldn’t have to suffer for their own bad decisions. The Government should make it right.


20 posted on 12/02/2015 7:21:17 AM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie
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