Dancing with the Stars - Season 16 Cast Announcement

DOROTHY HAMILL

PROFESSIONAL PARTNER: TRISTAN MACMANUS

Dorothy Hamill captured the Gold Medal at the 1976 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria at the age of 19. Overnight, she became one of those rare champions who transcended her sport and captured the country’s imagination. 

Still, she has said she is most proud of her World Championship title in Gothenburg, Sweden, which followed her Olympic win. At that time, everyone had advised her to retire from amateur competition, saying that even a second place finish would tarnish the luster of her Olympic gold. Characteristically, once she set her mind to it, she would not be dissuaded, and won. 

As a professional, Hamill has skated with many productions, including the Ice Capades for eight years. Four ABC primetime television specials have been produced in her honor and she has produced and starred in her own touring productions of Cinderella — Frozen in Time, Hansel, Gretel, the Witch and the Cat, and Nutcracker on Ice. She won an Emmy Award for her lead role in Romeo and Juliet. 

Hamill has been inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame and the Figure Skating Hall of Fame. She was very proud to run the torch at Olympic Stadium in Salt Lake City in 2002 and skate the closing ceremonies with vocalist Harry Connick Jr. Recently, Hamill released her memoir A Skating Life: My Story, which made The New York Times best-seller list.