A figure skating fiction phenomemon! Originally published between 1998 and 2000, On the Edge, now in its second run, is the most popular figure skating serial in modern history. This coming of age melodrama sparked the imagination of a thousand figure skating fans.

Get figure skating fiction in small doses. Read these special selections from Private Ice's archive of figure skating short stories, humor, and poetry.

Graceful and stubborn. Powerful and arrogant. Destined for each other and for figure skating greatness. Will fate allow? Listen for the Whispers on the Ice.

Figure skating fiction's original soap opera, The Strong and The Sequined. Running continuously since 1997, The Strong and The Sequined is the first modern skatefic. Always outrageous, The Strong and the Sequined is so close to reality that even top US Figure Skating Association officials love it. Private Ice is proud to host the TSTS Archives.

Go behind the scenes with insider Sonia Bianchetti as she spins true tales of figure skating's powerful and autocratic leaders. Figure skating is neither pure nor glittering nor glamourousÑit's politics and intrigue, money and back room deals. In the wake of the 2002 Olympic figure skating judging scandal, Bianchetti puts the new, secretive, and complex judging system in historical context and outlines--with the clarity of vision that has made her a legend--what must be done to save figure skating.

Figure Skating History—Legends: Debi Thomas

The first African American to win a medal at a Winter Olympiad was figure skater Debi Thomas. Thomas received the bronze for ladies figure skating at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. While it was expected that the technically superb two-time US national champion (1986 and 1988) would battle East Germany's Katarina Witt for the gold, problems with her first jump combination left Thomas shaken and out of contention. Both women, coincidentally, skated to music from the opera "Carmen."

Thomas was a student at Stanford University when she won her first and only world title in 1986. Her studies remained a priority even after she embarked on a professional figure skating career, and she graduated with a degree in engineering in 1991. Thomas went on to pursue her dream of becoming an orthopedic surgeon—graduating from Northwestern University Medical School in 1997 and then doing surgical residencies at hospitals in Arkansas and California. She is married to sports attorney Christopher Bequette and is the mother of a young son. In 2000, Thomas became a member of the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

—Beth Braccio Hering

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Figure Skating fiction, serials, stories, novels, humor, and poetry at Private Ice!

Figure Skating History—Legends: Debi Thomas