MILAN –Vera Wangis best known as an iconic fashion designer. But she's at the2026 Winter Olympicsbecause of her love of something else.
Almost 60 years ago, Wang was at the height of her figure skating career, competing at the 1968 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in junior pairs with partner James Stuart, according to U.S. Figure Skating.
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Wang's fashion career began after she let go of her dream of competing in the Olympics, although she has not let go of figure skating.
"That probably is the love of my life, even more than fashion," Wang, who is in her mid-70s, told Brian Boitano of figure skating on the Milan Magic podcast. "I don't get to say that often, but that's the truth."
As a designer, Wang has worked with Olympic gold medalists such as Michelle Kwan, Madison Chock, Nathan Chen and Evan Lysacek. She speaks with passion not only about the outfits she designed, but also her days as a competitive skater.
Not all of those days were as elegant as her fashion designs, according to Wang.
She shared a recollection of an incident she said took place at the Philadelphia Spectrum when she was practicing for a pairs competition and her partner dropped her onto the rink ice.
"We were going for a kick, cartwheel lift," Wang said. "I was in the air…at about 25 mph, and he tripped going forward. I fell, flew across the ice and landed on my left side, kicked my blade into my rear."
Wang said she was bleeding and blacked out before seeing coaches come on to the ice to get her.
Vera Wang watches figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan
Heart beating as judges watched
Wang also shared memories of her experience with compulsory figures — the figure eights and circles skaters must trace over during competitions.
Under the scrunitizing eyes of judges.
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"On the ice, right around you, and watch you tracing figures on a blade this thin. And you had to create these beautiful shapes on the ice."
Circles. Loops. Counters.
"And you have to go and tiptoe to the center to where you would start your figures," Wang said.
She recalled her heart beating and feeling like she was in a court of law as she was scrutinized by the judges.
She recalled holding up under the glare. For her compulsories, Wang said, she'd won gold medals.
'Wisp of an ice ballerina'
Wang suggested no one alive knows about her skating career because her coaches have passed away. But some of her feats have been documented.
On March 3, 1962, the New York Times published a story that opened as follows:
"Vera Wang, a 12-year-old wisp of an ice ballerina, won the junior ladies singles title in the Middle Atlantic figure skating championships last night. The tiny youngster, whose daily routine includes an hour and fifteen minutes of skating practice before school, triumphed over eleven rivals at the Iceland rink atop Madison Square Garden."
The story also noted Wang was born in New York, the daughter of parents who immigrated from China after World War II. And that she wore a big smile after assuming the lead at those Middle Atlantic figure skating championships in the compulsory school figures.
She and Stuart competed twice at the U.S. Championships, for the final time in Philadelphia in 1968.
"I'm not an Olympian, by I tried to be," Wang said as her interview on the Milan Magic podcast came to a close. "My closing sentence is that I never made it, but my clothes did."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Vera Wang faced figure skating judges before fashion critics
