Born: 8 April 1912

Deceased: 12 October 1969

Birthplace: Oslo (Norway)

Nationality: Norway

Sport: Skating

ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Chamonix 1924

St. Moritz 1928

Lake Placid 1932

Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936

AWARDS

Olympic medals:

Gold: 3

Details

Other results:

World Championships

Gold: 10 (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)

Silver: 1 (26)

The First Figure Skating Celebrity

Sonja Henie made her Olympic debut at the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924. At the time, she was only 11 years old and she had to punctuate her free skating routine with frequent visits to the sidelines to ask her coach what she should do next. Henie improved rapidly and by 1926 she was able to place second in the world championships.

At the 1928 St. Moritz Olympics, Henie won the gold medal by earning the first place votes of six of the seven judges. Henie repeated her victory in 1932, this time as the unanimous choice of the judges. Henie soon became so popular that, when she appeared, police had to be called out to control crowds in places as far apart as New York and Prague. At the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympics, the 23-year-old Henie earned her third gold medal. A week later, she won her tenth straight world championship, setting a record that still has not been broken.

After completing her competitive career, Henie moved on to the movies, where she became one of Hollywood's most popular stars. Her films included Thin Ice (1937) and Sun Valley Serenade (1941). Henie also toured in spectacular ice shows that greatly increased the popularity of figure skating.