Dick Button, the most accomplished men's artificial skater in history and one of the most crucial figures of the sport, died on Thursday. He was 95.
The tragic news was confirmed by his son, Edward, who did not give a cause of death. Button won two Olympic gold medals and five consecutive world championships. His sad death comes on a dark day before the sport.
Earlier on Thursday it turned out that 14 members of the skating community were killed in the Washington DC aircraft crash, when a flight from American Airlines collided with an army helicopter and collapsed into the ice -cold waters of the Potomac River.
Everyone on board was killed, including two teenage art skaters, their mothers and two former world champions who coach in the Boston Skating Club.
Button skated for the Boston Club and stayed close to it for the rest of his life. The trophy room in the club is mentioned in honor of him.
Doug Zeghibe, the head of the Boston skating club in Norwood, Massachusetts, announced the names of the six people who were associated with his club that were on board.
Dick Button, the most accomplished men's art skater in history died on Thursday at the age of 95 –
Button won two Olympic gold medals and five consecutive world championships
They are: Jinna Han, Jin Han, Spencer Lane, Christine Lane, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova.
As an entrepreneur and broadcaster, button meanwhile converted a niche sport into the showpiece of every Winter Olympics.
“Dick was one of the most important figures in our sport,” said Olympic gold medal winner Scott Hamilton. There was no skater after Dick who was somehow not helped by him. '
The impact of the button started after the Second World War. He was the first American men's champion – and the youngest in his country at the age of 16 – when that competition returned in 1946.
Two years later he took the title at the Olympic Games of St. Moritz, which competed outside. He carried out the first double axel in every competition and became the first American to win the men's event.
That started his dominance of international skating and American amateur sports. He was the first figure skater to win the prestigious Sullivan Award in 1949 – no other art skater won it to Michelle Kwan in 2001.
In 1952 he won, while he won a Harvard student, a second gold at the Oslo games, making him more history with the first triple jump (a loop) in competition.
Shortly thereafter he won a fifth world title and then gave up his suitability as an amateur. All Olympic sports were subject to an amateur/professional division at that time.
“I had achieved everything that I could have dreamed of as Skater,” said Button, who earned a diploma from Harvard in 1956. 'I could enjoy it very important to me. '
