In 2014, Gold became the first American woman to win the NHK Trophy title on the Grand Prix Series circuit and holds the record for the highest short program score ever recorded by an American woman (76.43) which she achieved at the 2016 World Championships in Boston. She is a mental health advocate and was recognized with the 2022 Bell of Hope Award. She was featured in the HBO sports documentaryThe Weight of Gold (2020), and her memoir Outofshapeworthlessloser: A Memoir of Figure Skating, F*cking Up, and Figuring It Out released in February 2024, was on the New York Times Bestseller list.
Personal life
Grace Elizabeth Gold was born on August 17, 1995, in Newton, Massachusetts.[3] She is the daughter of Denise, an ER nurse, and Carl Gold, an anesthesiologist.[4][5] Gracie's fraternal twin sister, Carly Gold (named after their father), is younger by 40 minutes and also competed in figure skating.[6][7]
Gold has been open about her mental health struggles, including her treatment for anxiety, depression, and an eating disorder.[11][12] She discussed having suicidal thoughts after moving alone to Michigan in 2017 and isolating herself in her apartment. She said that she slept for as long as 24 hours at a time and then stayed up for the next 3 nights (as well as days). Her electric bill was once less than $20 for a month because she had all the lights turned off so often.[13] Teammate Ashley Wagner first prompted U.S. Figure Skating officials to seek treatment for Gold in 2016, but Gold did not accept their help until she snapped in front of judges at the USFSA event in 2017.[13] After returning to skating, she redefined her goals and aimed to find a healthier approach to the sport.[14][15] Reflecting on her journey, Gold told reporters in December 2019: "Yes, things could be better, but look how far I've come."[14] She was featured in The Weight of Gold (2020), an HBO Sports Documentary which explores "the mental health challenges that Olympic athletes often face."[16][17]
In her memoir, Outofshapeworthlessloser: A Memoir of Figure Skating, F*cking Up, and Figuring It Out, Gold alleged that she was raped by a fellow figure skater at an event after-party when she was twenty-one years old. She said that she had reported the incident to a U.S. Figure Skating official, who passed this on to the U.S. Center for SafeSport. However, she didn't hear anything from the organization until two years later only to be informed that her case was being looked at by different case manager.[18][19] Eight years after the incident and three months after the release of Gold's memoir, SafeSport released a ruling on Gold's case, permanently banning the skater that had allegedly assaulted her from participating in any future U.S. Figure Skating event. The public ruling revealed that the man Gold alleged to have violated her was Australian figure skater Brendan Kerry.[20] She also came out as bisexual in her memoir, claiming to have dated both men and women. She said that during her days of competitive figure skating, her agent told her to hide her sexuality, believing that her coming out would be detrimental to her career.[21][22]
Gold started skating at age 8 after attending a friend's birthday party at her local rink in Springfield, Missouri.[24] She then began training with Amy Vorhaben and Max Liu before changing coaches to work with Alexia Griffin. Later she picked Susan Liss to coach her and then switched to Toni Hickey in Springfield, Illinois.[4][25] Alex Ouriashev was her next coach; he worked with her at two rinks in the Chicago area.[5]
Gold competed in pairs with Sean Hickey. They placed eighth in juvenile pairs at the 2007 U.S. Junior Championships.[24][26] She was fourth on the novice level at the 2010 U.S. Championships. The next season she competed on the junior level but finished sixth at the Midwestern Sectionals and failed to qualify for the national championships.[27] After the event she began preparing for the upcoming season by working to increase the technical .[27]
2011–12 season: International debut and World Junior Silver Medalist
Gold made her international debut at the Junior Grand Prix in Tallinn, Estonia, winning gold. She qualified for the 2012 U.S. Championships at the junior level, where she won both the short and long programs to win the gold medal. She scored 178.92 points, a record for a junior in the women's U.S. Championships. She won gold in all seven of her competitions for the season leading into the U.S. Championships. She competed at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Minsk, Belarus. Gold won the silver medal at the event. She signed with IMG (International Management Group).[28]
Gold was named to the U.S. team for the 2012 World Team Trophy.[28] At her senior international debut, she finished fifth overall behind fellow Junior Worlds medalist Adelina Sotnikova. Team USA finished second overall.
Gold finished seventh in her senior Grand Prix debut at the 2012 Skate Canada. She then worked with a sports psychologist on her focus and refined her programs in Canton, Michigan.[29] At her second event, the 2012 Rostelecom Cup, she won the silver medal.[30] At her first senior U.S. Nationals, she placed ninth in the short program and first in the free skate, winning the silver medal overall with a score of 186.57 points.[31][32] She was named to compete at the 2013 Four Continents, where she finished sixth. At the 2013 World Championships, she placed ninth in the short program, fifth in the free skate, and sixth overall setting a new personal best total score of 184.25 points. Gold's sixth-place finish along with teammate Ashley Wagner's fifth-place finish secured three spots for the U.S. women at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
At the 2013 World Team Trophy in Tokyo, Gold placed third in the short program and third in the free skate to finish third overall, setting a personal and season best score total of 188.03 points. Team USA won the team gold for the second time since 2009. In July 2013, Gold became a Pandora Jewelry ambassador.[33]
2013–14 season: First national title & Olympic medal
After parting ways with coach Alex Ourashiev in late August 2013, Gold trained with Marina Zoueva and Oleg Epstein in Canton, Michigan, while searching for a new permanent coach.[34] She took silver at her first event of the season, the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic. After the event she traveled to El Segundo, California for a week-long tryout with Frank Carroll at the Toyota Sports Center.[34] On September 25, 2013, it was announced that Carroll would be her permanent coach.[35]
During the 2013–14 ISU Grand Prix series, Gold competed at 2013 Skate Canada, placing first in the short program with a personal best of 69.45 and third in the free skate, winning the bronze medal overall. At the 2013 NHK Trophy she finished fourth. She was the third alternate for the Grand Prix Final.
At the 2014 U.S. Championships, Gold placed first in the short program with 72.12 points, the highest-ever ladies' score earned at the U.S. Championships under the ISU Judging System. She won the free skate with another record score of 139.57, securing her first senior national title.[citation needed] She was named to the U.S. team for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. She won a bronze medal in the Olympic team event and controversially finished fourth and off the podium in the ladies singles event with a score of 205.53 points.[36] Gold was assigned to the 2014 World Championships in Saitama, Japan where she placed fifth overall. At the end of the season, she performed with Stars on Ice.[37]
Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Elena Radionova, and Gold (left to right) during the medal ceremony at Skate America 2014
Gold won bronze at Skate America[38] and gold at the NHK Trophy, the latter marking her first win at a Grand Prix event, and the first time an American woman won the event. She qualified for her first Grand Prix Final, but withdrew on December 4, 2014 due to a stress fracture in her left foot.[39] She won a silver medal at the 2015 U.S. Championships with a score of 205.54 after finishing second in both the short program and free skate. At the 2015 Four Continents Championships, Gold placed second in the short program with a score of 62.67 but fifth in the free skate with a score of 113.91, finishing fourth overall with a score of 176.58. At the 2015 World Championships, she placed eighth place in the short program with a score of 60.73, her lowest score of the season. She came back in the free skate with a score of 128.23, which was her season's best and the second highest free skate score of the ladies event. She finished fourth overall, her highest placement at a World Championship so far. She competed on Team USA at the 2015 World Team Trophy. She placed first in the short program with a score of 71.26, the highest score ever recorded for an American woman in an ISU event. However, she placed fifth in the free skate. Overall Team USA placed first.
Gold's 2015–16 Grand Prix Series assignments were 2015 Skate America and the 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard. She won the silver medal at Skate America, behind Russia's Evgenia Medvedeva. She continued her season placing first in the short program at Trophée Éric Bompard, with a score of 73.32.
Gold performing her free skate at the 2015 GPF
The event was canceled on November 14 due to a state of emergency in France after the November 2015 Paris attacks.[40] On November 23, the ISU announced that the short program standings would stand as final placements securing Gold a spot in the 2015 Grand Prix Final, where she placed 5th in both the short and free programs, ranking 5th overall.
On January 23, Gold earned her second National title at the 2016 U.S. Championships in Saint Paul.[41] After regaining her national crown she placed fifth at the 2016 Four Continents Championships in Taipei, Taiwan. She then competed at the 2016 World Championships in Boston where she placed first in the short program with a score of 76.43, the highest short program score ever recorded by an American woman.[42] Placing sixth in the free program, she dropped to fourth place overall. Finishing the season, Gold competed at the inaugural 2016 KOSÉ Team Challenge Cup, helping Team North America win the gold medal.
2016–17 season: Personal struggles
Gold was assigned to two Grand Prix events, 2016 Skate America and the 2016 Trophée de France. She began her season at the 2016 Japan Open. In the free skate, she earned a score of 108.24 and helped Team North America win the bronze medal. At 2016 Skate America, she placed third in the short program with a score of 64.87 behind American Ashley Wagner and Japan's Mai Mihara after a fall on her triple flip. Gold struggled in the free skate, suffering multiple falls and dropped to 5th overall with a total score of 184.22. She cited "post worlds summer depression" as a reason for not being prepared, commenting she had only recently "felt like herself again".[citation needed] Her struggles continued at the Tropheé de France; she scored a combined total of 165.89 for 8th place, the worst Grand Prix finish of her career.
In late December 2016, Gold resumed her collaboration with her former coach, Alex Ouriashev, training with him in Chicago before returning to Los Angeles, where she was coached by Frank Carroll.[43] She finished 6th at the 2017 U.S. Championships, and was left off the Four Continents and World Championship teams for the first time in her senior career; she had previously been on every world championship team beginning in 2013. Carroll announced after the event that they would part company.[44] He didn't inform Gold before telling the media, causing major backlash on social media. However, Gold still said that despite being surprised about Carroll's decision to tell the media before informing her, she maintained the "upmost respect for Frank" and would take the time to make the right decision on coaching arrangements heading into the Olympic season.
On February 8, 2017, Gold announced that Marina Zoueva and Oleg Epstein would be her trainers (Epstein is also a choreographer) at the Arctic Edge ice rink in Canton.[45] According to Lindsay Crouse, a writer with The New York Times, Nike had a pattern of pushing the young women it sponsored to lose excessive amounts of weight.[11] She wrote that pressure from Nike's coaches helped to trigger Gold to show disordered eating so profound that she considered taking her own life.
2017–18 season
Gold withdrew from the 2017 Japan Open, set to be her season opening and also withdrew from the 2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy for personal reasons.[46] Gold had been assigned to two Grand Prix events, the 2017 Cup of China and the 2017 Internationaux de France, both of which she withdrew from in October due to ongoing treatment for anxiety, depression, and an eating disorder.[11][12] Gold later withdrew from U.S. nationals saying that she would not have proper training beforehand.[47] At the end of the season, it was reported that Gold was hired as a coach in Arizona.[48]
2018–19 season: Comeback
Gracie Gold at the 2018 Rostelecom Cup
After rumors that she would be returning to the sport, it was announced on June 28, 2018 that Gold was assigned to compete at the 2018 Rostelecom Cup.[49] Her coach was Vincent Restencourt based at IceWorks in Aston, Pennsylvania southwest of Philadelphia.[49] Former figure skater Jeremy Abbott choreographed her short and long programs. It was said that Gold's new short program portrayed a more playful and sexy character and her free program showed her journey from her personal struggles to her comeback.[50] At the 2018 Rostelecom Cup, in the short program, she doubled the triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, under-rotated, and fell on her triple flip. She also popped her planned double Axel. She scored 37.51, the lowest short program score that she has ever received since the start of her junior career, placing her in 10th and last place.[51] Gold announced her withdrawal from the free skate via Twitter saying it would benefit her mental health to leave because of her failure in the short program.[52] She later said that she was planning to compete in the 2019 US Championships; however on January 9, 2019, she announced her withdrawal from nationals in order to further prepare for the 2019–2020 season.[13] was working towards the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Videos taken by her coach posted on Instagram showed that she had begun practicing jumps without the harness and was successfully landing them.
2019–2020 season
Being ineligible for a spot at a Grand Prix event, Gold competed at domestic regional competitions in an attempt to earn a spot at the 2020 U.S. Championships. Restencourt began posting promising videos of Gold attempting triple Axels and quadruple salchows in harness on his Instagram, as well as all of her triple jumps. At the 2020 U.S. South Atlantic Regional Atlantic Championships, Gold placed third in the short program and fourth in the free program after making significant errors in both programs. However she placed third overall and advanced to the 2020 Eastern Sectional Championships, where she won the bronze medal. That earned her a qualifying spot for the 2020 U.S. Championships. She placed twelfth at the national championships.[53]
2020–2021 season
Gold was named to U.S. Figure Skating's international selection pool, meaning that she was eligible to compete at international events in the 2020–2021 figure skating season and would be considered for assignment to such events.[54] She was assigned to compete at 2020 Skate America. The ISU decided to run the 2020-2021 Grand Prix based mainly on where skaters training locations were to limit international travel during the coronavirus pandemic.[55] She finished twelfth.[56] Gold placed thirteenth at the 2021 U.S. Championships.[57]
2021–2022 season
Gold was sixth in the short program at the 2022 U.S. Championships, but dropped to tenth place overall after the free skate.[58]
2022–2023 season
Approaching the new season, Gold said that "I really want to transition from the 'good for her for being out there' mentality... to, 'Oh, she's really, really good... she's really competitive.'" She won the bronze medal at the Philadelphia Summer International, in the process becoming the oldest female skater to land a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination in international competition, at age 27.[59] Gold was twelfth at the 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, and placed sixth at 2022 Skate America.[60] At the 2023 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Gold again landed a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination in her short program and placed 5th.[61] She was 11th in the free skate to place 8th overall, her best result since 2017.[62]
Endorsements
In October 2013, Gold was named as a face of CoverGirl. She appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated's February 2014 issue, GQ Japan, and Teen Vogue. Later, she was named the 2014 Sportswoman of the Year by the Los Angeles Council, and received an award in March 2014 during the L.A. Sports ceremony. She is an ambassador for KOSÉ Infinity, a beauty product.
Note: The 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard was cancelled after the November 2015 Paris attacks. The short programs had been completed on November 13, but the free skating was to be held the next day.[81] On November 23, the International Skating Union announced that the short program results would be considered as the final results for the competition.[82]
↑ Gold, Gracie (February 6, 2024). Outofshapeworthlessloser: A Memoir of Figure Skating, F*cking Up, and Figuring It Out. New York City, U.S.: Crown. p.352. ISBN978-0593444047.
↑ Gold, Gracie (February 6, 2024). Outofshapeworthlessloser: A Memoir of Figure Skating, F*cking Up, and Figuring It Out. New York City, U.S.: Crown. p.352. ISBN978-0593444047.
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