Activities Sports & Athletics 1968 Olympic Figure Skating Champion Peggy Fleming Share PINTEREST Email Print Peggy Fleming. Express Newspapers / Staff / Hulton Archive / Getty Images Sports & Athletics Skating Famous Skaters Basics History Gear Lessons Inline Skating Baseball Basketball Bicycling Billiards Bodybuilding Bowling Boxing Car Racing Cheerleading Cricket Extreme Sports Football Golf Gymnastics Ice Hockey Martial Arts Professional Wrestling Skateboarding Paintball Soccer Swimming & Diving Table Tennis Tennis Track & Field Volleyball Other Activities Learn More By Jo Ann Schneider Farris Jo Ann Schneider Farris was a silver medalist in junior ice dancing at the 1975 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships and is the author of two books on skating our editorial process Jo Ann Schneider Farris Updated March 17, 2017 Peggy Fleming is the 1968 Olympic Figure Skating Champion. She won that title in Grenoble, France. That was the only gold medal that the United States won at that particular Olympics. She was nineteen years old at the time. She was known for being both an athletic and graceful ice skater. Date and Place of Birth: Peggy Gale Fleming was born on July 27, 1948 in San Jose, California. Education Peggy Fleming lived in the Los Angeles area for many years and attended school there. There is some confusion about where she graduated from high school. A photo from 1966, shows her graduating from Hollywood Professional School. The Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame says she graduated from Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Peggy Fleming also did attend Colorado College. Early Skating Days Peggy Fleming began ice skating when she was nine years old and became serious about being a competitive figure skater when she was eleven. Her coach was William Kipp. He died in 1961 when the entire U.S. world figure skating team and coaches were killed in a plane crash on the way to the world figure skating championships. Family Fleming's family sacrificed a great deal for her skating. She had three sisters who were not skaters and supported their sister in her career. Her mother made her skating dresses. Her father supported her skating both financially and emotionally. She married Dr. Greg Jenkins in 1970. The couple has two children and three grandchildren. Coaches At the 1968 Olympics, Fleming was coached by Carlo Fassi who was also the coach of 1976 Olympic Figure Skating Champion, Dorothy Hamill. Before moving to Colorado Springs, she was coached by John A.W. Nicks who took on many of William Kipp's students after the 1961 plane crash that took the lives of the U.S. figure skating team and their coaches. Many-Time United States National and World Figure Skating Champion Peggy Fleming won the U.S. Ladies Figure Skating title in 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, and 1968. She won the World Figure Skating Championships in 1966, 1967, and in 1968. Video of Peggy Fleming - 1968 World Figure Skating Championships Peggy Fleming - Professional Skater After retiring from amateur competitive figure skating in 1968, Fleming skated as a guest star with Ice Follies. She also appeared in television specials and performed in front of four different United States Presidents. Skating Television Commentator Peggy Fleming was an ABC television figure skating commentator. She began commentating with ABC in the 1980s. Breast Cancer Survivor In 1998, Fleming was diagnosed with breast cancer. After a successful surgery and recovery, she became an advocate for breast cancer awareness and early detection. Fleming Jenkins Vineyards & Winery Peggy Fleming and her husband own and operate Fleming Jenkins Vineyards & Winery in northern California.