Vera's Personal Cause

[B.Cooper]

Vera Wang's Personal Cause:

From Thursday's NYTimes:
Scroll down about halfway down the page

Maybe Sylvia can provide some light as to the competitive résumé of Vera Wang??? Was she close to qualifying as a US Olympian?

My assumption is that figure skating matched her sensibilities as a child and young teen, but the structure and discipline of the sport has served her well as a business person.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/fa...pagewanted=all

"Vera’s Personal Cause

HER TRAINING as a competitive figure skater, beginning when she was just 6 years old, left an indelible impression on Vera Wang. There were the adolescent years of intensive routines and ballet lessons to improve her posture, all the while juggling courses at the elite Chapin School. Yet ultimately failing to make the United States Olympics team, she has often said, is what drove her to succeed elsewhere in life.

But those years also took a toll on her psyche, in anxiety that has been manifested, she believes, in periods of depression throughout her life, which she has discussed only privately with friends. As she prepared to accept a lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America next month, Ms. Wang said in an interview, she decided it was time to talk about the effects of anxiety on young people, and to make that a signature issue.

“No one knew when I was growing up that being a competitive figure skater was maybe not a good thing for my makeup,” Ms. Wang said. “It has been something I have lived with my whole life.”

Edited to add:
From USFS website when Vera Wang was inducted into the Hall of Fame:

"Vera Wang received a pair of ice skates as an 8-year-old on Christmas and began taking lessons. She won her first regional championship at 12. She twice competed at the U.S. Championships, placing fifth in 1968 in junior pairs with her partner, James Stuart. She once commented to People magazine in July 1991, �The only thing that I loved as much as skating were clothes.�

So, I guess I am alittle confused, as she competed Jr Pairs according to USFS website...not at the Sr Olympic eligible level. Jr level is not eligible for Olympic team selection. Was she competitive as a singles skater?

Sad to read that she has struggled with depression for so many years.

[Zemgirl]

Maybe Sylvia can provide some light as to the competitive résumé of Vera Wang??? Was she close to qualifying as a US Olympian?

Her Wikipedia entry and the NYT say she competed at 1968 US Nats (in pairs, according to Wikipedia). This SI story says she just missed qualifying. I'm not sure which is correct.

Wang's original SI Faces in the Crowd entry can be viewed on p. 60 of this link.

[Sylvia]

The SI blurb reads: "At 18, Wang missed qualifying for the nationals by two spots, thus ending her dream of reaching the 1968 Olympics."
In singles?

USFS story in conjunction with Wang's induction into USFS' Hall of Fame in 2009: http://www.usfigureskating.org/Story.asp?id=42314

She won her first regional championship at 12. She twice competed at the U.S. Championships, placing fifth in 1968 in junior pairs with her partner, James Stuart.

(Maybe a mod. could add "Wang" to this thread title so people won't assume it's about Bazarova? )

[Lanna]

(Maybe a mod. could add "Wang" to this thread title so people won't assume it's about Bazarova? )

So it wasn't just me thinking this was about Bazarova.