Visit with Olympic Winner Kristi Yamaguchi Thrills Churchill Students

Kristi Yamaguchi has plenty of career highlights on her resume. 

Now she can add meeting the students at in Oswego to that list. The Olympic gold medalist figure skater, turned Dancing with the Stars winner, turned children's author was at the school Monday to sign copies her books and even read students her latest release It's a Big World, Little Pig. 

"My biggest inspiration for my books are my two children," said Yamaguchi, who is a mom to a second grader and kindergartner. "I've always love to read to them and it's how I started doing this."

It's a Big World, Little Pig tells the story of Poppy the Pig who travels to the World Games ice-skating championship in Paris. Nervous at first, Poppy tackles the adventure and soon realizes her competitors, though they look and sound different, are all the same at heart.

Yamaguchi said the story isn't exactly autobiographical, but she did draw from her own experience of competing in her first international contest when she was 14. 

After reading, Yamaguchi took a few questions from students. When asked about her most memorable experience, Yamaguchi said winning the gold medal in 1992 in Albertville, France was followed closely by another Olympic experience.

"Walking into the Olympic stadium with the U.S. team and representing our country really stands out for me," she said. "You only do one lap around the track, but I wanted it to last longer."

Yamaguchi's life after skating has seen more success. She went on to win the 2008 season of Dancing with the Stars, has worked on the Today show as a correspondent, and It's a Big World, Little Pig debuted at No. 2 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Her visit to Churchill was arranged by school librarian Pat Lofthouse and Churchill parent Beth Krane through Anderson’s Bookshop in downtown Naperville.