Olympic Gold Medalist
Peggy Fleming
Champion for Women's Wellness

By Monique Attar

Peggy Fleming, champion ice skater, commentator, cancer survivor and entrepreneur, was the keynote luncheon speaker at the Central Suffolk Hospital Women's Wellness series held at Atlantica restaurant, Westhampton Beach. Her message to the audience was to learn life's lessons and participate in one's health. After the luncheon, Fleming took some time to speak with Networking magazine.

Fleming, a gold medal Olympian, has kept herself busy through the years. She did not allow breast cancer to stop her but moved her down paths she may not have followed otherwise. She became a wine maker when, in 1999, Fleming and her husband, Dr. Greg Jenkins, planted a one-acre chardonnay vineyard next to their home in Los Gatos, California. The grapes were sold to an area winery. Jenkins retired from his dermatology practice and his interest in winemaking prompted him to attend winemaking and viticulture classes through the University of California-Davis.

Since then, the couple has launched the Fleming Jenkins Vineyards & Winery. The winery has become a source to help produce funding for breast cancer research. This year, Fleming celebrated her 57th birthday with the release of Victories Rosé. Fleming and Jenkins specifically created the wine to help support breast cancer research including The V Foundation for Cancer Research and the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University. Fleming's personal experience strengthens her commitment as a champion, not skater, but as a breast cancer survivor. The cause that has chosen her will receive 100% of the net profits after taxes of the 2005 Fleming Jenkins Victories Rosé as well as those of future vintages. The limited 3,000 bottle yield this year, of which 100 have been personally autographed by Fleming and Jenkins, will be released in time for October, National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Fleming's commitment to help prevent breast cancer and find the cure is a reflection of how her experiences through life have motivated her decisions.

Born in 1948 in San Jose, California, Margaret Gale Fleming was raised with three sisters. Fleming states that she and her family "lived a very simple existence." She continues, "I was a real shy little girl." Fleming developed her confidence and courage to compete over the years. Beginning at the age of 9 when her father took his daughters ice skating for the first time. Fleming recalls, "it was magic."

After only four months of lessons, Fleming entered and won her first competition. She felt the music and enjoyed herself as a free lance skater with nothing to lose. But the results of her second competition were not as favorable. Fleming realized that the sport she had taken up with ease was going to require a little more work.

In 1961, Fleming felt personal loss when her coach, William Kipp, along with many others died in the plane crash carrying the United States figure skating team as they traveled to Prague for the World Championships. Fleming would have to forge through, devoid of role models, to obtain the ultimate reward in amateur sports; Olympic Gold.

Fleming's parents did everything they could to provide their daughter with the "must haves" in order for Fleming to reach her goals in figure skating. Their sacrifice included moving the entire family twice to secure the best coaching and provide Fleming with the best skating environment. Hard work and determination resulted in Fleming winning her first of 5 United States National Championships and a place on the 1964 Olympic team in Innsbruck, Austria. At 15, Fleming thought "Wow, I'm going to the Olympics! Cool!" Taking advantage of everything the Olympics had to offer, Fleming participated in the Olympic parade, mingled with the international athletes and shared their flu. In spite of her illness, Fleming garnered 6th place in her first international competition. She had arrived at the Olympics as a junior skater but left with a great deal of international recognition as a strong competitor who would return.

Fleming was on her way to becoming a figure skating role model. At 17, she had earned her first of 3 World Championships. The glory of obtaining such an award was squelched two weeks later when her father died of a heart attack. "I was feeling on top of the world," Fleming said after she had won. Her joy was short-lived and replaced with sadness. She continued, "At 17 I learned from my mom how to be strong. I learned how to cry but I also learned not to crumble.

Fleming continued to skate and was once again chosen for the U.S. Olympic Team. This time the Olympics were held in Grenoble, France, and Fleming had five United States National Championships and three World Championships under her belt, Fleming said, "I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders." In just four years, Fleming had achieved much more than she had dreamed. Her first Olympics had been full of awe and excitement. In Grenoble, she felt under pressure to win for the U.S. In an effort to stay healthy and focused, she spent much of the time in her mother's hotel.

Her mom designed and made all of her costumes including the chartreuse outfit she wore for the 1968 Olympics free-skating program, the performance that secured her the gold medal. Fleming related her thoughts as she stood on the podium that day, "How grateful I was and I had a feeling of relief that I didn't let anybody down." Hers was the only gold medal brought home by a United States Olympian in 1968, the first time the Olympics were viewed on television in color. Fleming's performance captured the world's attention with the beautiful image of the graceful figure skater achieving her ultimate dream. Associated Press named Fleming female athlete of the year for her 1968 routine, catapulting the sport of ice skating to a new high.

The television cameras became Fleming's friends in a long career of television specials, commercial endorsements, cameo appearances and doing commentary for ABC television. Her knowledge and method have made her an inciteful cohost with a long term commitment. Her style and personality captivated the sports world throughout her career as a professional skater performing in Ice Follies and Holiday on Ice. Through it all Fleming's popularity and grace brought her opportunities that were never before afforded to skaters. In 1980, she was the first skater to be invited to perform at the White House. In addition, corporations realized her charisma made her a marketing spokesperson with a wide appeal. Young, old, male or female, Fleming embodied the scope and brought value to any endorsement. However, as she stood on the podium in 1968, with her gold medal around her neck, Fleming wasn't thinking of future career opportunities, but that it "was just so cool. What a powerful feeling standing there realizing your dream!" As a result of her spectacular achievement, Fleming's life took off on a path that neither she nor anyone else could ever have imagined. She has been a trail blazer for generations of young women athletes who saw what was possible. She took everything in stride and reached yet another plateau in her life when at the age of 21 she married Greg Jenkins. Their marriage of 35 years has survived many years of traveling, performances, guest appearances, endorsements, raising sons Andy and Todd and becoming grandparents. Fleming admits, "Its really hard to juggle all those roles."

From experience, Fleming offered this advice to women, "To age gracefully, is not to worry about the way one looks. It's not important. The way to look good is to just feel good and the way to do that is to take care of yourself and pay attention to your health and to participate in your health." It was she who first detected her cancerous lump in 1998. Fleming had always maintained her health, kept fit, had her annual check-ups and mammograms. But it was not until that day that Fleming realized it was "my attention to my body, I saw change." A visit to the doctor with her findings resulted in Fleming having to show him where the lump was located. She had a lumpectomy and was told that the cancer was curable and it had not traveled to her lymph nodes. Fleming received radiation treatments. Feeling fortunate and having gained confidence and perspective Fleming said, "I thought I was superwoman, Olympic Champion." She assumed she would handle the recovery with strength but found that, "Cancer is a very humbling disease. It doesn't care who you are."

Fleming began the radiation treatments with courage. Friends provided support and took part in her recovery. It was not until the second half of her six week treatment that Fleming felt the effects of the accumulated radiation in her body. She said, "I looked forward to going to my radiation treatments. There's a bond that cancer survivors have." She related that, "Some people are worse, some not," and that she gathered strength from being with other patients.

It was with this outlook that Fleming was able to continue with her treatments. "When you compete, you test your heart, you test your courage and you also test yourself," Fleming said of how she moved forward. She fell back on how through her life she "learned a lot of life lessons along the way. When you're given a challenge like this, it really is a gift to learn something about yourself." Her understanding and gratitude about being "very, very lucky" in life, Fleming continued, "Cancer taught me a lesson in humility and compassion but I also learned that cancer is not a death sentence."

With every passing day, treatment brought new wisdom. Fleming fought cancer by using knowledge and participating in her health. "Knowledge is peace of mind and it's comfort" she said. "As we age, we all need to be very proactive on all fronts." Fleming followed her own advice by researching the cancer, treatments and the doctors she would rely on to get her on the road to recovery. "What I tell people when they're first diagnosed is to educate yourself. Read articles, ask a lot of questions, get a second opinion and weigh your options," Fleming said. Just as in skating competition, research the opposition, find out how one can be better, "be better than yesterday," Fleming said, and make the decisions to come out ahead. The parallels in life are numerous and if a person is between life and death, the answers can be obtained by taking charge and participating in the decisions. Peggy Fleming took charge, beat her cancer and continues to share her experiences and knowledge with the public all over the world.