Debi Thomas Net Worth

What Is Debi Thomas’ Net Worth?

As of recent reports, Debi Thomas, an American figure skater and physician, has an estimated net worth of approximately $20,000. This figure reflects her journey from being a celebrated Olympic medalist and world champion to facing significant financial challenges later in life.

Early Life and Skating Career

Debi Thomas was born on March 25, 1967, in Poughkeepsie, New York. She began skating at the age of 5 and quickly demonstrated exceptional talent. By age 9, she was already competing and securing first-place finishes. Her early training took place at Eastridge Mall in San Jose, under the guidance of Barbara Toigo Vitkovits. At age 10, she began working with coach Alex McGowan, who remained her coach until she retired from amateur competition at age 21. In 1983, she began representing the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club.

Her dedication and her mother’s sacrifices, including driving her over 100 miles a day between home, school, and the ice rink, paid off significantly. In 1986, while a freshman at Stanford University, Thomas won both the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships and the World Championships. She was the first African American to win a non-novice title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. These achievements led to her being named Wide World of Sports’ 1986 Athlete of the Year. Thomas also received a Candace Award for Trailblazing from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women in 1986.

At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Thomas won the bronze medal, making history as the first Black athlete to win any medal at the Winter Olympics. Her rivalry with East Germany’s Katarina Witt was highly publicized and known as the “Battle of the Carmens”. Thomas won the World Professional Championships in 1988, 1989, and 1991.

Medical Career and Subsequent Challenges

After retiring from amateur skating, Debi Thomas pursued her long-held dream of becoming a doctor. She graduated from Stanford University in 1991 with a degree in engineering and then from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 1997. Thomas completed a surgical residency at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Hospital and an orthopedic surgery residency at the Martin Luther King Jr./Charles Drew University Medical Center in South Central Los Angeles. In June 2005, she graduated from the Orthopedic Residency Program at Charles R. Drew University in Los Angeles. She then prepared for Step I of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons’ exam and worked at King-Drew Medical Center as a junior-attending-physician specialist. In July 2006, she began a one-year fellowship at the Dorr Arthritis Institute at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, California, for sub-specialty training in adult-reconstructive surgery.

Thomas worked in private practice in Richlands, Virginia. She also worked at Carle Clinic in Urbana, Illinois, starting in September 2007. However, she faced difficulties in her medical career due to struggles with bipolar disorder, which led to frequent job changes. In December 2010, Thomas was in private practice at ORTHO X-cellence Debra J. Thomas, MD, PC in Richlands, Virginia, which has since ceased operations.

In November 2015, it was reported that Debi Thomas was living in a bed bug-infested trailer in the Appalachian Mountains with her fiancé, who was struggling with anger and alcohol issues. She revealed that she was “broke” and had lost most of her savings through two divorces and a failed medical practice. She also lost custody of her son when he was 13. Thomas appeared on the television series *Iyanla: Fix My Life* on the Oprah Winfrey Network in an attempt to address these issues.

Thomas’s financial struggles included a bankruptcy filing where she listed her Olympic medal at a value of a little more than $2,000 but also said she had a negative balance in her bank account. She also had a $276,000 mortgage, $149,000 in IRS debts, $10,000 in back rent for her now nonexistent medical practice, and more than $150,000 in credit card bills.

As of 2016, Thomas and fiancé Jamie Looney were living with Looney’s two sons, Ethan and Austin, in southwest Virginia. Thomas currently lives and trains in Florida.