Any Sonja Henie stories to relate? | Golden Skate

Any Sonja Henie stories to relate?

76olympics

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 4, 2004
I have been watching my tape of "Reflections on Ice" again; I love that it includes a great deal about the older skaters. Sonja Henie-what a piece of work she was! One Austrian skater states that she kept hoping wistfully that Sonja would have an "off" day-but "off" was not in Sonja's repertoire, evidently . She said she never saw Sonja have as much as a cold. She was the perfect athlete with the personality of a bulldozer!

I read the (probably admittedly biased) biography that her brother co-authored. My favorite story is the one where she tosses down the roses someone brought saying, "Only orchids for Sonja!"

Has anyone heard any more stories about her?
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Sonia had the 'joy of skating' at all times. Tara Lipinski comes immediately to mind who also had and showed that while skating.

Sonia, however, was a good business woman and at one time was the richest woman in the world. She was also very protective of herself (and why not?). What I heard from skaters who worked with her was that she would not allow anyone in the company to be blonder than her. :sheesh:

Joe
 

Glacierskater

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
b / Very interesting, and my most favorite topic. Just 6 hours ago I finished reading Queen of Ice, Queen of Shadows. It was the book that was coauthored by Leif Henie.

I was disappointed in some of the stories that he relayed, but also realize that it has to be taken with a grain of salt. It was told from one person's point of view. I would love to figure out how to get some of her vintage skating footage. My dream vacation is to go to the museum in Oslo. I am getting ready to read her memoirs this holiday.

I too will be interested to read anything that anyone has about Sonja. I would not consider myself herr biggest fan, but I am quite passionate about her and she is my skating idol. Most my people my age have no idea who she is.
 
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thisthingcalledlove

Final Flight
Joined
Sep 24, 2003
http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96apr/henie.html

At about 9:30 the stage manager came up to Sonja and said "shall we start the show now?"......Sonja just looked at him and said two words,"YOU'RE FIRED!" She then stayed up all night visiting the injured victims that were hospitalized over night, about fifty in all. There were about two hundred injured but thankfully no deaths. She delayed starting the show for three days, doing everything possible to help the victims. She was like that, and we loved her for it.
 

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
76olympics said:
I have been watching my tape of "Reflections on Ice" again; I love that it includes a great deal about the older skaters. Sonja Henie-what a piece of work she was! One Austrian skater states that she kept hoping wistfully that Sonja would have an "off" day-but "off" was not in Sonja's repertoire, evidently . She said she never saw Sonja have as much as a cold. She was the perfect athlete with the personality of a bulldozer!

I read the (probably admittedly biased) biography that her brother co-authored. My favorite story is the one where she tosses down the roses someone brought saying, "Only orchids for Sonja!"

Has anyone heard any more stories about her?

No, but I read her biography. Her life at the end was touched with great sadness; the only solace she found was on the ice - like many of us former figure skaters - that connection with figure skating brings an overwhelming sense of joy.
 

Glacierskater

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
thisthingcalledlove said:

I am in the process of reading everything that I can get my hands on about Sonja. She is and will always be my favorite. They mentioned the bleacher incident in this book, but left out the part about Sonja making the visits. There are two sides to every story, and then there is the truth.

I visited the Figure Skating Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs last winter. I was looking at all the book in the library and found her book WINGS ON MY FEET. I opened up the front cover to discover her signature in it. It was so cool. I will have to pick one up from ebay...thanks for the topic.
 

dlkksk8fan

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Here is a good book to read about Sonja Henie written by Michael Kirby- "Figure Skating To Fancy Skating Memoirs Of The Life Of Sonja Henie". Michael Kirby was one of Sonja's skating partners.
 

Glacierskater

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Dlkksk8fan,

That is the very book that I just started. I thought that it was her memoirs, but it is starting out to be more about him. Sonja has not entered his life personally yet.
 

A.H.Black

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 1, 2004
I started a thread about Sonje over on FSU over a year ago and got some interesting stories from people who had seen her skate. I think if you do a search under her name at FSU it will come up.
 
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