Kristi Yamaguchi’s Kids Were ‘Flabbergasted’ by Barbie Doll Reveal

Olympian Kristi Yamaguchi is a figure skating icon and will now eternally be immortalized with a reproduction Barbie doll, news that originally stunned her teenage daughters.

“My daughters are 18 and 20 now and, of course, our total home played with Barbies, but they are at that age in which they had been so into and cherished Barbie movie,” Yamaguchi, 52, exclusively instructed Us Weekly earlier this month of daughters  Keara and Emma, whom she shares with partner Bret Hedican. “They have been type of flabbergasted.”

She included, “[They were] like, ‘What? Like, you?’ Form of a small bit in disbelief at initial, and variety of like, ‘Why you? You are just our mom.’ But, I consider probably a modest portion of them was a tiny very pleased.”

Yamaguchi’s doll, readily available now, joins Barbie’s “Inspiring Women” selection of figures encouraged by the likes of Maya Angelou, Anna May possibly Wong and Jane Goodall. The miniature variation of Yamaguchi will come dressed in the athlete’s iconic 1992 skating costume, which she wore when she received the gold medal in the Olympics.

“It’s an incredible replication of it and, like, so several of the aspects have been so a lot pleasurable to do the job with Barbie [to create],” Yamaguchi told Us. “Even … the shininess of the gold on the black down to the bouquet of bouquets, which was modeled immediately after the bouquet of flowers I did obtain on the podium, [was included]. So, it was truly incredible the information that [Mattel] seriously, actually finds crucial.”

In accordance to Yamaguchi, the black-and-gold outfit was decided on by doll designers because it was “so symbolic” of her Olympic encounter.

“It was the only time I wore that costume in competitors so I assume it was just practically a provided for every person,” she stated, gushing it was “very cool” to see the closing merchandise for the initially time. “The information ended up genuinely looked right after and even the very little gold bow … on the back again of the ponytail, it’s like pretty much the very same material that mine was created of down to the model of skates that I wore. So, it was definitely cool to see that [and] Lauren Sheehan, which is the designer of this costume, I know [will] be tickled pink to see it.”

Mattel introduced Yamaguchi’s doll in celebration of the get started of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Heritage Month. (Yamaguchi was notably the initial Asian-American athlete to ever win gold at a Wintertime Olympics.)

“It implies a ton [to me] mainly because I believe AAPI thirty day period celebrates all varieties of lifestyle all throughout Asian American, Pacific Islands and celebrating the different cultures, the diversity,” she instructed Us of the significance of the honor. “With my doll coming out [and] I feel staying the initially Asian-American female to gain Olympic gold in the winter video games, [it] is a enormous honor.”

Yamaguchi continued, “It was just something I was actually proud of and to be ready to rejoice that and hopefully turn into an inspiration to the next technology of young athletes or dreamers out there in basic to go following their dreams as properly and to see illustration out there. ‘Hey, it can happen to any individual it can transpire to you.’”