Hamilton Skates At Rochester For Last Time

Rochester, NY - Olympic champion Scott Hamilton, 42, will appear at the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Arena at the War Memorial Tuesday evening. The Olympic gold medalist will retire from ice skating performance after this tour. Hamilton is skating one last time to share his appreciation for his audiences and colleagues.

Hamilton said, "I get new memories every night. This tour is really significant because I've gotten to understand what I've been able to experience over the past how every many years. This is my 15th tour with stars on ice, a show that I started. I look back at certain competitive events both amateur and professional that were so unbelieveable fun and filled with energy, I float on that sometimes!"

There was a time when Hamilton was not floating on ice, however. In March 1997 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He fought his illness with a strong will and determination and within one year he was declared "cancer free." When he was diagnosed, he vowed to return to the ice, which he did later the same year.

"Cancer is all about a lack of control of your life when you are diagnosed with cancer, everything else goes away and you deal with that first and foremost right away," Hamilton said. "And I think the biggest part of coming back to the ice was I just wanted to get control of my life again."

Hamilton returned to the ice not just to entertain audiences, but to promote cancer awareness as well. He started an initiative called "CARES," which aids in the search for a cure for the deadly disease.

While Hamilton will be more focused on cancer research, he refuses to say that he will never skate again.

Hamilton said, "It's not a retirement. They are silly because you always end up coming back anyway. It's not a retirement, it's a next-there's something that's next and I'm going to be very involved with target and the target house at St. Jude's children's research center, but also the take charge of education programs and things within our community."