Yamaguchi ready for time off ice

Kristi Yamaguchi won Olympic gold in 1992 and spent the next 10 years of her life making a career doing what she loved.

Now Yamaguchi is ready to take a break from the world of figure skating. The 30-year-old skating icon hopes to devote more time to her charity work, spend more time with her husband, NHL player Bret Hedican, and eventually start a family.

This weekend could be the last time Orlando residents get to watch a live performance of Yamaguchi, one of the headliners in the Stars on Ice tour visiting TD Waterhouse Centre Saturday.

"It was always my goal to skate professionally," Yamaguchi said. "I still want to continue skating, but I want to take some time off from being on the road."

In its 16th consecutive year touring the United States, Stars on Ice has featured some of the world's top professional skaters. Saturday's show will include American Olympic champions Yamaguchi and Tara Lipinski, the 1998 gold medalist, along with 1984 and1988 gold medalist Katarina Witt, and 1998 men's gold medalist Ilia Kulik.

The newest addition to the Stars on Ice tour is Todd Eldredge, an elder statesman in amateur figure skating. A former World Champion and six-time National Champion, Eldredge competed in three Olympic Games, and retired after finishing sixth this year in Salt Lake City. He joined the show shortly after the conclusion of the Winter Games.

Yamaguchi has a just few more months of touring before she moves into the next phase of her life.

She'll no longer have to balance her schedule with that of her husband Hedican, who recently joined the Carolina Hurricanes after a trade from the Florida Panthers.