Blades of Glory
Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, the first U.S. ice dancing team to win silver in Olympic history, graced the cover of our 10th anniversary issue in May 2006. The two held hands (and shrugged off romance rumors). Agosto was a Groves High alumnus; Canadian-born Belbin lived and trained in Canton. Following their big win in Turin, Italy, the skaters had a busy press tour, which included a stop on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. But they still made time for an exclusive interview and fashion photoshoot with their hometown’s No. 1 magazine.
The Road to Nagano
For our December 1997/January 1998 issue, we profiled three prospects for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. One of them was Union Lake hockey player Lisa Brown-Miller. In February 1998, she would take home a gold medal for U.S. women’s hockey. Also on the list was Marquette native Wendel Suckow, a 1993 World Championships gold medalist luger, who would compete in his third Winter Olympics that year. Grand Rapids short-track speed skating prospect Mike Kooreman wouldn’t make the cut (and, after subsequent attempts, never did) but later served as the sprint coach and long-track coordinator at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.
Renaissance Woman
In our July 2004 issue, Livonia native Sheila Taormina caught up with Hour Detroit while she was training for her third prospective Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. After taking home her first gold medal in 1996 as a swimmer, she overcame a serious health issue to compete as a triathlete at the 2000 games. She would qualify in 2004 and later 2008, when she became the first woman to compete in three different Olympic sports over the course of her career: swimming, triathlon, and modern pentathlon.
Skating Scholars
On the heels of their silver medal win at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, this popular ice-skating duo appeared in the cover story for Hour Detroit’s May 2010 issue. West Bloomfield Township native Meryl Davis was joined by her counterpart Charlie White, a native of Bloomfield Hills. The interview took place at their training site, Canton’s Arctic Ice Rink. The two discussed their recent wins, returning to class at the University of Michigan, and even their favorite breakfast spot (Ann Arbor’s Afternoon Delight).
This story originally appeared in the February 2026 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Click here to get our digital edition.
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