MIXED!: 'Jump Higher, Spin Faster': Olympic Figure Skater Tai Babilonia on Her Rise to Fame

The California Report Magazine

Olympic figure skater Tai Babilonia and her skating partner Randy Gardner rapidly ascended figure skating’s ranks to become World Champions in 1979. They were favorites at the 1980 Olympics, but an injury ended their dream of a medal. For our series Mixed! Stories of Mixed Race Californians, co-hosts Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos spoke to Babilonia about growing up in a mixed race family in the 1960s and the racism and exotification she faced as an athlete and public figure.

And we have an update on a family we've been following. In 2019, José Luis Ruiz Arévalos left his wife and kids in the Central Valley to apply for his green card in Mexico, but he ended up separated from them for almost four years. He got caught up in changes the Trump administration made to the questions consulate officials ask people trying to become legal residents. Last month, José was finally able to return home, but as Edsource Reporter Zaidee Stavely tells us, his forced absence changed the course of his children’s lives.

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