I remember seeing that.... He was great..
Didn't he once do pairs with Kristi Yamaguchi?
Yes...they won the national championship as a pairs couple. BUT...Kristi was also skating female singles...and decided she would pursue that exclusively.
Galindo was devastated...on top of that, he lost several people very close to him, including two coaches, to AIDS.
For a kid from a San Jose trailer park, he had to have a huge heart, an indomitable will and an extraordinary spirit to succeed. When he won the national title, his sister was his best friend AND coach.
I have always thought it paradoxical that someone like Michael Weiss, in his first years of national prominence, took such great pains to comport himself as butch/macho/straight, an effort that included toting his wife around and having her and their baby in the kiss-and-cry area with him after a performance. His father was always at his competitions, and it was always mentioned that his dad owned a gym when the camera was placed on the father (as it always was). His father, as it turns out, looks like a Marine drill sergeant. At some point, though, Weiss seemed to stop worrying about such things...and his skating took on depth...it began to flow and he accentuated the more artistic elements he was always capable of.
Rudy Galindo probably never fooled anyone into believing he was straight and to his credit, he never wasted any energy trying. Weiss exerted himself mightily simply not to be "presumed" gay. Galindo simply skated and, seemingly, was held back because of the presumption (my opinion).
As MattH said, though, the time came when Galindo simply could NOT be denied. I believe he is probably one of the most admired male skaters ever...for being who he is and bringing his own sensibilities onto the ice in his performances.
