TULSA, Okla. — David Jenkins is calling Tulsa home after a decorated Olympic career led him to raise his family in Green Country.
Jenkins rose to prominence in the 1950s when the U.S. served as the gold standard in figure skating.
"When I think of the Olympics, I think of the suffocating pressure," Jenkins says.
"Nothing quite prepared you for the Olympics."
The 1956 Olympics in Italy saw Americans win five of six medals in the men's and women's singles events.
Jenkins was one of those winners, earning a bronze and gold medal in his Olympic career.
His upbringing revolved around skating, practicing with his older brother and sister before it brought them to the podium at the Olympics in 1956.
Jenkins and his older brother Hayes Alan Jenkins took home medals that day — David winning bronze and his older brother winning gold.
Four years and three world championships later, David Jenkins won gold in his final competition.
"In an individual sport, to a degree, you feel like you're competing for yourself as well as your country," Jenkins says.
"But it really came home that I was competing for my country and that I had raised the flag at the Olympics."
He went on to travel with a professional group on the ice while putting himself through medical school — eventually landing himself in Tulsa after a 30-year career.
"I watch lots of events in the Olympics, but of course particularly skating," he says.
"The level of competition is certainly much higher."
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