US skating legend Kristi Yamaguchi revealed that a racist mistake once left competition organizers assuming she was representing Japan

• Figure skating legend Kristi Yamaguchi won an Olympic gold medal on behalf of Team USA.
• The star revealed that once, early in her career, event organizers assumed she represented Japan.

Kristi Yamaguchi is one of the most legendary American figure skaters in the history of the sport.

But in the early days of her illustrious career — before multiple Olympic appearances and an iconic gold medal victory — the Asian-American superstar often found herself explaining her identity and nationality to others.

In a recent interview with The Washington Post's Robert Samuels, Yamaguchi described the racism and ignorance she faced in her sport with an anecdote from one youth competition. After winning both the pairs and girls' competitions at the 1988 world junior championship, event organizers struggled to recognize her as an American.

Yamaguchi, then a teenager, was set to step atop the podium with two Japanese skaters when an "unusual delay backstage" stalled the playing of the national anthem, Samuels wrote. She was puzzled by the holdup until she overheard officials chatting amongst themselves.

"We can't find three Japanese flags," one organizer said.

"I'm like, 'Can someone tell them I'm American?' " Yamaguchi recalled to Samuels.

If they didn't learn their lesson then, the officials in question certainly realized the gravity of their mistake four years later. At the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, Yamaguchi became the first Asian American woman to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics when she finished ahead of Japan's Midori Ito and Team USA's Nancy Kerrigan in the ladies' singles event.

That victory, and countless other moments across Yamaguchi's incredible figure skating career, inspired subsequent generations of Asian Americans to try the sport on for size. She paved the way for many future skating superstars who brought home hardware for Team USA.

"You don't get a Nathan Chen without a Michelle Kwan, and you don't get a Michelle Kwan without Kristi," Barbara Reichert, a spokeswoman with U.S. Figure Skating, told Samuels. "[Kristi] helped to open the door."