Most top-flight figure skaters have no choice: they sacrifice almost everything to work at their demanding sport.

But Debi Thomas, a student at Stanford University, is determined to change that. She’s doesn’t want to choose between a life on or off the ice.

She’s determined to have both.

Thomas started skating at age five, winning the first competition she entered. She is now a national skating champion but also wants to be an orthopedic surgeon.

“I’m not really planning on making a choice for one or the other, and I think it’s important to show that [both are] possible,” Thomas said.

Most Olympic skaters train eight to ten hours a day but don’t have to balance the pressures of competitive skating and a full class load. Thomas trains for about four hours a day.

She is adamant about her education and won’t stop school simply to pursue a gold medal.

“I couldn’t live with that,” Thomas said of the possibility of stopping school and then coming up short at the Olympics. “I think both of the things together are what makes me what I am.”

Archival video provided by NBC Learn, the education arm of NBC News. For more historic video and classroom resources for teachers and students, visit nbclearn.com.