Skating legend Dorothy Hamill has a piece of advice for the athletes participating in this year's winter Olympics: Put your money with people you know and trust.
It's a lesson she learned the hard way.
"I thought I knew and trusted some of my peeps," the 1976 Olympic gold medalist said in an interview with CNBC's "Closing Bell" on Wednesday.
"You live and you learn. I'm really lucky I was able to turn professional, because we were amateurs."
After her Olympic victory and subsequent World Championship win, Hamill skated in a number of professional productions, including the Ice Capades. She ultimately bought the travelling skating show but sold it a few years later.
She filed for bankruptcy in 1996, 20 years after her win at the winter games. News reports at the time said Hamill faulted her estranged husband for his bad advice.
"The good news is I've finally found people that are trustworthy and I'm a little smarter. As an athlete you don't learn all these things. You're just focused on training," she told CNBC.
Hamill, a breast cancer survivor, is now partnered with the vitamin brand Nature's Bounty to promote health and wellness.
And while she's no longer skating professionally, she is focusing on "simple things" like walking dogs, hiking and biking. "Nothing hard core," she said.
"Keeping active is a bit of a challenge."
—AP contributed to this report.
