Carol Heiss won the 1960 Olympics in women's figure skating and she also won the silver medal at the 1956 Olympics. When she won the 1960 Olympic Gold Medal, all nine judges awarded her first place.

Carol Heiss Jenkins did become one of the top figure skating coaches in the United States. She has coached Timothy Goebel, Tonia Kwiatkowski and Miki Ando. She did not begin coaching figure skating until the 1970s since her first priority was to concentrate on being a full-time wife and mother.