Skater Kristi Yamaguchi gives birth to daughter

It's a girl for Olympic champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi and her husband, Bret Hedican, a defenseman for the Carolina Hurricanes.

The couple's first child, Keara Kiyomi Hedican, was born early Wednesday at a Raleigh, N.C., hospital, Yamaguchi's Los Angeles publicist said. The baby weighed 7 pounds and was 20 inches long.

"She's doing fantastic," Michael Sterling said. "Both the mother and baby are in excellent health."

Yamaguchi, 32, retired from the Stars on Ice tour last year to begin a family with Hedican, 33. The couple met at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, where she won a gold medal and he played for the U.S. hockey team. They married three years ago.

Yamaguchi will host and star in an NBC skating special on Nov. 30.