You notice it didn't interfere with Kristi Yamaguchi winning the 2008 Dancing with the Stars competition.
That's a good point. Maybe she was not the "wholesome all-American" for some advertiser back whenever, but she certainly didn't have that problem with DWTS audience. They loved her.
Well, in 2008 Kristi may have not had a problem, but when she won gold, it was a different story.
I'm a huge figure skating fan, and saw a show where Dorothy Hamil, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Nancy Kerrigan were interviewed. Kristi revealed that she received no endorsement deals at first. She was not the typical image of an American skating princess. On top of that, she is Japanese, and Americans had marked the 50th annivesary of the attack on Pearl Harbor the year prior.
It wasn't until skating as a pro for a year or two that she started to get endorsements.