About Tara » Quotes

2006

• "I'm glad I competed against Michelle when she skated like that. I want to skate against people that are skating their best, and I want the competition to be good, and that Olympics was really good."

• "I love every moment of my life. How can I not be happy?"

• "I don't remember it being that long that I was screaming. I thought it was a quick scream."

2005

• "Just walking into a skating rink makes me nostalgic. The rink has a distinct smell. One whiff, and I'm transported back to those days of practicing and performing."

• "I am so into blackjack. Ever since I went to Vegas, I love it."

• "My parents always believed in me and had confidence in me. They let me make my own choices. My mom's not pushy; she just wants me to be happy. I always seemed to know what I wanted to do. When new people, who don't know me as well, come into my life and try to influence me, I can be pretty stubborn. I go with my gut feeling."

• "Driving in LA traffic is awful!"

• "When I was in New Jersey I went to Atlantic City a few times. I came home with more money than I started with so that was very good."

2004

• "These last two years have been a great learning experience for me: trying to find my way in this industry. I finally feel that I’m finding where I should be."

• "I am totally hooked on The Apprentice!"

• "Rock climbing looks like fun, but I've never done it so I'd probably kill myself."

• "I am really happy here in LA. I've made such great friends and they are so supportive and most importantly - genuine."

• "The weather in LA can’t be beat. It’s always sunny and it never gets really cold. It’s like summer all year long."

• "You are the best fans in the world."

• "My friend, Dan, took me to a Lakers game and now I’m obsessed with seeing them play."

2003

• "I LOVE sweets!"

• "I'm happy with the way I am. I like my flaws. I like the natural look."

• "I didn't wear a glamour don't tonight, I just came to see glamour dont's. Some guy was mooning the entire press line! I think that qualifies."

• "I'm like, obsessed with horror movies."

• "I've caught the acting bug. It's sort of taken me over."

• "I never want to stop skating. It's a passion, and you can never forget that."

• "I didn't do anything wrong."

• "The wost part was, because I'm a little small, the wheel, I couldn't spin the wheel."

• "I'm gonna look like such a dork!"

2002

• "I just love Paris."

• "I don't do gym workouts - I'm too small and I can't fit in the machines properly."

• "It used to be that I wanted to be taller. Once I made 5-foot-1, I was happy. Now, I'm pretty content with everything."

• "I know what the pressure is like. It’s intense."

• "I didn't think I'd become an actress after the Olympics, but then I did a little bit and I really enjoyed it."

• "Skating is something so special. Think about it. How often do you get to go out and perform and express yourself?"

• "My fans will never have to worry about me quitting skating. I will always do it because it’s my passion.”

• "Every time I'm out there, I'm grateful. It's more of a feeling of just being lucky, and maybe that shows in my skating."

2001

• "I had so much criticism from the media. They were so critical that I wouldn't have said me." If asked to name the pre-Olympic favorite"

• "The Olympics are different than any other title. You don't pass it on. It's like you join a club. I look at Kristi and Katarina and it's like I'm part of something special with them.

• "I do have my diva-like personalities sometimes."

• "Hip surgery has definetly effected my career. It's really difficult and I deal with pain every day. But hopefully it will let me have a longer career than I was going to have. So, I'm grateful for that everyday."

• "I love casual clothes, like sweats and sneakers and an old baseball cap, when I'm running around the airport. But also I like to get dressed up at night. I'm obsessed with clothes."

• "I'm so happy with the way that I've had my life back these last four years, being with my family. It's worth it to go home, even for just a dinner spent together."

• "I travel a lot, but I don't have the crazy life anymore."

• "I have a newfound love of skating. When I'm out there, I enjoy it 15 times more."

2000

• "Everyday is Starbucks."

• "I just interupted everyone and said, 'OK, I'm going to have surgery now."

• "Definetly a night person, I don't like the mornings, I like to sleep in and relax."

• "I don't really think about my age. I think I have a pretty normal life."

• "I love you too!"

• "Hopefully in a few weeks I can start jumping. That's what I really wanna do."

• "As a skater you kind of listen to anything and everything."

• "Um....a goat?"

• "Gross!! I dont every want to be slimed again. It tints your skin green!"

• "I hate MRI's!"

1999

• "I'll be on a plane or something saying, 'Oh, my gosh, can you believe it?' I have to think about it to really realize it's happened."

• "I'm a safe driver."

• "Well, it's either like during the day, during practice, my guards have to be just perfect. They cover your blades. And he'll (Scott) come back and kick them."

• "I enjoy working with this group so much, especially with Scott. It's an honor to skate with him. I hope someday I can do what he does."<

• "Scott, who were those girls in the zamboni?"

• "I always carry my Saint Theresa statue with me."

• "And another big thank you to all my fans. You're the ones I'm skating for."

• "It's a memory I can look back on...that moment when you skated the best you could. It's a feeling you can't describe. I can't explain it."

1998

• "I had that feeling of just pure joy and I went out there and put it in my program."

• "I said I don't want to get off this ice disappointed I said I'm going to fight everything out no matter what."

• "I was so happy standing there, but a little sad knowing I was ging to have to get off eventually."

• "It felt so perfect."

• "I can't even imagine what it's like and right now I'm like in shock. I can't believe that I'm Olympic Champion."

• "That was so cool!"

• "Yeah I did, I do feel the pressure."

• "Thank You Saint Therese."

1997

• "I had to work hard and to concentrate on two clean programs for this year to stay there."

• "Last night I was in shock, today, it hit me, and I love it."

• "I never expected this, especially this year."

• "It was so exciting, just skating a good program, and after the second marks came, that's when I actually knew."

• "I was really relaxed and I knew what I had to do"

• "I'm going to Disney World."

• "That's one of the hardest parts, living away from my dad. But we've been seeing each other a lot more this year."

• "Being Olympic champion is my dream and what I am working for."

• "I think most of them just wanted to watch me, but a few came over and asked me how I do a certain jump, or sometimes they asked me to do it for them. I really enjoyed doing that."

• "I never thought I'd have my own book right now. It will be weird to go to the bookstores and it'll be there."

• "Rich knows how to push you in different ways every day, and he still makes it fun. He jokes around a lot, usually with sarcasm. If I pop a triple jump he'll say, 'Oh, so that was a double, was it?"

• "Ever since I've been skating, I dreamed of the Olympics. You watch the top stars like Kristi and Scott and Todd and Kurt and picture yourself doing it." • "Oh my God!"

1996

• "Even though I'm little, I have to skate like a woman."

• "I'm friends with Nicole, so either way was OK with me. I was just happy I skated well."

• "I don't mind being away from home. I like my little condos and apartments."

• "I have a normal life. I'm in eighth grade. I have my friends over on weekends, we do sleepovers and things like that."

1995

• "I'll beat her next year."

• "I did the triple flip, and that really made me happy today."

• "Going to different countries, I like the celebrity, all the cameras and anything like that. After I'm done competing, I like doing press conferences and all."

Quotes On Tara

• "T.T... as I sometimes call her.. is a most interesting person. Full of youth and talent, yet she has lots to learn. Guess I feel like a big brother there. To tell you the truth, it just feels great to skate with her. I like carrying her across the ice.. I like skating and jumping beside her.. there is some kind of connection we have that is obvious to us, but I think obvious to the audience as well." -Kurt Browning

• "Everybody comes into their own at their own time. Look at Tara. She was the world and Olympic champion by 15. My sister's 15 right now. That's kind of amazing to me. I know when I was 15, I didn't have that focus yet."-Sasha Cohen

• "Tara is a fantastic skater and mature beyond her years. She has a freshness. You can see the love of the sport pouring out of her. That makes it easy to enjoy her and gets an audience behind her." -Kristi Yamaguchi

• "There was something different, like fire coming out of her eyes, she intended to win. Michelle skated beautifully. It was a take-no-prisoners competition." -Morry Stillwell

• "She loves what she does, but if someone's disappointed in her, it doesn't crash her world. She's so strong-willed. Oh my gosh, I wish I had that at 35. In the end, that's what I notice the most and respect the most." -Rosalynn Sumners

• "She is a beautiful diamond that is going to be chipped and cut into something rather spectacular." - Scott Hamilton

• "What she does technicly is just amazing." - Scott Hamilton

• "She really keeps me motivated." - Kristi Yamaguchi

• "After you spend 5 minutes with Tara you either feel incredibly old or incredibly young." - Kurt Browning

• "There are things you learn on tour that you can't learn anywhere else, and with Tara, you can see a real relationship developing now between her and the audience. You can definitely tell that she's extremely confident around them. The tour wakes you up a little bit. It makes you see things in a different light." - Jerod Swallow

• "Every night I was watching her, but she's not a machine, I tell her, Tara, you're not a machine. It's okay to miss something. It's going to happen. It's okay. That is learning, too." - Oksana Baiul

• Tara is like the Michael Jordan of figure skating. If someone beats Jordan even at a simple lay-up, he is the type of guy who gets so mad that he not only makes sure that doesn't happen again, he will score 20 points right in your face to make sure you know he is better than you. Tara is exactly the same way. Even after she won Worlds, she felt, I think, somewhat disrespected in some ways by a lot of people." - Craig Maurizi

• "I always liked Tara as a kid. She has fun on the ice and there was a spontaneity I liked versus the somewhat calculated performances of her then competitors. Something happened in that arena that night that certainly did not translate over the airwaves. I watched the replay and Tara had one of those skates. The whole place was caught up in it and there was a visible and audible difference between the two performances. If Michelle set the bar height, Tara jumped over it." - Robin Cousins

• "I think that I have learned the most from Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski." - Jennifer Kirk