Welcome to TaraRulz.com. The largest website dedicated to the 1998 Olympic, 1997 World and National, and World Professional figure skating champion, Tara Lipinski.
What does it take to be so fabulous that your wardrobe overshadows the Olympics? According to Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski, a lot of preparation.
“I started pulling clothes from different designers and jewelry from different designers about a month before we came over,” said Weir. He and Lipinski have been the talk of the town during the Sochi Games, not only for their witty figure skating commentary for NBC Sports, but for their chic — and sometimes wild — ensembles.
“We’re (in Russia) for almost a month and we’re on air almost every day, so we had to put together outfits ahead of time so we weren’t just bringing our whole closet,” added Lipinski.
The two planned their looks together to make sure they played off of each other well. “For whatever reason, people are just gravitating toward what we wear and that we’re trying to match and be cohesive on television,” Weir said. “I think it’s TV 101 that you should look like your partners.”
So how much, exactly did they pack? This much:
• 8 suitcases: "Three of mine are the size of Ford Focuses," Weir said. “And three of Tara’s are the size of Audi S4s.”
• 22 pairs of shoes
• 10 pounds of jewelry
• 25 blazers
• 4 fur coats (all Johnny’s)
• 6 pairs of leather pants
• 9 high-end purses
“Definitely, we’re overpacked,” Weir said. “We have pounds and pounds and pounds of clothes. But we’re in this position where we’re the new kids on the block and we have to prove ourselves. You can’t wear the same black suit every day so we have to mix it up.”
After seeing Weir go fishing in a fur coat, we can’t even imagine him donning a ho-hum black suit. That coat, which Weir calls “one of the loves of my life,” was actually made in Russia, and he says only bringing four furs was actually keeping it tame.
“We knew it was going to be pretty mild here so I didn’t go nuts bringing my heaviest like my big sable or my huge floor-length minks," he said. "I only brought the ones that were weather-appropriate."
The Johnny and Tara show has taken our enjoyment of figure skating to a whole new level, and that’s exactly what these most style-savvy Olympians want. “We love getting dressed every morning to go to work and we love talking about our sport,” Weir said. “If people want to pay attention to our clothes, that’s a good thing for us because it also gets people paying attention to our sport, and figure skating needs a rejuvenation.”
"Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski sit down with Meredith Vieira to discuss what’s to come in the second week of the figure skating events in Sochi.
Posted by Angie on Monday February 17, 2014
Posted by Angie on Sunday February 16, 2014
As the Olympics steam into the second week, the Tara Lipinski/Johnny Weir Experience continues to provide gems. Once again, their Instagram accounts have provided plenty of comedy, fashion displays and even a special guest appearance from their play-by-play partner, Terry Gannon.
In another, shot on their day off on Saturday, Tara and Johnny chose to belt out Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Only they can make the song tolerable.
Now if Lipinski and Weir could get Terry Gannon to coordinate his outfits with theirs, we would really be seeing something.
Tara and Johnny have taken Sochi by storm. It's their world. We're just living in it.
Posted by Angie on Sunday February 16, 2014
Photos of Tara and Johnny commentating on day 7 of the Olympics have been added to the gallery.
Posted by Angie on Sunday February 16, 2014
Posted by Angie on Sunday February 16, 2014
Posted by Angie on Sunday February 16, 2014
Better than a jolt of caffeine. A nugget of fun information from an evening of Sochi skating, when it's morning in America.
Like this: When the first-round of ice dance began Sunday, a brother-sister team opened as the first of 24 dancers, and Johnny Weir immediately said, "Sharing DNA helps these two, I think." He said it while the team swirled and twirled with abandon. They weren't going to be medalists but then Lipinski added: "They were together, they have a future." And there it was.
Weir can wake a person up quickly. Sunday, he wore a bright green jacket, as if he had forgotten St. Patrick's day doesn't arrive until next month, and a matching tiara. No really, a tiara for his pairing with Tara Lipinski, Weir's early morning analyst partner, who sported a swirly pink and brown jacket and a long green flower in her hair. But in a testament to the commentary they offer, the wild clothes don't take away from their spot-on analysis.
And let's not forget Terry Gannon, who plays the role that Ernie Johnson does so well for the NBA on TNT. Johnson keeps chatty Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith in check when needed. Gannon handles the inside and impromptu takes of Lipinski and Weir as if they were scripted. And now we can say that in these Olympics, NBCSN has introduced us to the heirs-apparent to Dick Button and Peggy Fleming—Lipinski and Weir.
Lipinski and Weir who have been the major Sochi announcing revelation. On Valentine's Day, Lipinski wore a blouse with little pink hearts, and Weir came to the broadcast booth in a hot-pink Chanel blazer, accentuated by a lace top and his well-coiffed bouffant hairdo.
But soon you forget the clothes because Lipinski and Weir have become an excellent pair of analysts, more fun than the prime-time team of Sandra Bezic, a choreographer, and Scott Hamilton, a former gold medalist. And maybe that's how it should be. If you're watching figure skating at dawn, there should be some fun to go with the analysis.
Not that Bezic and Hamilton aren't up to snuff, but Lipinski and Weir, in tandem with Gannon, who has the ability to make subtle and self-deprecating cracks at just the right moment, have become much-watch TV even on the West Coast before the sun comes up.
Weir can help us when the Russians skate, especially. He speaks their language—and we're not talking just skating. When an ice dance team of Pernelle Carron and Lloyd Jones were out in the first group Sunday, Weir said "The man is the peacock of the couple and that doesn't usually happen." Lipinski giggled appropriately. Weir gave us the information that this year the International Skating Union picked the quickstep mixed with the foxtrot as the mandatory short program which was skated Sunday.
When the first Russian team finished, Lipinski was not afraid to say the performance was "a little bit junior, a little bit choppy." Lipinski explained what a "twizzle" is, not a piece of licorice but side-by-side spins, "very difficult to pull off together, and the most important element," Lipinski said, setting up the rest of the day because twizzles would come up often.
But, and maybe because he was a former top-level skater, Weir knows when to keep quiet and Lipinski, who was a chatterbox when she was a gold-medal winning skater, has learned to tone down the number of her words.For example, during the ethereal pairs final when Russians Maxim Trankov and Tatiana Volosozhar blew the roof off the place with their performance to "Jesus Christ Superstar," all Weir said was, "They were a little stiffer than we're used to seeing but it doesn't matter." Weir uses words with ease—not to be funny or sarcastic but to be informative.
By doing the early-morning live commentary, Lipinski and Weir don't have the luxury, as Bezic and Hamilton do, of watching the performances and talking only about the best. Bezic and Hamilton usually break down the performances of only the cream of the crop, of the group of final six skaters.
Lipinski and Weir must talk about the new skaters, the ones in the early groups who haven't earned their way to the top. It's much more difficult to analyze poor skating than excellent skating. During the men's singles program, Weir was able to break down why a particular man missed his quadruple jump. "He broke out of the revolution too soon. For a quad, you need to hold until you feel your foot hit the ice." For a novice watcher, that painted the perfect picture.
Gannon uses his role as grownup to ask just the right question. There are new rules this year that allowed skaters to use music with lyrics. Gannon asked Lipinski and Weir about that. "I can't wait to see an Eminem short program from one of the boys," Weir said. Lipinski gave Weir a sideways glance and said, "Why not the girls? You know I'd love that." Lipinski asked, "Could one skate to Beyonce? Then I'm in," Lipinski said.
One of Weir's best lines came when an Austrian female skater performed in short-shorts, or more colloquially, "Daisy Dukes.""I applaud her use of the short shorts," Weir said. "It's reminiscent of our own Terry Gannon (onetime North Carolina State guard) in the 1983 basketball championships."
Lipinski described a skating pair precisely: "The man has to be the frame and the woman has to be the pretty picture," Lipinsky said. Who among us could come up with the metaphor so easily and on a microphone? Gannon asks just the right question at the right time. "Are the ice dancers the best skaters Johnny?" he asked Weir.Sometimes," Weir said, "because they need deep edges but it's hard to compare to the pairs who have to make all those throws. But the ice dancers are always the first ones in the rink," Weir said, "putting their mascara on."
And when Gannon pressed Weir about whether ice dancers would fare well on the popular TV show "Dancing With the Stars," the disdain was obvious in Weirs' voice. "It's not the same thing," Weir said. His change of voice, from lighthearted and dancy to seriously unhappy, indicated Gannon needed to leave that line of questioning. So he did. Weir did a nice breakdown, explaining that while pairs can suffer a multitude of injuries and that ice dancers can stay around longer, that ice dancing is not injury-free. "It takes a toll on your knees," he said.
Then he segued into speaking about how the ice dancers can manipulate in inside and outside edges of their skates depending on the program and the required dance. While the scores of a Russian team were booed, Weir noted, "They just weren't up to par," an honest comment from a man who proclaims his love for Russia.
Weir had no trouble pointing out that the second American ice dance couple, brother and sister Maia and Alex Shibutani, had trouble because, he said, "It's hard to do the sexual dances when you are brother and sister."Lipinski followed up with, "You just have to be careful of the music you pick, the story you tell." And there is no one else out there who could say, after Lipinski praised the short program of Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates as Weir did with this memorable line: "That was wonderful. We need some plumage." Said by a man who not only believes it, he lives it.
With the second round of ice dancing still to come plus the women's short and long programs, there's still plenty of time to get up early and enjoy the newest stars of the Olympics, Lipinski and Weir.
Posted by Angie on Saturday February 16, 2014
Todays theme: Downton Abbey with feathers
Posted by Angie on Sunday February 16, 2014
Associated Press: NBC Figure Skating analysts and former Olympians Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinksi talk about their experience in Russia and the sport of figure skating.
Posted by Angie on Friday February 14, 2014
Todays theme: Valentines Day
Posted by Angie on Friday February 14, 2014
Posted by Angie on Friday February 14, 2014
Posted by Angie on Friday February 14, 2014
Every morning for the past week, I have woken up, made myself a cup of coffee, and sat down in front of the television to hang out with Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski. The 29-year-old, two-time Olympian Weir, who has spent every day of this Olympic Games rubbing sequins into Putin’s anti-gay eye, and the 31-year-old gold medalist Lipinski have been pulling the early shift in Sochi, announcing figure skating live on the NBC Sports Network. At night, the same routines are rebroadcast on NBC proper, announced by Olympic stalwart Scott Hamilton. But if you have only been watching Hamilton’s reliably excitable and knowledgeable play-by-play, you have been missing out one of the Olympics’ truly transcendent pairings—not to mention its very best fashion show.
Weir has received the lion’s share of attention for his fabulous outfits—the other day he wore a T-shirt made completely of lace—but he and Lipinski have been assiduously coordinated. They arrived to the men’s free skate on Friday dressed as the “glimmer twins.” (Johnny glimmered more.) On Tuesday, Weir was all over the Internet in a hot pink blazer and button-down white shirt, with a huge gold brooch at the collar. Lipinski showed up to work that day intentionally dressed to match, in a light pink blazer of her own and a gauzy headband that can only be described as overstuffed. On Thursday they did their own interpretation of the Addams Family, Johnny in a black leather jacket, white shirt, and a huge gold necklace, and Tara, his mirror image, in a white blazer, black shirt, and silver necklace, her hair flat-ironed like a blond Wednesday Addams.
The outfit coordination is delightful on its own, but it also speaks to the skaters’ love of showmanship. Tara and Johnny both know an enormous amount about figure skating. They can explain why a jump went bad, spot a mistake as it happens, opine about artistry, bring personal insight to the stressful Olympic experience, and casually toss off fascinating insights into skaters’ social dynamics. (According to Weir, “the pairs skaters have always been the cool kids,” a sentiment Lipinski strongly seconded, and which is currently my favorite fun fact from Sochi.) But they are also aware that figure skating is a spectacle, in which music, costumes, and flair matter. Weir can tell us that a jump failed in the men’s free skate because the skater delayed his takeoff too much—and also that he “applauds [a pairs skater’s] use of short shorts.” Lipinski can drop in skating terminology to explain a landing that went “squiggly,” while also sighing that she “could do without all the yellow.” True figure skating insight mixed with a little fashion police? Anyone who loves skating for what it is—a sport mixed with a pageant—could not ask for anything more.
Lipinski and Weir have an easy, mischievous rapport. Talking about pairs skating, Lipinski admitted that she was always terrible at it because she hated not being in control. Johnny, smoothly picking up the sitcom beat, replied, “I enjoy being thrown.” During the men’s free skate, Tara threw Johnny a trivia question about when he had last heard this music, accurately describing the costume of the last skater to use it as “Giraffe.” During a pairs performance, Tara murmured, “Now that’s a diva throw, Johnny,” clearly referencing some previous private conversation that I immediately wanted to hear more of.
Occasionally you can hear the two almost dissolve into giggles. Such displays of mirth will probably have to be addressed before they are given the mic on NBC in prime time (or before they are unchaperoned by announcer Terry Gannon, who gamely joins them for broadcasts as the resident adult). This frivolity establishes the fact of their friendship, which makes it possible for them to gracefully disagree about what happens on the ice. Johnny described the routine of a male skater who was technically precise but not particularly emotive as “unmemorable.” Lipinski took issue with this description, and not just because he was skating to Coldplay’s “Clocks.” (“Skating to Coldplay. You know that I’m happy right now.”)
Lipinski and Weir are also less sentimental than prime-time announcers Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic. They have not used announcing as an excuse to be overly bitchy. Perhaps because they retired only recently, Lipinski and Weir seem even more attuned to the anxiety of the Olympic experience. “I always skated as slowly as possible, hoping that a [ceiling] light would fall on me,” Weir said about warming up for his Olympic performances. But the duo gave a more honest accounting of the pairs winners than Hamilton and Bezic did. Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov won the gold with a free skate in which they made no big mistakes. The Times aptly described it as being “performed deliberately, seemingly less to win than not to lose.” Lipinski and Weir, while taking nothing away from the winners, didn’t overly gush about the performance, noting the mistakes it contained and the stress the skaters had been under. Hamilton and Bezic, meanwhile, praised it to the skies, with Bezic nonsensically calling it both “emotionally controlled” and “open.” When Jeremy Abbott briefly skated into first place with a clean long program after a disastrous short, Lipinski and Weir complimented his bravery, without for one second suggesting he had a chance to win a medal. Neither of them sugarcoated the low quality of the men’s free skate.
Weir has received more attention than Lipinski this Olympics for obvious reasons. Figure skating’s relationship to homosexuality—extremely intimate, rarely publically discussed—has been complicated long before Sochi. (Weir didn’t come out until he had retired.) Weir, who is married to a man of Russian descent, has been as flamboyant as he pleases in Sochi, the rare implicit political statement as entertaining as it is brave. He brings a very clear point of view to his announcing: He wants the skating to be exquisite and dramatic. There is “a sleekness and a chicness to their skating” is a classic Weir compliment. He also has a knack for punchy and playful description. “He really always reminds me of a hockey player who is a really good dancer,” Weir said of one competitor during the men’s long program.
If Lipinski does not sparkle quite as much as Weir—who could?—she often takes the lead with her opinions, and she can be wonderfully matter-of-fact. (I have only now, 16 years later, forgiven her for beating Michelle Kwan in Nagano). During the men’s free skate, which was even more fall-ridden than the disastrous men’s short program—Weir described it by saying a “general malaise fell over the building when no one wanted to win”—Lipinski got downright quippy. She suggested one skater “maybe needs to add The Secret to his reading list” and that she “needed some tango face” from another. Of the eventual winner’s skate, she said, “This performance did not have gold written on it for me,” and she described the silver medalist’s as “a safe skate. And usually you can’t win an Olympic medal skating safe.”
On Thursday, Gannon wondered partway through the short program, “What else is going to happen tonight?” “I don’t know,” Tara said, before dropping her voice to add, “this is crazy”—those three words doing more to convey how unexpectedly uneven the night had been than a million more polished comments. May she and Johnny, their fashion sense and their edge, make it to prime time in 2018.
Sixteen years ago, Tara Lipinski was the breakout star of the Winter Olympics after winning the figure skating gold medal at just 15 to become the youngest individual champion in Winter Olympic history. Sixteen years later, she's once again the breakout star of the Winter Olympics — or half of a pair.
Lipinski and two-time Olympian Johnny Weir have won over fans old and new in Sochi — not only with their insightful, cheeky commentary on NBC Sports Network that has many wondering why they're not the "A team" in prime time, but with their awesomely coordinated wardrobes and wacky off-camera antics as well. "That is the goal!" Lipinski tells TVGuide.com with a laugh. "I just want people to enjoy us. We have a great time together and we want everyone at home to too. I really want to bring skating back to the spotlight it should be in and bring a fun, fresh perspective."
One could say she got a head-start with her hilarious Big Lipinski video for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. "That was great. They just called me with that idea. I thought it was hilarious," she says. "It was something outside the box and who knows — maybe you'll see something like that from Johnny and me here."
Ironically, NBC didn't plan on pairing the besties — they nap together — until they suggested it. Lipinski has been doing commentary with Terry Gannon, who's the third Musketeer in the duo's Sochi booth, for the ladies' Grand Prix events the past few years, and Weir joined this season for the men's events. "They gave us a little trial and we definitely passed the test," she says. "When you work with a close friend, you don't know what that's going to be like. Johnny and I just goof off. We have the same view of where we want to take this and what we want to give to the viewer and how we want people to view skating. We have a good time, obviously, off-camera as well that we started a joint Twitter account. I'm having a blast. It's really great to be on this side of things."
Broadcasting and covering the Olympics had always been a "dream job," Lipinski says, but she didn't start pursuing it until several years ago after taking a break following her professional career. Taking advantage of the numerous opportunities for skaters when the sport was at the height of its fame in the '90s, Lipinski turned pro less than two months after her Nagano victory. She says she has no regrets retiring at 15, even as more skaters stay competitive longer and go to multiple Olympics these days. Lipinski, 31, is the same age as Russia's four-time Olympic medalist Evgeni Plushenko, who retired Thursday after withdrawing from the men's event with an ongoing back injury.
"If I came up with this generation, I would've competed much longer than I did," she says. "I probably worked more than I did as an amateur because of all the TV shows and tours. Even though the same pro opportunities might not be there now, these skaters go at it much longer, which I think is really nice. It gives them more opportunities, like Plushenko and Jeremy Abbott, who's had a very up-and-down career. We don't know what's going to happen to him when he goes on the ice. But if the outcome is good — and it's not always about winning a medal — you look at his journey, you go, 'I'm so glad you decided to stay in it.'"
Unfortunately for Abbott, his Sochi journey has been "down" so far — literally. The four-time U.S. champion, known for wilting in the biggest moments, fell twice in the team event and took a brutal crash on his opening quad in his short skate Thursday before finishing the routine. Like most pundits, Lipinski is tapping Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu or Canada's three-time reigning world champion Patrick Chan, who are 1-2 after the short, for the men's title.
As for the ladies, Lipinski believes Ashley Wagner, she of your new favorite Olympic meme, will validate her spot on the team after her controversial nomination following the U.S. nationals. A two-time U.S. champ, Wagner fell twice and finished fourth there, but was selected for the team over bronze medalist and 2010 Olympian Mirai Nagasu because of her consistency the past few seasons.
"It's unfortunate, but I believe they made the right decision," Lipinski says. "Ashley had a bad event, but she's one of our strongest skaters, whereas Mirai, yes, an Olympian, but she's had a bunch of struggles and all of a sudden broke out at nationals. That's great and in any other circumstance, she probably would've gone to Sochi. I know Ashley didn't want it to happen this way. But she changed her long program, which I think is an excellent decision. I've seen her in practice. The fire is definitely there."
Defending champ Kim Yuna of South Korea is still the favorite and would be the first skater to win back-to-back golds since Katarina Witt in 1988. And then there's another 15-year-old breakout: Russia's Yulia Lipnitskaya, who jumped and twirled to the top of the short and free skates in the team event. She would be the youngest gold medalist since Lipinski, but she wouldn't break Lipinski's record.
"I'd be five days younger than she would be. We calculated it!" Lipinski says. "It's funny — the free skate is on the same [date, Feb. 20] as when I won. But if anyone were to beat it, I would definitely hand the torch over to her. I love her. I can't wait to watch her and call it!
