''(Kwan) was my favorite skater, and I was kind of on her team to win.


''But when I saw Tara skate, I just totally agree that Tara should have won. She had an amazing skate. I think it's something that every skater dreams to have at the Olympics. She really did attack out there, where I guess you could say Michelle held back a little bit,'' Cohen says.

 

 

 

 

 

Q.Tara Lipinski might be the smallest skater in the history of the sport. Have you all ever tried to stuff her into the overhead compartment of the bus?


A.(Slight laughter.) No, that would be kind of a stupid joke.


Q.Do you ever look at her and think, "Just wait till you get older and you can no longer bend your body into a pretzel?"


A.No, not really. I look at her more with a smile. It's more like, "There's such a great career ahead of you." Everybody kind of has to go and find their own path. She seems to know what she's doing, where she's going.


Q.What do you think of the "Tara Lipinski rule." Because of her win in Nagano, Japan, in 1998, no one under 16 can compete in figure skating at the Olympics.


A.It's quite fair to come up with the age line. I think that is a decent age to be part of the Olympics. I think it's meant, in some ways, to support young skaters, to help them grow up before they have to compete, so they can have some longevity in their careers.

This is carrying on the same theme as recent commericals, examples: Dick Clark shown when someone asks about an old record, or when the guy is dancing at the gas pump and Debbie Allen shows him how to move his body.


There's a fellow sitting behind a counter in a small shop with a TV on a countertop showing a skater doing a jump while the announcer is saying what a great triple lutz it is. The guy behind the counter says "Why do they call it a lutz?". Then they loop back and play it again with the guy repeating that "Why do they call it a lutz?" Instantly, Tara appears in front of the counter and says "Named after Alois Lutz, an abscure Austrian skater etc." Can't remember the rest but that's what I recall from seeing it at mid-evening. "

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"Michelle's long program was technically solid but not daring enough. She skated a B+ program when she needed an A. Meanwhile, teammate Tara Lipinski skated like a kid set free in Candyland. Her performance was jumping, joyful and full of life. Tara took the gold medal. Michelle graciously accepted the silver, but she felt crushed inside."

"Tara fell REALLY badly on her Tribute number. It wasn't a normal "that didnt really happen, pop back up with a smile and go on" fall. It was a complete wipe out, she fell onto her chest/stomache and slid across the ice on her stomache with her legs straight out. She almost kept sliding into the audience right in front of me. She wasn't sliding fast, she was going slow, but she was really hurt, and not trying to get up yet. She laid there for just a sec then got up holding her hip and made and awfull grimace to her friend who was standing on the sideline next to me watching. She didn't immediately speed off into her next move either she sorta rounded the corner slower than usual and then went into the rest of her program. She looked really hurt, but she went into her next triple (sal?) and did it perfectly and didn't double or single anything that wasn't supposed to be for the rest of the night, so maybe she was not as badly hurt as it looked? I hope not."


- - - - - - - - - -

"By the way, Tara apparantly injured herself at some point during the show. They cut her American Tribute final number, and she could barely move in the finale. It was painful to watch. My friend and I tried to figure out when she had hurt herself, but couldn't. She seemed fine in her first number (but I have to say, I much prefer Yuka Sato's number to the same song ...I think it's called Color of Roses). She then didnt' really do much actual skating until the finale. But she was obviously in pain, an could barely get around the ice. She was rubbing her hip when the cast went into the audience to shake hands at the end of the show."


- - - - - - - - - -

"I was there and she fell right in front of me. What made it a bad fall was that it was a forward fall--smack on her stomach and the front of her hip bones. If she was injured, she pulled it off without a hitch. She got right up and continued on and acted as though nothing had happened. I was worried about her hip though. But from my observation, I saw nothing wrong with her for the rest of the program. However, she fell on her Tribute program, so there wasn't a lot of show left after than. I sure hope she if FINE! "

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