Chrystler Skating Spectacular
Feature On Tara
Transcript by Sonia

Commenter: Well, brings back memories of another teenager from right here in Texas. Tara Lipinski was fourteen when she won the ’97 US National Championship. She went on to even bigger things, but it hasn’t always been easy for her.

Tara: When I look back it’s almost like I’m in shock still. I can’t believe that, that happened to me. It’s like you wake up every day of your life wanting something and then one day you have it. And it’s just so strange.

Commenter: Strange is the word some would use to describe Tara Lipinski’s meteoric rise, and sudden departure from the competitive skating world. Making her debut at the ’94 US Olympic Festival, the phenom went on to become the youngest ever champion at the ’97 National and World Championships. Yet leading into the Nagano Olympics, rival Michelle Kwan remained America’s immediate darling.

Tara: Looking back on it, it was really hard. I was only like fourteen or fifteen at the time, and the criticism was, it was pretty harsh. It doesn’t matter if Tara did quads, you know Michelle would still win. And I remember after Nationals, coming home, and I just mentally, I just felt like no one’s behind me. But then I remember stepping out on the ice that night, and looking up at all the media, and going okay I’m going to show you guys that I deserve to be here and I can do this.

Commenter: And she did. Tara Lipinski won Olympic gold, and the hearts of the American public. But then at the tender age of fifteen, she made the choice to leave the amateur ranks and turn professional. It was a decision that would shock many, and once again bring out the critics.

Tara: It hurt a lot because, I mean but think about it say someone who was thirty, you know, won a National title, a World title, and an Olympic title. Would they have gotten the criticism for turning pro? Probably not, it was because I was fifteen. You know I accomplished all that, and I did the Olympics the way I wanted to do it. There couldn’t have been one thing I would change or want to make better. It hurts to think that people think that I just came in, and, you know got everything so easy and left.

Commenter: For some, Tara’s quick exit from the competitive skating world, and drive to establish herself among the top pros led to the perception that she was cashing in on her title for subsequent pursuit of an acting career, further view of this notion.

Tara: I’m not a diva, I’m just Tara. I mean that’s the strange thing. And I think as a celebrity I look at celebrities differently now. Like ya you can think oh she’s such a diva. But then I think is she really, or is the media portraying her as a diva. I just know that’s the way the media is sometimes. You know they like people, they don’t, and they don’t like me. You know, umm, but it’s incredible to go out every night and stand in front of, you know, all these millions of fans, and not to go for the judges and yourself, but to perform for them.

Commenter: One of the underlying reasons for her decision to leave the ranks of competitive skating when she did was severe pain in her hip that she’d been feeling even before Nagano.

Tara: I was misdiagnosed for four years. And I couldn’t imagine, you know how much pain I could be in and no one could find out what the problem was. I mean I was out on the ice hours and hours doing fifty triple loop-triple loops a day. Obviously that’s going to take a toll on your body. I knew that I just physically couldn’t stay in any longer. And i felt like I accomplished every thing I had to.

Commenter: Even in the less physically demanding world of the pro ranks, Tara was no longer able to ignore the pain. In September of 2000 she had surgery to reattach muscle to her hip bone. Today she is rehabbing her injury and skating, with a renewed ppreciation for her sport.

Tara: After surgery I looked at skating so differently because I felt, every day I get on the ice and I feel so lucky to be able to be out there. Skating is something in my body that will always be there, it’s my passion. “Hi, how are you?” (Talking to a child at a hospital) I think I’ve been busier then I’ve ever been, even after Olympics, I don’t know how that’s possible. Doing volunteer work has become so much a part of me now. You look what they go through and then you look back on your own life, and I think that’s nothing compared to what they have to do. They are so brave. It just puts everything into perspective. I can’t explain it, it’s, it’s hard to look back on everything that I went through. But, you know, life evolves and I’m happy now.

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