Biography

Name: Tara Kristen Lipinski
Age: 17
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 98 Pounds
Birthdate: June 10, 1982
Hometown: SugarLand, Texas
Parents: Jack and Pat Lipinski
Home Club: Detroit Skating Club

Tara Lipinski - A true story
By her third birthday, future Olympic figure skating
champion Tara Lipinski was convinced walking and
running were inefficient ways of moving around. She
preferred going faster. Roller-skating was the mode
of choice. With wheels beneath her feet, Tara could
fly. The fearless toddler eventually entered several
age-group competitions, winning a regional
championship in New Jersey by age 5. And Tara liked roller
hockey even though it attracted more boys than girls. Of
course, it was only a matter of time before Tara
noticed how fast the kids on ice skates were going -
Very.
Iced "T"
Curiosity finally lured Tara onto an ice rink when
she was 6 years old. Her dad, Jack, vividly remembers
his daughter "flopping around" during that maiden
voyage atop a frozen surface. Rather than make her
nervous, Jack and Pat, Tara's mom, went indoors for
hot chocolate. They returned a short time later to
discover that the ice suited Tara to a tee. She might
as well have been on roller skates. Everything came
so naturally; she progressed through skating lessons
in no time. The transition happened quickly. But no
one could have guessed just how quickly ice skating
would come to recognize the potential of a young girl
named Tara Lipinski. In fact, Tara advanced from
first lesson to national medalist in less than 6 years.
After rising to the silver medal podium of the novice
division, it was obvious that the Philadelphia-born
Tara was blessed with above average skill and
determination. This was a youngster, after all, who
frequently rose as early as 3 a.m. for pre-dawn
skating lessons after her family re-located to Texas, near
Houston. Eventually, Tara went back to her former
Delaware rink. In the summer of 1994, Tara brought
new meaning to the "Spirit of St. Louis" with a show
stopping performance at the U.S. Olympic Festival.
At 12 years, 1 month, Tara became the youngest
athlete ever to win a gold medal at the Olympic Festival.
In 1995, Tara was already in the public and media
spotlight. At the U.S. Championships in Providence,
RI, she earned the junior silver medal and, a
Providence newspaper declared her "the future".

Days to remember
The 1995-96 season saw Tara move into skating's
senior division and also marked a change of scenery
for Tara and her mom. They relocated to Bloomfield
Hills, Mich. There, she would be coached by the
acclaimed Richard Callaghan, whose students included
national champions Nicole Bobek and Todd
Eldredge. When she is not traveling to compete or
tour, Tara's days in suburban Detroit are always busy
and productive. She also enjoys family outings on
weekends when her dad visits from Houston, where he
is an oil executive. During the week, Tara receives
daily four-hour tutoring and is proving to be as
proficient at academics as she is at skating. Tara is
an "A" student who faces homework in the evenings
despite the additional demands of four, 45 minute
training sessions spread over each day at the Detroit
Skating Club. This disciplined lifestyle undoubtedly
contributes mightily to Tara's competitive toughness.
Her technical and mental preparation has been
rewarded again and again over the past two seasons
during a remarkable ascent to national, world and
Olympic championships. "She's so far beyond where
we thought she'd be," Jack Lipinski said in a recent
interview with People magazine. "She's always rising
to the occasion."
The "Tara era"
Against the measuring stick of history, Tara's
accomplishments are staggering. Carol Heiss, Peggy
Fleming, Janet Lynn, Dorothy Hamill and Kristi
Yamaguchi were great U.S. Champions, yet not one was
a national medalist at 13 or a gold medalist at 14.
During the early months of 1997 Tara earned titles and
made history on what seemed like a weekly basis. The
culmination of the 1996/97 season was at the
World Championships last March in Lausanne,
Switzerland, where Tara eclipsed a record that had
endured 70 years. She replaced legendary Norwegian
Sonja Henie as the youngest woman to be
crowned the world's No. 1 skater, only a year after
debuting at this competition with a 15th place finish.
Tara landed her signature triple loop-triple loop
combination jump and five other clean triples to finish
ahead of reigning world champ Michelle Kwan. All of
this came just one month after Tara secured her
first national championship with the same
seven-triple free program in Nashville, Tenn. It was in that
event
that she became the first woman to land a pair of
triple loops in combination. Two weeks after Nashville,
Tara won the Championship Series Final in Hamilton,
Ontario, as a prelude to Lausanne. Rarely has an
athlete opened an era in so dominant a fashion.
Bumps in the road to gold
The 1997/98 season started out on a bumpy note for
Tara as she finished 2nd at Skate America to fellow
American Michelle Kwan. The road became even bumpier
as Tara struggled against illness and bad
blades to finish 2nd at the Trophy Lalique
competition in Paris. Tara proved herself capable of a major
comeback just over a month later, however, becoming
the first woman to succesfully defend her
Champions Series Final crown with hard-fought victory
over Germany's Tanja Szewczenko in Munich.
Tara returned to her roots in Philadelphia for her
2nd title defense of the season at the US National
Championships. After a fluke fall in her short
program, Tara stood in 4th with a spot on the Olympic team
hanging in the balance. Proving herself to be as
resilient as she is talented, Tara performed an impressive
long program and moved up to take the Silver medal
along with a spot on the 1998 US Olympic Team.
One for the ages
Tara entered the XVIII Olympic Games with two goals in mind:
1) becoming the youngest-ever gold medalist in Ladies Figure Skating and
2) Having a LOT of fun! She accomplished both goals during her stay in Nagano, and turned in one of the most amazing upsets in Olympic history, defeating her heavily favored teammate Michelle Kwan with a free skate of epic proportions and capturing the imagination and hearts of skating fans worldwide.