Actors - Tara Lipinski

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	Actors - Tara Lipinski

Tara Kristen Lipinski (born June 10, 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) of Sugar Land, Texas is an accomplished figure skater and media celebrity. She was Olympic Champion in Figure Skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics. At those games, she became the youngest gold medalist (at age 15) in the history of the Olympic Winter Games, a record that still stands.

Competitive career

Lipinski first came to national prominence when she won the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival competition, which at the time was a junior-level competition. Later that season she placed 4th at the 1995 World Junior Championships and 2nd in the junior level at the 1995 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Already, by that time, Lipinski was the subject of a great deal of media attention.

In late 1995, after a disappointing 5th-place finish at the 1996 World Junior Championships, Lipinski changed coaches from Jeff Di Gregorio at the University of Delaware to Richard Callaghan in Detroit. Moving up to the senior level, she benefitted from the withdrawal of Nicole Bobek from the 1996 U.S. Championships to place 3rd at that event and qualify for the (senior) World Championships, where she placed 15th.

That year, the International Skating Union voted to raise the minimum age for participating at the senior World Championships to 15. Lipinski, who was 13 at the time, and other skaters who had already competed at the World Championships before the new age requirement was introduced were "grandfathered" into remaining eligible for future events.

In 1997, Lipinski unexpectedly won both the U.S. and World Championships. She became the youngest person ever to win either of those titles, at the age of 14. At the 1996 U.S. Postal Challenge, Lipinski became the first female skater to land a triple loop/triple loop jump combination, which became her signature element.

The following season, Lipinski got off to a shaky start. She lost to Kwan at the fall Skate America event, to Laetitia Hubert at Trophee Lalique, and to Kwan again at the 1998 U.S. Championships. At the 1998 Winter Olympics, both Lipinski and Kwan skated excellent programs, with Lipinski winning a narrow victory.

Professional career

On March 9, 1998, Lipinski announced her decision to withdraw from the 1998 World Figure Skating Championships, citing a serious glandular infection that required her to have two molars extracted, constant fatigue, and possible mononucleosis.

On April 7, 1998, Lipinski announced her intention to turn professional in an interview with Katie Couric on the Today Show. She cited a desire to spend more time with her family, to have time for school, and to compete professionally against other Olympic champions. However, rather than spending time at home, Lipinski immediately embarked on full schedule of touring, publicity appearances, and acting engagements that required constant travel.

Following her decision to turn professional, Lipinski was heavily criticised both for the decision itself and for the inept public relations skills of her agent and family. For example, the United States Figure Skating Association (USFSA) was not officially informed of Lipinski's decision to withdraw from the World Championships before the announcement was made to the press. In addition to Lipinski's own conflicting statements, her agent, Mike Burg, told reporters he was worried about Lipinski "tarnishing" her Olympic medal by continuing to compete. In a widely publicized incident, Lipinski's mother said to the press when she found that Michelle Kwan had been chosen to present a team jacket to President Bill Clinton, rather than Lipinski, at a White House reception for Olympic athletes, "Don't you think it's a terrible thing for them to do to poor Tara? It's been like this for poor Tara. It's a terrible thing." Not long after she turned professional, Lipinski also broke an existing $1.2 million contract to appear in made-for-TV events sponsored by the USFSA.

In August 1998, Lipinski suffered a hip injury in practice. After a string of other injuries, she underwent surgery to repair torn cartilage in her hip in September 2000. Many people have pointed to the repetitive stress of practicing the triple loop combinations Lipinski performed during her competitive days as the primary cause of her hip problems.

In an August 2001 article in Blades on Ice magazine, Lipinski stated that the real reason she turned professional was that she had originally incurred the injury to her hip in the summer of 1997 and that she had skated the entire Olympic season in terrible pain. It was never adequately explained why she never mentioned this injury at the time, or why all of her previous statements (including those on her official web site ) regarding her hip problems referred to the original injury as happening in the summer of 1998 rather than in 1997.

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Actors - Tara Lipinski

Competitive career

Professional career

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