Tara Lipinski
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Tara Kristen Lipinski (born June 10, 1982) is an American former competitive
figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...
, actress, sports commentator and documentary film producer. A former competitor in women's singles, she is the 1998 Olympic champion, the 1997 World champion, a two-time
Champions Series Final The Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (formerly Champions Series Final), often shortened to ''Grand Prix Final'' and abbreviated as ''GPF'', is a senior-level international figure skating competition. Medals are awarded in men's singles, ladies' ...
champion (1997–1998) and the 1997 U.S. national champion. Until 2019, she was the youngest single skater to win a U.S. Nationals and the youngest to become an Olympic and World champion in figure skating history. She is the first woman to complete a triple
loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...
-triple loop
jump Jumping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living (e.g., robotic) mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory. Jump or Jumping also may refer to: Places * Jump, Kentucky or Jump S ...
combination, her signature jump element, in competition. Starting in 1997, Lipinski had a rivalry with fellow skater
Michelle Kwan Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired competitive figure skater and diplomat serving as United States Ambassador to Belize. In figure skating Kwan is a two-time Olympic medalist (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002), a five-time ...
, which was played up by the American press, and culminated when Lipinski won the gold medal at the 1998 Olympics. Lipinski retired from competitive figure skating in 1998. She won every competition she entered during her professional career and was the youngest skater to win the World Professional Figure Skating Championships. She performed in live shows before retiring from figure skating in 2002. Lipinski, along with sports commentator
Terry Gannon Terrance Patrick Gannon (born November 1, 1963, in Joliet, Illinois) is a sportscaster for NBC Sports and the Golf Channel, currently announcing golf, gymnastics, and figure skating. Gannon played basketball for North Carolina State University ...
and fellow figure skater and good friend Johnny Weir, became NBC's primary figure skating commentators in 2014.


Early life

Tara Kristen Lipinski was born on June 10, 1982, in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
, to "Pat" Lipinski and oil executive Jack Lipinski. She spent her earliest years in
Sewell, New Jersey Sewell ( ) is a census-designated place and unincorporated community within Mantua Township in Gloucester County, New Jersey. It is named for United States Senator William Joyce Sewell. Sewell is served as U.S. Postal Service ZIP Code 0808 ...
. When Lipinski was two, while watching the
1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...
, she stood on a Tupperware bowl and pretended to be a gold medalist. At the age of three, she began roller skating and eventually became a national champion in her group when she was nine years old. She began figure skating in the same year, transferring her skills to the ice rink. She later switched exclusively to figure skating and took lessons at the
University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...
in
Newark, Delaware Newark ( )Not as in Newark, New Jersey. is a small city in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. It is located west-southwest of Wilmington. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the city is 31,454. Newark is home to the Un ...
. In 1991, Lipinski's father received a job promotion, so the family moved to Sugar Land, Texas, near
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...
. She trained on a public rink at The Galleria. Two years later, Lipinski and her mother returned to Delaware to resume her training there with coach Jeff DiGregorio, who had worked with Lipinski, on and off, for three years before their move to Texas, while her father stayed in Texas to support their family. In 1995, Lipinski and her mother transferred to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, to train with coach
Richard Callaghan Richard Callaghan is an American figure skating coach. He is best known as the long-time coach of Todd Eldredge, the 1996 World champion and a six-time U.S. national champion. He also coached Nicole Bobek to her national title, and Tara Lipinski t ...
at the Detroit Skating Club.


Competitive career


Early years

In 1994, Lipinski earned a silver medal in the novice women's division at the
1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships The 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships were held at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. Medals were awarded in four colors: gold (first), silver (second), bronze (third), and pewter (fourth) in four disciplines – men's singles, ladie ...
. When she was 12, she became the youngest athlete to win a gold medal at the 1994
U.S. Olympic Festival The U.S. Olympic Festival was a junior multi-sport event held in the United States by the United States Olympic Committee in the years between the Olympic Games. It was started in 1978 as an American counterpart to the communist Spartakiad – a si ...
. She then took first place in the
Blue Swords Blue Swords (german: Pokal der Blauen Schwerter) is an international figure skating competition organized by the Deutsche Eislauf-Union. It is usually held in Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, la ...
in Chemnitz, Germany, her first international competition, in November, after which the media began to notice her. As a junior skater, she came in fourth place at the 1995 World Junior Championships and came in second place at the 1995 U.S. Championships. In late 1995, she placed fifth at the 1996 World Junior Championships, which marked the end of the relationship between DiGregorio and the Lipinskis. After a series of interviews conducted by Lipinski and her mother and sample lessons given to Lipinski by prospective figure skating coaches from around the country, they hired
Richard Callaghan Richard Callaghan is an American figure skating coach. He is best known as the long-time coach of Todd Eldredge, the 1996 World champion and a six-time U.S. national champion. He also coached Nicole Bobek to her national title, and Tara Lipinski t ...
. In January 1996, Lipinski won a bronze medal as a senior-level skater at the 1996 U.S. Championships. She closed out the 1995–1996 season and gained international attention by qualifying for the 1996 World Championships. She placed 22nd after the short program, but her free skating program, which included seven triple jumps, brought her up to 15th place.


1996–97 season

Lipinski and Callaghan spent the next year making her appear more mature; she enrolled in ballet classes and hired choreographer Sandra Bezic to, as sports reporter E.M. Swift reported, "create programs for Lipinski that expressed delight yet looked adult". In late 1996, she added the triple
loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...
-triple loop jump combination, which technical difficulty to her programs. She was the first woman to complete the jump combination in competition. Lipinski competed in the ISU Champions Series (later renamed the
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating (known as ISU Champions Series from 1995 to 1997) is a series of senior international figure skating competitions organized by the International Skating Union. The invitational series was inaugurated in 1995, in ...
) during the 1996–1997 season; she finished in second place at Skate Canada, third at Trophée Lalique, and second at the 1996 Nations Cup. She won the gold medal at the Champion Series Final and defeated
Michelle Kwan Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired competitive figure skater and diplomat serving as United States Ambassador to Belize. In figure skating Kwan is a two-time Olympic medalist (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002), a five-time ...
by completing more successful jumps in her short and free programs.Kestnbaum, p. 155 In February 1997, at the age of 14, Lipinski became the youngest skater to win a U.S. Championships title. She broke the record set by Sonya Klopfer, who was 15 when she won U.S. Nationals in 1951. She defeated Kwan, the reigning 1996 U.S. champion, who won the short program. Kwan fell twice and landed only four out of seven of her planned triple jumps during her free skating program, leaving the door open for Lipinski's victory. She was the last skater to perform in the competition's free skating segment; she skated cleanly with seven triple jumps, including her signature jump, the triple loop-triple loop jump combination, and came in first place. According to Swift, the 1997 U.S. Nationals was the start of the Kwan-Lipinski rivalry. A month later, Lipinski won the 1997 World Championships and became the youngest female skater to win the World Championships. She was a month younger than the previous record holder,
Sonja Henie Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic champion (1928, 1932, 1936) in women's singles, a ten-time World champion (1927–1936) and a six-time European champio ...
from Norway when Henie won the first of ten World Championships in 1927. Lipinski completed seven triple jumps, as she had done at the U.S. Nationals and the Champion Series Final, and finished in first place after the short program. She also completed two double Axels, but one rival coach said that "you couldn't have put a piece of paper under them". Her presentation marks were mostly 5.7s or 5.8s and similar to her technical marks. Three out of four judges gave her higher presentation marks than technical marks. Reporter Jere Longman of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' called Lipinski's free skate "a light, airy performance" and said she was "composed and nearly flawless". Lipinski opened with a double Axel and included a triple flip jump and her triple loop-triple loop jump combination. She received 5.8s and 5.9s in her technical marks and a 5.7 and 5.8 for presentation. The final results after the free skate were close, and the judges were unable to declare a clear winner of the free skate. Lipinski, Kwan—who was fourth after the short program—and Russian skater Irina Slutskaya all received first-place votes. Kwan's free skate came in first place because she had more first- and second-place votes, and Lipinski came in first place overall because she received more second-place votes in the free skate than Slutskaya. If two more judges had placed Slutskaya before Lipinski after the free skate, Kwan would have won the competition instead of coming in second place. The U.S. had not finished first and second at the Worlds since
1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...
, when Kristi Yamaguchi won the gold medal and
Nancy Kerrigan Nancy Ann Kerrigan (born October 13, 1969) is an American figure skater and actress. She won bronze medals at the 1991 World Championships and the 1992 Winter Olympics, silver medals at the 1992 World Championships and the 1994 Winter Olympi ...
won the silver medal.


1997–98 season


Pre-Olympic season

Between seasons, Lipinski grew two inches and turned 15 years old. She went into the 1997–1998 season by continuing to add more sophistication to her programs by taking daily dance classes from Russian ballet teacher Marina Sheffer. She selected film scores for both her short program and free skating, both of which were choreographed by Sandra Bezic. According to figure skater writer and historian Ellyn Kestnbaum, the American press played up "the Kwan-Lipinski rivalry for all it was worth".Kestnbaum, p. 158 At the 1997 Skate America, Kwan defeated Lipinski for the first time in three competitions and won the gold medal. Lipinski came in second place after Kwan in both her short program and free skating segment of the competition and took second place overall. Despite performing more difficult jumps than Kwan during her short program, Lipinski consistently received lower required technical marks. During her free skate, she fell while performing a triple Lutz jump despite it being an otherwise technically difficult and strong performance. According to Kestnbaum, Callaghan "expressed bewilderment in why the judges had so marked down the reigning World champion, who by virtue of that position might otherwise have been expected to receive the benefit of any doubt". Lipinski came in second place at Trophée Lalique, behind French skater Laetitia Hubert, who had not won any major competitions since the 1992 World Junior Championships and who came in eleventh place at her previous competition. Coming into the 1997-98 Champion Series Final, Lipinski was tied for fourth place in the Series standings with Russia’s Maria Butyrskaya. She won the competition, skating her first clean program of the season. Kwan, although she was eligible, withdrew from the Finals due to injuries. Mike Penner, a writer from the '' L.A. Times'', reported that both Lipinski and Callaghan were concerned about what they considered unfair treatment by the judges at the Champion Series that season, who gave her lower technical marks than the previous season, as low as 5.3, for an incorrectly performed Lutz. Callaghan told Penner that the judges told him that Lipinski regularly performed her Lutz jumps from the inside edge of her blade instead of from the correct outside edge, something skaters called the " flutz". Lipinski and Callaghan disputed the judges' marks for her jumps, stating that she had performed them the same way the previous season, when she won both the Worlds and U.S. Nationals. Lipinski's lower marks were subject of several articles in major U.S. newspapers. According to reporter Nancy Armour of the ''Spokesman Review'', Lipinski skated her season's best at the Finals with a well-executed triple Lutz. Lipinski came in second at the 1998 U.S. Figure Skating Championships; Kwan came in first place. In her short program Lipinski fell on a triple flip attempt, which she called "the lowest point" of her career. She recovered enough from her short program to climb from fourth place to second overall. She would have had to win the free skate and Kwan would have had to come in third place or lower for Lipinski to win the championship. Lipinski performed her free skating program with seven triple jumps, including her trademark triple loop-triple loop and a difficult triple toe loop- half loop-triple Salchow jump combination. The judges awarded her all 5.8s and 5.9s, except for a pair of 5.7s for presentation.Kestnbaum, p. 160


1998 Winter Olympics

U.S. Figure Skating chose Kwan, Lipinski, and Nicole Bobek, who came in third place at Nationals, to send to the
1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in th ...
in Nagano, Japan. Lipinski and Kwan entered the Olympics as co-favorites to win the gold medal. Kwan easily won the short program at the Olympics; eight of the nine judges put her in first place. Lipinski came in second place. Swift called Lipinski's performance of her short program, which was technically more difficult than Kwan's, "luminous–fast and light and joyful". Lipinski's free skating program, with her triple loop-triple loop jump combination and seven triple jumps total, was the most technically difficult program in Olympic history up to that time. She received 5.8s and 5.9s in presentation marks. Kwan received all 5.9s in presentation marks, but she received lower technical marks than Lipinski. Kwan performed her free skate almost perfectly, with one small error during one of her jumps. According to ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
'' reporter Amy Shipley, Kwan "skated brilliantly and Lipinski skated better". Swift noted that Kwan's performance of her free skate "would have been enough to win at any other Olympics", but the judges, by awarding her with five 5.7s in her technical marks, left room for Lipinski to move ahead. Swift said that Lipinski "had a blast" skating her free skating program and "soared and spun with abandon, filling the inkwith her joy". Like Kwan, she completed seven triple jumps, but "the difference was her trademark triple loop-triple loop combination and a wonderful closing triple toe-half loop-triple Salchow ombination. Lipinski's jumps were not as big as Kwan's and her jump take-offs were not ideal, but her landings were clean and increased in speed as she came out of them. Her spins were faster than Kwan's, but they were not as difficult and their positions were weaker. Kestnbaum also states, "Nor did ipinski'sprogram demonstrate transitional steps as complex, stroking quality as nuanced, or body carriage and line as controlled and elegant".Kestnbaum, p. 163 Lipinski was awarded 5.8s and 5.9s for her technical and presentation marks, and earned six out of nine first-place marks from the judges, winning the gold medal because the free skate was weighted more heavily than the short program. Lipinski was the youngest Olympic gold medalist in figure skating history. She was the sixth American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skaing. Kwan finished in second place, and Chinese skater Lu Chen was the surprise bronze medal winner. Lipinski was two months younger than Sonja Henie when she came in first place at the Olympics in 1928, breaking a record that had stood for 70 years. Single skaters from the same country had not won gold and silver medals at the Olympics since Americans
Tenley Albright Tenley Emma Albright (born July 18, 1935) is an American former figure skater and surgeon. She is the 1956 Olympic champion, the 1952 Olympic silver medalist, the 1953 and 1955 World Champion, the 1953 and 1955 North American champion, and the ...
and
Carol Heiss Carol Elizabeth Heiss Jenkins (born January 20, 1940) is an American former figure skater and actress. Competing in ladies' singles, she became the 1960 Olympic champion, the 1956 Olympic silver medalist, and a five-time World champion (1956†...
did it in
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...
.


Professional career

In March 1998, Lipinski announced her decision to withdraw from the 1998 World Championships, citing a serious glandular infection that required her to have two molars extracted, constant fatigue, and possible mononucleosis. In April, Lipinski announced her intention to turn professional in an interview on the '' Today Show'', thus ending her eligibility to compete in the Olympics again. She cited a desire to end her family's separation caused by her skating career and to focus on other goals such as attending college in another two years. According to ''The New York Times'', her decision "sent tremors through the Olympic figure skating community". Figure skater Scott Hamilton revealed in his book ''Landing It : My Life On and Off the Ice'' that Lipinski had taken "an enormous amount of heat" for turning professional. He reported that ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' had criticized her decision, stating that she had taken the easy way out and compared it to joining the circus. In 1998, due to many endorsements and book deals, Lipinski's net worth was perhaps $12 million. She signed an exclusive deal with CBS to do some acting and to perform in skating shows and non-sanctioned competitions. After the Olympics, Lipinski toured with Champions on Ice, visiting 90 U.S. cities. In August 1998, Lipinski ended her association with Champions on Ice, which she had performed with since 1995, and joined the cast of Stars on Ice in order to expand artistically and to participate in the company's group numbers. She suffered from sore hips and an injured hip during rehearsals. In the same year, Lipinski wrote two books, ''Totally Tara - An Olympic Journey'' and ''Tara Lipinski: Triumph on Ice.'' In 1999, Lipinski performed with Stars on Ice for a second season and on the ISU-sanctioned ''Grand Slam of Figure Skating'', became a spokeswoman for Boys and Girls Clubs of America and an anti-drug advocate, appeared on the soap opera ''
The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...
'', and acted in television shows for the Fox Family Network and
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...
. She also became the youngest skater to win the World Professional Figure Skating Championships, completing a triple flip, a triple toe loop, and a triple Salchow jump in her free skating program. Her marks consisted of two 10s, eleven 9.9s, and one 9.8; she came in first by more than one point over
Denise Biellmann Denise Biellmann (born 11 December 1962) is a Swiss professional figure skater. She was the European and World Champion in 1981 and won the Swiss Championships three times. Career Amateur career Born in Zurich, Biellmann won her first inte ...
, who came in second place. Lipinski had hip surgery in 2000 at the age of 18, which she believed saved her career. Her injury, a torn labrum in her hip, had been misdiagnosed for four or five years and  had caused her a great deal of joint pain. She became a spokesperson to increase awareness about
deep vein thrombosis Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a type of venous thrombosis involving the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein, most commonly in the legs or pelvis. A minority of DVTs occur in the arms. Symptoms can include pain, swelling, redness, and enla ...
(DVT), which the
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the lat ...
called "a dangerous potential side effect of surgery". The injury, which might have occurred before the 1998 Winter Olympics, became progressively worse until she was unable to tour. The surgery, which usually lasted 45 minutes, took 3.5 hours to complete because she was developing arthritis and because a cartilage had grown over the bone. She was back on the ice seven days later for light practice with Stars on Ice. She was able to return to touring but had to withdraw from the 2000 World Professional Championships. In 2002, Lipinski toured 61 U.S. cities with Stars on Ice, then retired from skating.


Skating technique

Lipinski's skating influences were Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton, and Christopher Bowman. Her skating style was often compared to Michelle Kwan's. Jere Longman of ''The New York Times'' called Lipinski "the consistent Energizer bunny of a jumper", but called Kwan "the more sophisticated, complete artist". Frank Carroll, who coached Kwan, called Lipinski's style "wonderful" and said that she was "turning easy, jumping easy". Writer Ellyn Kestnbaum states that compared to Kwan's "more carefully choreographed expressions of joy", Lipinski projected "unselfconsious and spontaneous joy in her own movement that projected a greater air of confidence and command of the space". Kestnbaum discusses Lipinski's skating technique in her book ''Culture on Ice: Figure Skating and Cultural Meaning'' to illustrate women's and girls' influence on figure skating. Kestnbaum states, "Cynics and purists who valued the artistic possibilities of the sport or the fine points of skating technique complained that the judges who awarded Lipinski her gold medals were just counting the jumps and not paying attention to the quality of those jumps, much less to the quality of the rest of her skating". Kestnbaum uses Lipinski as an example of how teenagers, especially teenage girls, dominated the sport, and how many people in the press criticized the sport, and sometimes even Lipinski herself, for encouraging it. Her jumps, which Kestnbaum calls "small and in some cases technically flawed", were debated in the press in 1997 and 1998. Kestnbaum says that Lipinski's early programs, choreographed by Sandra Bezik, emphasized her youth and femininity, but by the 1998 Olympics, they emphasized "greater polish or 'maturity' in her presentation skills". Jere Longman of ''The New York Times'' said that Lipinski "has propelled the sport forward with the difficulty of her jumps". E. M. Swift of ''Sports Illustrated'' said that although Lipinski's jumps were not big, her spins were "so fast that she seems to dematerialize, like Tinkerbell, in the midst of her jumps". In March 1997, Swift stated that Lipinski had "musicality and poise that are far beyond her years", and although he admitted that she often suffered from nerves, she was "the complete skating package, if a diminutive one, and a pleasure to watch". In 2018, U.S. Figure Skating president Sam Auxier credited Lipinski for increasing the level of complexity of Olympic skating.


Broadcasting career

Lipinski spent a few years traveling and working "here and there" after her retirement from figure skating. She did some acting, but decided, as she told ''
Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...
'', that it "just wasn't my thing". In 2009, longing for the high she had felt as a figure skater, she contacted U.S. Figure Skating's streaming service Ice Network and offered to work as a commentator for competitions. She began commentating for Universal Sports in 2010 and in 2011, began working for NBC and
NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its ...
, where she commentated most international figure skating competition broadcasts. Unlike what was customary for skating commentators when she competed, she would call figure skating from studios in the U.S. instead of at the competition venue. She also became a special correspondent for '' Extra'' and local NBC affiliates. Lipinski teamed with sports commentator
Terry Gannon Terrance Patrick Gannon (born November 1, 1963, in Joliet, Illinois) is a sportscaster for NBC Sports and the Golf Channel, currently announcing golf, gymnastics, and figure skating. Gannon played basketball for North Carolina State University ...
and fellow figure skater and good friend Johnny Weir at the Sochi Olympics as the network's second team of figure skating commentators for their daily live broadcasts. At first Lipinski worked with Gannon during the women's events, and Weir worked with Gannon during the men's events. After realizing they worked well together and recognizing what Lipinski called their "instant chemistry", they pitched the idea of the three working together to NBC; Lipinski stated that it "was sort of meant to be". The trio generated the 10 best weekday daytime audiences in NBC's history. According to reporter Tom Weir, "they had instant comedic harmony, with their casual chatter and humorous asides playing amazingly well against the staunch and exacting backdrop of figure skating". Following the Olympics, the trio were promoted to be NBC's primary figure skating commentators. Lipinski, along with Weir and Gannon, was an analyst at the
2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , wint ...
. Commentating during prime time at the Olympics had been a dream of Lipinski's. The trio additionally hosted the closing ceremonies of the 2018, 2020, and 2022 Olympic Games. NBC's '' Access Hollywood'' hired Lipinski and Weir in 2014 to analyze fashion during the red carpet at the Oscars. She served as a social media, lifestyle, and fashion correspondent" for NBC Sports, including, with Weir, the Beverly Hills Dog Show in 2017, the National Dog Show since 2015, the
Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-yea ...
in 2014–2018, and pre-game coverage for the
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...
in 2015 and 2017. They were called culture correspondents by '' People Magazine'' for the
2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...
. According to the ''
Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...
'', Lipinski approached broadcasting "with passion, vigor and an arduous work ethic similar to what she brought to the ice". She spent hundreds of hours researching skaters. Her broadcasting influences were Peggy Fleming, Dick Button, and Scott Hamilton; she listened to tapes of Hamilton's past broadcasts to learn how to commentate. She called her broadcasting career her "second dream". In 2018, she told ''Entertainment Tonight'', "I feel extremely grateful that Johnny and I have found this spot in our world, and it gives us opportunities outside of skating". The same year, ''The Washington Post'' reported that viewers' response to Lipinski and Weir were mixed; some considered them "Olympic darlings–a one-stop shop for knowledge, sass and brass", while others found them "mean, obnoxious, and distracting". Scott Hamilton, who was replaced at NBC by Lipinski, Weir, and Gannon, called them a "phenomenon" and "such a breath of fresh air". ''GQ'' called their commentating style "a Gladwell-ian ability to demystify figure skating for the uninitiated and an extreme candor for which they've caught some heat". ''Cosmopolitan'' considered Lipinski and Weir's commentating style honest and colorful, and said that they used bantering and avoided what the magazine called "fluffy, polished performances". They tried to present figure skating in an accessible way to their viewers, keeping the more technical aspects of the sport to a minimum but emphasizing, its "gossipy nuances". Sports writer and media critic Bill Goodykoontz called their enthusiasm for figure skating their "calling card". Dick Button told Olympic reporters he thought Lipinski and Weir were "excellent", but that Lipinski "might talk a little too much", although Tom Weir stated that when skaters were "elegant and error-free", both Lipinski and Weir had "the good sense to stay silent". Goodykoontz pointed out that Lipinski and Weir were uncharacteristically quiet while calling the short program of
Kamila Valieva Kamila Valeryevna Valieva (russian: Камила Валерьевна Валиева; born 26 April 2006) is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2022 European champion, 2021 Rostelecom Cup champion, 2021 Skate Canada International champion, ...
from the Russian Olympic Committee, who was allowed to compete despite failing a drug test prior to the 2022 Olympics. They chose to simply announce Valieva's jumps and to express their opinions that she should not have been allowed to compete afterwards instead. In 2018 and 2019, Lipinski and Weir hosted and appeared in a few shows on
Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...
, including two seasons of ''Wedding Cake Challenge''. In 2022, Lipinski co-hosted ''Wedding Talk'' with event planner José Rolón and wedding designer Jove Meyer, produced by Chicken Soup for the Soul Studios. In the same year, Lipinski and her husband, Todd Kapostasy, a sports producer and documentary director, co-produced ''Meddling: The Olympic Skating Scandal That Shocked the World,'' a four-part documentary series focusing on the 2002 skating controversy at the
Salt Lake City Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...
, which aired on the NBC streaming service
Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...
in January 2022. Lipinski, who called the series "a deep and responsible look at what happened", said that she and Kapostasy chose to create the series because it had been the 20th anniversary of the scandal and there had been no comprehensive look at what happened. They interviewed people in Russia, France, and Canada who were involved in the scandal. ''USA Today'' calls the documentary "a deep look into the scandal".


Personal life

Lipinski married sports producer Todd Kapostasy in June 2017. They met at the 2015 Sports Emmys, where she presented his award. They dated the following two years. Johnny Weir was a bridesman and Scott Hamilton was a guest. At the time of her Olympic win, Lipinski was
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, with a devotion to
Saint Therese of Lisieux In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...
since 1994. Lipinski credited St. Therese for her Olympic win in 1998 and the recovery from her hip surgery in 2000. During the Olympics, she wore a medal of St. Therese, given to her by Rev. Vince Kolo, a Catholic priest from Pittsburgh. She thanked St. Therese at the kiss and cry after her short program in Nagano, and her coach held a small statue of St. Therese during her free skate. She also wore a necklace with a good-luck charm, given to her by her uncle, with the words, "Short, but good". Lipinski would also place a statue of St. Therese on the boards before every competition. A few months after the Nagano Olympics, she donated her medal and costume to an exhibit. Ann Rogers-Melnick of the ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' reported in 2001 that Lipinski had established a playroom in St. Therese's honor in the children's ward in a Detroit hospital. Lipinski told Rogers-Melnick that roses, a symbol of St. Therese, had "always appeared at her best and worst moments". About her friendship with Weir, Lipinski stated that although their skating careers had not occurred during the same time periods and, as a result, they did not know each other well when they began to work together at the Sochi Olympics, they bonded "on air and off air". She also said, "It's like a long-lost soul mate that I met late in life. I can't imagine my life without him". Both Lipinski and Weir told ''GQ'' that they would bring dozens of suitcases to the competitions they announced and would do their best to wear matching clothes and never the same outfit twice. By the 2018 Olympics, they brought every item of clothing they owned and would "sort it out" at the event. They also reported that they assisted fellow broadcaster Terry Gannon with his on-air fashion choices. In September 2020, in order to help raise awareness of the condition, Lipinski made public her diagnosis of
endometriosis Endometriosis is a disease of the female reproductive system in which cells similar to those in the endometrium, the layer of tissue that normally covers the inside of the uterus, grow outside the uterus. Most often this is on the ovaries, fa ...
after having laparoscopic surgery to treat it. Although her symptoms were not severe, the intermittent pain she experienced worsened over five years before it was diagnosed and treated. She reported that her surgery was successful, all of her adhesions were removed, and her recovery was "mainly pain free". She credited dancer and actress Julianne Hough with increasing awareness of endometriosis, which encouraged Lipinski to seek out her own treatment.


Records and achievements

* Youngest athlete (12 years old) to win a gold medal at the U.S. Olympic Festival (1995) * First woman to complete a triple loop-triple loop combination, her signature jump element, in competition (1996) * Youngest woman (14 years old) to win the World Figure Skating Championships (1997) * Sixth American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating (1998) * Youngest skater (16 years old) to win the World Professional Figure Skating Championships (1999) * Youngest inductee into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame (2013)


Figure skating


Programs


Competitive highlights


Senior seasons

* GP – Event of the
ISU Champions Series The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating (known as ISU Champions Series from 1995 to 1997) is a series of senior international figure skating competitions organized by the International Skating Union. The invitational series was inaugurated in 1995, in ...
* WD – Withdrew from event


Junior and novice seasons

* J – Junior level * N – Novice level


Professional

* 1998 Skate TV Championships: 1st * 1998 Ice Wars: 1st (Team USA) * 1998 Jefferson Pilot Financial Championships: 1st * 1999 Team Ice Wars: 2nd (Team USA) * 1999 Ice Wars: 1st (Team USA) * 1999 Grand Slam Super Teams of Skating: 1st * 1999 World Professional Championship: 1st * 2001 World Ice Challenge: 1st (Team USA) * 2002 Ice Wars: 1st (Team USA)


Television credits

* '' Early Edition'' (1997), Herself * '' Touched by an Angel'' (1999), Alex Thorpe * '' Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'' (1999), Herself * ''
The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...
'' (1999), Marnie Kowalski * '' Ice Angel'' (2000), Tracy Hannibal * '' Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' (2000), Ellen * ''
Vanilla Sky ''Vanilla Sky'' is a 2001 American science fiction thriller film directed, written, and co-produced by Cameron Crowe. It is an English-language remake of Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 Spanish film '' Open Your Eyes'', which was written by Amenábar ...
'' (2001), Girl at Party – Uncredited * '' Arliss'' (2002), Herself * '' 7th Heaven'' (2003), Christine * ''The Metro Chase'' (2004), Natalie Jordon * '' Still Standing'' (2005), Sarah * ''
What's New Scooby-Doo? ''What's New, Scooby-Doo?'' is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation for Kids' WB. It is the ninth incarnation of the ''Scooby-Doo'' franchise that began with Hanna-Barbera's ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'' and ...
'' (2005), Grey – Voice role * ''
Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American family television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for Fox. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes. The series follows a dysfunction ...
'' (2006), Carrie * '' Superstore'' (2016), Herself * ''
Kidding ''Kidding'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Dave Holstein that premiered on September 9, 2018, on Showtime (TV network), Showtime. The series stars Jim Carrey, Frank Langella, Judy Greer, Cole Allen, Juliet Morris, and C ...
'' (2018), Herself * ''
Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ch ...
'' (2018), Herself – Voice role * ''Amphibia'' (2019), Herself – Voice role * '' Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?'' (2020), Herself – Voice role * '' Wedding Talk'' (2022), Herself – Host


Bibliography

* ''Totally Tara - An Olympic Journey'' (1998) * ''Tara Lipinski: Triumph on Ice'' (1998)


Footnotes


References


Works cited

* *


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lipinski, Tara 1982 births American film actresses American female single skaters American television actresses Figure skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Living people Olympic figure skaters of the United States Olympic gold medalists for the United States in figure skating Actresses from Detroit People from Mantua Township, New Jersey Sportspeople from Philadelphia People from Sugar Land, Texas People from Washington Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey World Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics American people of Polish descent Figure skating commentators Olympic Games broadcasters Catholics from Michigan Catholics from Pennsylvania 21st-century American women