Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Tara Kristen Lipinski (born June 10, 1982 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) of Sugar Land,
Texas|Sugar Land, Texas is an accomplished figure
skating|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 DiGregorio 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 somewhat unexpectedly won both
the U.S. and World Championships over defending
champion Michelle Kwan, who was struggling with
boot problems and a growth spurt.  She is the
youngest person ever to win either of those
titles, at the age of 14.  At the 1997 U.S.
Championships, Lipinski became the first female
skater to land a loop jump|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.  Observers who were present at the
event noted that Kwan seemed slower and more
tentative than usual in her performance, and that
Lipinski skated with greater attack.

==Professional career==
POV-section
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 molar
(tooth)|molars extracted, constant fatigue, and
possible mononucleosis.  However, that same
evening, she appeared at a sponsor event in
Detroit, apparently completely healthy, and she
continued to travel and make celebrity appearances
in New York City and Los Angeles in the weeks
before the World Championships, which began on
March 29.  

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 which required
constant travel; she never attended a regular high
school or college; and in the years following she
seemed to avoid the more elite professional
competitions.  

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 disrupted a
White House reception for Olympic athletes by
crying and shouting "They've ruined my daughter!"
at the press when she found that Michelle Kwan had
been chosen to present a team jacket to President
Bill Clinton, rather than Lipinski.  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 loop
jump|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
http://www.taralipinski.com) regarding her hip
problems referred to the original injury as
happening in the summer of 1998 rather than in
1997.  Some have thought this story has no more
credibility than her previous statements and was
merely an attempt to gain sympathy, and others
have speculated that she might have suppressed
news of a serious injury out of concern that would
reduce her value for professional contracts after
the Olympics.

After turning professional, Lipinski toured with
Stars on Ice for four seasons.  It was not
entirely a successful arrangement, for a number of
reasons.  First of all, Stars on Ice was always an
adult-oriented skating show, while Lipinski's own
marketing played up her extreme youth and her
appeal to pre-teenagers.  Second, Lipinski's
injury problems not only caused the technical
level of her skating to deteriorate, but also
caused friction with the producers and other
skaters involved with the show who never knew from
one day to the next whether she would be fit to
skate.  Finally, because Lipinski was so young,
she felt isolated from the off-ice cameraderie of
the other skaters.  In a note on her web site
http://www.taralipinski.com/ dated June 15, 2005,
Lipinski said:  "It was really hard those last two
years of touring for me. Emotionally I was drained
and hurt. I have never been treated like that in
my whole life."

Lipinski suffered another hip injury in 2002
during a Stars on Ice show in St. Louis, when she
fell on her right hip during a jump.  "I still
thought everything would be fine. I had fallen
before and would fall again." The next day,
Lipinski tore muscles around her hip, causing the
other muscles to take the load and fail. 

She participated in rehearsals for a fifth season
of the Stars on Ice tour in the fall of 2002, but
withdrew from the tour before it began.  Although
she has not made any official announcement of her
retirement from skating, she has not skated since,
and has instead concentrated on her acting.

Since turning pro, Lipinski has made numerous
television appearances (Sabrina the Teenage Witch,
Veronica's Closet, Early Edition, and 7th Heaven);
she has also done some actor|acting, including
major TV movie roles (Ice Angel), a brief
supporting role on The Young and the Restless, a
cameo appearance in the theatrical film, Vanilla
Sky, as well as a role in the independent film,
The Metro Chase.  She has been a celebrity guest
on VH-1's The List, Fox's Beach Party, several
Nickelodeon productions and she has appeared on
numerous magazine covers as well as every major
talk show. In 1999, CBS aired a primetime special,
"Tara Lipinski - From This Moment On." 

Lipinski now spends most of her time in Los
Angeles.  At home, Lipinski is an animal lover,
and has five dogs ranging in size from a Maltese
to a Golden Retriever. She appreciates good music
and enjoys shopping, movies and time with friends.
Her hobbies include cooking and needlepoint.

==Awards & recognition==
The year before her Olympic win, the U.S. Olympic
Committee named Lipinski the 1997 Female Athlete
of the Year. Lipinski is particularly proud of the
recognition she has received from fans. In 1999
and 2000 she was voted Best Female Athlete at the
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. In 1999, she won
Best Female Athlete at the inaugural Fox Teen
Choice Awards. She received similar awards from
Teen People and Teen magazine. She has been
recognized by the American Academy of Achievement,
the Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Foundation and
many other organization.

==Philanthropic work, endorsements, and
publications==
Regardless of the other commitments in her life,
Lipinski makes it a priority to donate her time
and financial support to a number of
organizations. 

With Shaquille O'Neal and Denzel Washington,
Lipinski is a national spokesperson for the Boys
and Girls Clubs of America. She is also a
spokesperson for the campaign for Tobacco Free
Kids and the Childhood Leukemia Foundation.
Lipinski is also involved with the Office of
National Drug Control Policy's anti-drug campaign.
Her anti-drug public service announcement aired
nationwide on TV and in theaters in 2000. Tara has
also been on the runway for Limited Too!.   

She is also dedicated to helping children in need,
through the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the
Children's Circle of Care, the philanthropic
organization for children's hospitals nationwide. 

Her portfolio of endorsements includes McDonald's,
Charles Schwab, Chevrolet, Snapple, DKNY, Minute
Maid, Capezio, Mattel, Campbell's Soup and others.
Tara has two books now in print: Totally Tara - An
Olympic Journey and Triumph On Ice.

==External links==
* http://www.taralipinski.com Tara Lipinski’s
Website
* http://www.tararulz.com TaraRulz.com