Word: lipinsky
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...TARA LIPINSKI The tiny sprite won it the hard way, coming from behind to top the accomplished Michelle Kwan...
America's gold-silver knockout, its first since the 1956 one-two scored by Tenley Albright and Carol Heiss, proved only that champions are formed in the most variable of circumstances. Lipinski and Kwan stuck to completely different schedules at Nagano, setting off rampant speculation about whose off-ice routine would triumph. Journalists handicapped the event in favor of Lipinski because she was so carefree and relaxed. She was all over the Olympic village, taking to dorm life faster than a pre-frosh. She celebrated Picabo Street's super-G win ("Isn't it neat!"), updated her Website at Surf...
Kwan, in contrast, watched the opening ceremonies the same way 56 million other Americans did, on the tube at home. Instead of sharing cramped quarters with Lipinski and the flu that took Germany's Tanja Szewczenko out of the running, she bunked with Mom and Dad at a hotel. (Its location was kept secret.) "I'm going to spend as much time as I can in the Olympic village," she declared firmly. "But I've got to focus on my own thing right now and do what's good for me." Conventional wisdom says that Kwan should have played...
Once again Lipinski found life a little easier. "I'm just going to walk around enjoying being Olympic champion," she said, refusing to contemplate the next Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. For a girl who makes a yearly pilgrimage to Disney World, what can possibly come next? Multimillions in endorsements, surely, but not even a rich child-queen can reign safely in this sport of revolving crowns. Skating's next monarch-in-waiting could be anywhere in the world, hatching her own devastating coup. By 2002, who knows...
Americans were presumably less happy with the proceedings. The millionaire-filled hockey "Dream Team" won just one of its four games, and, pining perhaps for the days of being an amateur underdog, trashed parts of the Olympic Village before departing. A sparkly Tara Lipinski ("Occupation: pupil") and an obviously disappointed Michelle Kwan ("Hobby: corresponding with pen pals") claimed gold and silver, but Nicole Bobek, who'd hoped to join them on the medal stand, ended up a disappointing 17th. It generally fell to women to lift America's spirits: Nikki Stone, told she could never ski again after a back...