httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_lGt6auYDo
No one watching Tara Lipinski that night 20 years ago in Nagano, Japan, would have guessed she was in any way unnerved from the aggressive performance with which overtook the favorite, U.S. teammate Michelle Kwan, for Olympic gold in women’s figure skating.
“The feeling never changes,” Lipinski said on a conference call this week from Pyeongchang, South Korea.
“I still feel like I did at 15 when I see the Olympic rings or I hear the music, or I walk into an arena, or I think of what those athletes are going to feel like when they walk into opening ceremony.”
For his part, Weir calls the Olympics “The most amazing, magical event.”
Lipinski noted t have been changes to the judging system since the days of Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan.
“The great thing t is that the American audience has Tara and I to call the judges out if it’s the wrong call,” Weir said.
Which suggests – to the doubtless relief of viewers – that he and Lipinski aren’t so in awe of the Olympics as to be dumbstruck.