Olympic Champion Tara Lipinski Reveals Her 2018 Faves & How Hard It REALLY Is To Land A Quad
February 8, 2018Olympic Champion Tara Lipinski Reveals Her 2018 Faves & How Hard It REALLY Is To Land A Quad
We can’t wait to watch the 2018 Olympic Games and Champion Figure Skater Tara is giving us a sneak peek of what to expect!
Tara Lipinski, 35, won the gold medal in 1998 for Women’s Figure Skating, and lately, she’s become super popular again for her amazing commentary with fellow skater and Olympian Johnny Weir. Of the 2018 Figure Skating team, Tara told us EXCLUSIVELY: “[It’s strong. Nathan Chen is our best chance for a gold medal. He has revolutionized men’s skating in the U.S. and now all of the other men in the world are trying to match the number of quad jumps he is doing. The dance event has three strong American teams, but Maia and Alex Shibutani look like the front runners for a medal. The U.S. women have an outside chance for the podium but watch out for Mirai Nagasu‘s triple axel — she may be the only woman trying this difficult jump at the Olympics.” The triple axel is so hard, they had to use special effects — not a stunt skater — for Tonya Harding‘s triple axel in I, Tonya!
Speaking of triples and quads, you guys don’t even KNOW how hard they are. I figure skated for 10 years and could barely do doubles. Tara tried to explain the difficulty: “Just for a physics lesson, because of gravity, you are three times your weight landing a jump, on a quarter inch blade, on one foot, after rotating four times in the air. When you are doing five and six quads in a program, it’s like back to back SoulCycle classes followed by a boot camp class and then running four miles home. The type of stamina and endurance you have to have to keep your legs fresh is a huge challenge.” Long programs are over 4 minutes long!
As far as what Johnny and Tara will wear in Pyeongchang, Tara reveals: “We brought 13 bags each. We are here for a month so we needed endless options. We usually have adjoining rooms where it is easy to mix and match and color coordinate every single day. Believe me, there will be some sparkle!”
HollywoodLifers, are you loving Tara Lipinski’s Winter Olympic predictions?