Tara Lipinski won the gold medal in Women’s Figure Skating at the Nagano Olympics, on February 20, 1998. At the age of 15, she was the youngest Olympic gold medalist in the history of the sport.
Tara Lipinski, a 15-year-old girl wearing ice skates, blue sequins and an infectious smile, became the youngest Olympic gold medalist in figure skating history tonight, using a joyful performance to score an upset of fellow U.S. skater Michelle Kwan. Read more, Washington Post.
“I was obviously beyond elated,” she said, looking at a photo of herself at 15 years old reacting to winning figure skating gold. “I think I just felt a lot of relief. Because there was just so much pressure leading up to this — years of training. Then the months right before the Games were very stressful and that week in the competition I was so nervous. I don’t know what I was doing. Obviously I was losing my mind screaming.” Read more NBC.com
Heading into the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, the buzz surrounding Tara Lipinski was incredible. She was fresh off of a World Championship win, becoming the youngest competitor in history win the title. The world wanted to know if she could duplicate those results to become the youngest Olympic Gold Medalist in Winter Games’ history. However, there was a lot of fierce competition in her way. Not only was Michelle Kwan, a fellow American, a very fierce competitor, but China’s Chen Lu was in the ’98 games, more determined than ever to win gold after losing out to Kerrigan and Baiul in the ’94 Lillehammer Games. Read more, Olympics30.com