Tara was remarkable from the time she could walk, and graduated onto roller skates by age three. She started competing and by age nine had a National title to her name, but three years prior she had stepped onto the ice, and found her vocation in life. Soon she was skating every day of the week and competitions soon followed. Tara's mom, Pat, became not only her cook, cleaner and fashion expert, but chauffer too as competitions took them far and wide. Pat could not ask her daughter to stop because she showed so much promise, and thank goodness she did not...

1994 and 1995 brought change for the Lipinski family. After moving to Texas only 2 years prior, Tara and Pat moved to train in Delaware, with much success for Tara's skating. She bagn home tutoring instead of attending a regular school, and Tara's life became more and more devoted to the sport she loved. She was rewarded in 1994 with the US Olympic
Festival gold medal becoming the youngest ever winner in any sport, and later with a fourth place finish at Junior Worlds. She won the silver medal at 1995 Junior Nationals, and placed fifth at Junior Worlds, but Tara was only just geting started...

1996 was a year of firsts for Tara.. her first US National Senior medal (bronze) amd her first World Championships. Now training with her new coach Richard Callaghan, Tara mastered the difficult triple loop-triple loop combination jump, and became the first woman ever to land it at the US Postal Service Challenge in Philadelphia. At Worlds Tara fell twice in the short porgram, as inexperience proved costly, but she came backed strong in the long, pulling up eight places to finish fifteenth. It became clear that this young girl had a core of steal inside her, and was going to be the one to watch...

1996 was a year of firsts for Tara.. her first US National Senior medal (bronze) amd her first World Championships. Now training with her new coach Richard Callaghan, Tara mastered the difficult triple loop-triple loop combination jump, and became the first woman ever to land it at the US Postal Service Challenge in Philadelphia. At Worlds Tara fell twice in the short porgram, as inexperience proved costly, but she came backed strong in the long, pulling up eight places to finish fifteenth. It became clear that this young girl had a core of steal inside her, and was going to be the one to watch...

1996 was a year of firsts for Tara.. her first US National Senior medal (bronze) amd her first World Championships. Now training with her new coach Richard Callaghan, Tara mastered the difficult triple loop-triple loop combination jump, and became the first woman ever to land it at the US Postal Service Challenge in Philadelphia. At Worlds Tara fell twice in the short porgram, as inexperience proved costly, but she came backed strong in the long, pulling up eight places to finish fifteenth. It became clear that this young girl had a core of steal inside her, and was going to be the one to watch...

1996 was a year of firsts for Tara.. her first US National Senior medal (bronze) amd her first World Championships. Now training with her new coach Richard Callaghan, Tara mastered the difficult triple loop-triple loop combination jump, and became the first woman ever to land it at the US Postal Service Challenge in Philadelphia. At Worlds Tara fell twice in the short porgram, as inexperience proved costly, but she came backed strong in the long, pulling up eight places to finish fifteenth. It became clear that this young girl had a core of steal inside her, and was going to be the one to watch...

In 1997 Tara came from nowhere to steal the world's attention. Armed with a battalion of triples and a new sophisticated style, Tara stole the US National title from Michelle Kwan and didn't stoping smiling until the World Championship gold medal was hanging around her neck too. She made the skating world stop and stare as the tiny 14 year old became the youngest World Champion since Sonja Henie, beating her record by three months.
The tiny girl from Texas had proved her Nationals win was not a fluke, and as her exhibition program proved, she was 'Walking on Sunshine'!

In 1998 Tara added the Olympic crown to her World title, beating the heavily favoured Michelle Kwaninto second place at theNagano Olympics. After a fall at 1998 Nationals, Tara was under pressure to perform, but she pulled out all the stops in her free skate to produce four minutes of breathtaking skating. Tara's produced seven triple jumps, including her trademark triple loop-triple loop, and ran across the ice with delight after her music end. Skating to 'The Rainbow', it seemed like Tara had found her pot of gold...

After her Olympic gold, Tara made the controversial decision to turn professional, forfeiting her Olympic eligibility for 2002 and entering into a 'Whole New World' of skating. She defended her decision to the world on the Oprah Winfrey show, and made her professional debut by winning the Skate TV Championships. Tara joined the prestigious 'Stars on Ice' for their 1999 tour and in the summer of that same year holidayed in Hawaii while nursing an injury. The 1999/2000 season brought her first TV special, 'From This Moment', another 'Stars on Ice' tour and a regular appearance in 'The Young and the Restless'. Tara graduated from high school on 18th May 2000, with her proud parents by her side.

In 2000-2001 season brought adversity for Tara, who underwent major hip surgery for an injury which had been her plague for four long years.  The successfully surgery undoubtedly rescued her skating career, and although Tara returned immediately to the Stars on Ice tour, she skated conservatively with only two triples in her repertoire while she nurses her hip.  Tara then turned from skater to fashion show host, as she dazzled young girls across the US in the Passion for Fashion tour for clothing company Limited Too.  She then moved back to acting-mode, spending three weeks in France filming 'The Metro Chase', an independent film to be released on video soon.

After carrying the flame, Tara was present at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, not as a competitor, but a reporter for Entertainment Tonight.  Four years on, she expressed no regrets at her decision to turn professional, one which now seems to be as much an injury related decision as anything else.  Tara now headlines the Stars on Ice tour, this year performing a touching tribute to the victims of the September 11th 2001 tragedy.