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How Tara Lipinski "Surprised" Herself When Investigating Olympic Figure Skating's Big Scandal

In an exclusive interview with E! News, Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski also revealed why she trusts the judging system for the 2022 Winter Olympics and beyond.

By Mike Vulpo, Alli Rosenbloom Jan 22, 2022 12:44 AMTags
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Nobody knows the highs and lows of figure skating more than Tara Lipinski.

Back in 1998, the athlete made history at 15 years old by becoming the youngest Olympic gold medalist in the history of figure skating. But just four years later, a scandal hit the sport Tara loved so much.

After Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze took home gold for the Russians at the event, many questioned the judging system and why Canada's Jamie Salé and David Pelletier didn't earn the top scores. 

It's a story Tara and her husband Todd Kapostasy investigated in Peacock's juicy new docuseries titled Meddling. The couple traveled to different countries to meet with people who had a front-row seat to the drama. 

"Just like the general public at the time, I felt that it came down to the swing judge," Tara told E! News. "It came down to that swing vote and it was the French judge and that's all there was to it."

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But after further investigating, Tara was surprised by what she uncovered. Keep scrolling to hear more from our exclusive chat with the Olympian.

Jean Catuffe/Getty Images

E!: You're an executive producer on Peacock's docuseries, Meddling. Why was this a story that you wanted to tell?

Tara Lipinski: My husband is a sports doc director and for a long time now, we've talked about what it would be like if we could work together and join forces and combine our talents. Over the pandemic, probably over a glass of wine one night, we just thought there's no better time. We formed a production company and really wanted to be able to tell sports stories. Of course I wanted to do a figure skating one right from the jump and I thought this was the perfect story to tell, especially now that it's 20 years later. Being a part of the sport for so long, I wanted to know more. As we've gone through this process and been on this journey producing this last year, I surprised myself with how much I'm learning. There were so many different players and so many different characters that were a part of this—different countries, different Federations, a Russian mobster! We really wanted to discover and uncover everything there was to be told about the story.

E!: There are so many sport stories to tell, but specifically a ton of ice skating stories. What other scandals or controversies or stories in the world of ice skating do you want to tackle in the future?

TL: We definitely want to tackle skating stories, but also stories that are outside of figure skating and branch out as well. Skating has definitely made its mark when it comes to scandals. Obviously Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, and then the 2002 judging scandal. Hopefully that's in our past.

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E!: Do you feel like the reforms that resulted in that controversy still hold up today?

TL: Back in the ‘90s, early 2000s, when I skated, I always knew there were politics. I always knew that I could skate clean and perfect and there may be a skater that fell two times and would beat me. But you just walked off the ice and you said, "Oh, that's figure skating! That's the way it is." And you never really questioned it. It's crazy to think that these Olympic athletes were giving up their life, sacrificing everything, to be judged in a system that had no criteria that had to be met for the judges. That they could just toss up a 5.8 or 5.9 in personal preference, and this mark could change a skater's life forever. The silver lining was getting the new judging system. And now every single step a skater takes, every move she makes is accounted for. It's quite technical, but you know that at least skating is being judged fairly now. Of course, skating is still always going to be very slightly subjective because there is no finish line and there's still an artistic score, which obviously can go to personal taste, but the area for that subjectivity is so slim and small now that we changed the sport in a very positive way.

E!: Speaking of today's figure skating champs, the Beijing Olympics are coming up. Can you break down the United States figure skating team?

TL: Well, I'm definitely excited to watch Nathan Chen. Obviously, he is going after that Olympic gold medal. Four years ago, he came so close! He had a disastrous short program and had an incredible free skate with six quads but it still wasn't enough to get that Olympic gold medal. And the past four years for him have really been about his journey to getting that Olympic medal. Even though he's the favorite, it's not going to be easy competition. Yuzuru Hanyu, who is a two-time Olympic champion who beat Nathan four years ago, will be coming back and he's wanting to be the first man to ever land a quad axle, which would be the first person to ever land that in competition. I think the men's event is going to be very exciting, on the edge of your seat-type of entertainment. For the women's event, you have to tune in too. It is at a place that I never thought I'd see figure skating. There could be a Russian sweep for the top three spots. The Russian ladies have revolutionized figure skating over the last few years. The technical bar has been raised and anyone, even with an untrained eye, who's tuning in will be able to see these technical feats and hopefully be in awe as I am.

E!: How close are you to the U.S. team? Do you guys text or chat? Do they reach out for advice?

TL: We get to analyze and commentate on them all year long and we don't get that many opportunities to talk with them. Sometimes we get to interview them before events to gather information for our commentary. We were just at the National Championships and it was just so fun to see all of those skaters vying for Olympic spots and then see them selected for the Olympic team.

Clive Brunskill/Allsport/Getty Images

E!: Your gold medal skate still brings tears to my eyes. What do you remember about that time?

TL: Definitely those Olympic performances go to the top of the list. It was just a surreal moment. For me to be able to go to those Olympics, I was the reigning world champion but I had just a month before I lost my title at Nationals and for me, there was a lot of uncertainty and so much pressure also for someone who was just 15 and really didn't know how or what to expect showing up at my first Olympics. To go out and skate the way that I did, which was the way that I trained, that's how every skater hopes to perform. I remember my leg shaking as they called my name and that had never happened before. I thought, "Oh, what do I do now? I need them!" But to then be able to skate the way that I did, I'll always remember not so much winning, but the moment the music ended and I was running across the ice, just the relief that I felt, the joy that I felt to skate well and have a good showing but do it in front of millions of people at an Olympic Games.

E!: You were so young and just 15 when you competed at the Olympics. You mentioned there was so much pressure. In what ways do you think that athletes can best protect their mental health while competing?

TL: I think that's what Simone Biles brought to light. I think a lot of athletes, especially when I competed, didn't know we had a choice. That's the great thing that Simone did and I think in the future. you hope that athletes will be able to speak up for themselves to make sure that their feelings and their thoughts are being heard. If there's too much pressure or too many expectations on them, then they need to make the right choices for their mental health. I think that your team that surrounds you needs to be really aware of this. They're the ones that know you best and I think there should be a constant conversation that you're checking in with your athletes to not only see how well they're physically performing or if they're hurt or repairing injuries, but also don't forget about the mental aspect of it and how important mental health is.

Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

E!: You competed with and against Michelle Kwan during your Olympics career. Do you guys still keep in touch at all? 

TL: A huge, huge congratulations to Michelle Kwan on her baby. We definitely run into each other, especially at events from time to time. I think just recently we ran into each other at the airport not too long ago and it's always so nice to see Michelle. Michelle and I share something that no one else really shares. We were in this together. It was a very popular rivalry at the time and we were under a lot of pressure but it's hard to really explain to my friends or family what that was like. But the only other person that really knows is Michelle. We do have a connection that I think will last because of that. But one of these days, we need to sit down and have dinner and really be able to reconnect.

E!: Do you think if you got back on the ice today, you can still do your signature triple loop-triple loop?

TL: [Laughter] I'm definitely not trying a triple loop-triple loop anytime in the future. So I would love to believe that after maybe a year or so of work I could get it back, as I still like to get back on the ice and keep things up and jump here and there. But yes, definitely not trying that element anytime soon.

Meddling is available to stream on Peacock now.

(E!, NBC and Peacock are part of the NBCUniversal family)

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Check out E! News' 2022 Beijing Olympics homepage for news, photos and more.