2002 Barbara Walters
10 Most Fascinating People of 2002
Barbara (introduction): February 21, 2002. Sarah Hughes took to the ice. A dark horse, already in fourth place, no one expected Sarah Hughes to go home with a gold medal until they saw her skate.
Barbara (voice over): Sarah Hughes was born into a family of skaters. Her father, John, was the captain of the Cornell hockey team and built a rink in their back yard. He put all 6 of his children on ice skates almost from the time they could toddle.
Barbara: Take me back to your childhood. What is your very first skating memory?
Sarah: I remember, I was realy really young. I think I was probably about 3. I just remember, in this bright yellow snow suit, I'd skate skate skate really really fast and I'd fall on my face and I'd get up and I'd do it again. And I just remember just wanting to do that all day long and that's all I ever wanted to do.
Barbara: Just skate?
Sarah: Just skate.
Barbara (voice over): And in this family of 6 siblings, the Hughess 4th eldest, Sarah, began to stand out as a champion on the ice, winning wisdom as well as awards.
Sarah: I learned that with work and dedication and failure comes a sense of satisfaction. And that is a lesson that you learn in sports really really early in life. And I think that's helped me to deal with a lot of things.
Barbara (voice over): Things like her mother Amy's breast cancer when Sarah was 12.
Sarah: When she was diagnosed with cancer, my whole world just fell apart and skating became something I knew that if she saw me do well, or if anybody ever talked about it, her whole face lightended up. Everything was so joyous. I just wanted to work hard for her.
Barbara: For your mother.
Sarah: Yes, and that's when I came from just some little kid who loved to skate to some kid who started winning.
Barbara (voice over): And win she did, steadily garnering international skating titles as a teenager, competing with world champions many years her senior. Sarah drove herself with unrelenting dedication all the way to the Olympics.
Barbara: At the Olympics in the short program, you came in 4th?
Sarah: Yes. (Laughs)
Barbara: Did you think, that's it, this is over?
Sarah: It's nearly impossible to win from 4th place. And that's why the next night I went out and I said "Sarah, just have fun and go for it." I said "go for it". And I went for it.
Barbara: Sarah, you made changes in your long program that many people think it's what made you win the gold medal. Take me through those last 90 seconds.
Sarah: I worked very very hard and decided I should add another triple-triple combination...If I wanted to do well, this is what I have to do. No other lady was doing it and no other lady had ever done it before. And everybody saw how it worked out.
Barbara: Did you feel you were soaring those last 90 seconds?
Sarah: I was doing more than soaring, Barbara. I really felt, I was on such a high. You could never imagine something like it. People talk about it, and I see why the Olympics are so special. Everybody always talks about the Olympics and when your young you say you're going to the Olympics. And I used to think, "What's so special about the Olympics?" and now I know.
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