LA Times Sarah Hughes article

[jcspkbfan]

I haven't read the whole article since you have to register with LA Times to read it, but here's the URL:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-olycol14mar14,1,5629379.column?coll=la%2Dheadlines %2Dsports%2Dolympics

Sarah mentions the possibility of going away to college and living in a dorm, etc.

[Spider68]

Paraphrasing the article: Sarah has a definite acceptance from Harvard and "good news" from Yale (but not full acceptance); according to Robin, Sarah's practices haven't been the level of her pre-Olympic and she's not in the same condition; if Sarah doesn't go to Columbia, Robin will not move with her; Sarah's performance (according to the writer) at World's will determine her future, whether or not she will stay in skating or put it behind her and pursue and education.

I got the impression from the article that if Sarah doesn't do "well" at World's she will retire from eligble-rank skating.

Seems the "focus" isn't there as before.

[rack]

Originally posted by Spider68
Paraphrasing the article: Sarah has a definite acceptance from Harvard and "good news" from Yale (but not full acceptance); according to Robin, Sarah's practices haven't been the level of her pre-Olympic and she's not in the same condition; if Sarah doesn't go to Columbia, Robin will not move with her; Sarah's performance (according to the writer) at World's will determine her future, whether or not she will stay in skating or put it behind her and pursue and education.

I got the impression from the article that if Sarah doesn't do "well" at World's she will retire from eligble-rank skating.

Seems the "focus" isn't there as before.


Funny- I got the opposite impression from this part of the column:

"A good performance at the world competition could allow Hughes to walk away without regret, and with the distinction of having returned to compete this year after winning the sport's ultimate prize."

Sarah's planning a 3s/3l, and it wasn't that Yale isn't going to accept her; it's that there will be no official word (one way or the other) before April 1.

:D

[Debbie S]

Regarding Sarah's future decisions, it seems Helene Elliott's take is that if Sarah has a "good" performance, which I took to mean either winning or medaling, she'll be satisfied that she's accomplished most of what she's wanted in her skating career and won't regret leaving the sport to go away to college.

[rack]

And the irony of this is that people who cannot abide Sarah's skating will be rooting for her to have a "good" performance so she'll retire and they won't have to see her anymore!:lol:

[Alexa]

But if she does retire, journalists can no longer brag about Sarah and how wonderful it is she stayed in skating after winning the gold medal. One year of staying in does not count for much more than those that went pro right after their medal.

But one thing I would find interesting if she does retire is that she supposedly was staying in skating for her love of it and the love of competing, but if she leaves, you have to wonder where did that go, and also wonder if she wouldn't have won Gold in the Olympics if she would have put skating over her education.

All just speculation, as we do not know Sarah's plans at this point.

[rack]

Originally posted by Alexa
But if she does retire, journalists can no longer brag about Sarah and how wonderful it is she stayed in skating after winning the gold medal. One year of staying in does not count for much more than those that went pro right after their medal.

But one thing I would find interesting if she does retire is that she supposedly was staying in skating for her love of it and the love of competing, but if she leaves, you have to wonder where did that go, and also wonder if she wouldn't have won Gold in the Olympics if she would have put skating over her education.

All just speculation, as we do not know Sarah's plans at this point.

Quite a few years ago, shortly after NY State instituted a lottery, a man who changed light bulbs for a living, won the big prize (a few million in those days).

A couple of days after he went back to work changing light bulbs, he said to himself, "Why am I changing light bulbs when I won the lottery?" and promptly retired from light bulb changing.

Last year, Sarah won the lottery. This year she's spent changing light bulbs. I can't imagine anyone thinking badly of her should she choose at age 18 to go full time to an Ivy League university. Believe me, if newspapers "brag" about her now, they'll continue to brag. They love "athlete puts education over stardom" articles.

And no one held his retirement against the light bulb guy!:D

[kwanette]

I wouldn't blame Sarah at all for wanting to experience dorm life, etc. She achieved the ultimate prize in skating. I doubt any journalist will put her down for going on with another aspect of her life. The press loves her...for her "normalcy." With the sal/loop and a clean skate she has a great shot at Worlds. I never underestimate her.

[CMc]

Well, I haven't read the whole article yet because I'm having problems registering for this online paper, but it seems to me Sarah's constantly been doing some hard thinking about this for quite some time, and I sort of knew she'd be at least "thinking" of leaving the sport and proceeding with college. I guess this was inevitable of someone that has many goals for their future. Of course it's sad, but what can we do? It's her life, only she can decide what to do.

BUT, I hope at least she'll continue to do stuff like COI and the Hershey's Challenge!! ;)

[JDC1]

She should do whatever feels right regardless of how she does at Worlds. She will always be the 2002 Olympic Gold Medalist and if she feels that's enough she doesn't owe anyone any apologies, just go be happy. Who gives a fig about journalists?

[Alexa]

As for my comment above, my point was not that it would bother me if Sarah retired or that the journalists would necessarily say bad things about her. I just meant that the big thing with her has been that she stayed in skating after winning the gold. If they want to write good things about her if she retired, they would have to change their angle to something else--such as going to an ivy league school.

I was just thinking about how much Tara gets picked on for going pro right away, even though it is obvious now she could not have been eligible much longer with her hip. I know that Sarah would have a very good reason for retiring, but it would be interesting to hear what certain anti-Tara journalists would say in the same article about Sarah.. (I think it is Christine Brennan that is always putting down Tara for going pro).