Last year at Jr. Worlds Bebe skated her LP on a seriously injured and very painful hip. The commentators applauded her "guts." I shook my head and thought, "Here's another skater with incredible potential who may never realize it.
As for comments about Tara and how she put in the 3/3 just so she'd win and be "the popular one" but it didn't work out that way, I think it misrepresents Tara's situation. Tara was the first ladies skater to do a very difficult 3/3--the 3lp/3lp. She was also very young when she perfected it -- 14, 15. At that time, NOBODY, not coaches, not skaters, nobody knew the damage that doing 3/3s could wreak. Tara has been criticized a lot for a comment she made in an interview when she said, "I was practicing like 50 3/3s a day." Greedy Tara, some said. I say, Where was her coach, Richard Callaghan, to say, "Tara, you're overtraining the 3lp/3lp. You're risking injury." She was 14 and a bundle of energy for gosh sakes! Sure her hip started hurting but it's ingrained in elite athletes to "work through the pain." A little pain now, then I'll rest it and it after the Olympics and I'm sure it will get better. Even after the Olympics when she was in constant unbearable pain, it took doctors several years to diagnose the hip problem.
I'd like to propose a moratorium on "It's Tara's own greedy fault" posts. Tara was the first to be able to do a skill that turned out to be much more dangerous than it looked. Nobody is saying Yagudin's hip injury is his "own greedy fault" for doing all those 4s and 4/3s. Tara was doing what athletes are told to do: push yourself to your limits and beyond.
Every skater who gets to Worlds and the Olympics has winning as their one and only focus, especially if they go into the Olympics as World Champion. She did not get good advice from her coach or the other training staff. As I understand it, Callaghan concentrated on Todd Eldredge since it was really his last shot at an Olympic medal and Tara was mostly left on her own to train.
Tara is not a bad person. She has good values. She does charity work. She has suffered incredibly for being the first woman to consistenly land a 3lp/3lp, not only from the pain of the injury, but from the lack of proper diagnosis from the medical profession. Though in some ways you can't blame the doctors. Hip injuries of that kind and severity were never seen in athletes before, especially ones that young.
Tara is going to be either in pain or restricted physically for the rest of her life. She will never be able to skate again at even a professional level, and whatever you feel about Tara, the girl LOVES skating. Michelle has been probably the most beloved skater who ever lived for close to a decade. She's won it all and more, unless you count the OGM--and that determination was in the judges hands, not Tara's. So starting now, how about giving Tara a break on the whole 3/3 and hip thing. You don't have to like her, but you also don't have to diss her every time the subject of ladies' hip injuries comes up. JMO.
Rgirl
