Que Sera, Sarah?
Category: Sports (Pro/College/HS)...
Posted Friday, January 09, 2004 at 10:21 PM [GMT-6]

One of my fondest memories of the 2002 Winter Olympics was watching 16-year-old Sarah Hughes win the gold medal in women's figure skating. She skated with such joyful abandon that you couldn't help but share her wide-eyed grin. She was the next Peggy, the next Dorothy.

So, when I heard the results from today's short program in the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, I was puzzled by the absence of her name. I was obviously out of touch.

Turns out that Sarah has stopped skating and is now a "regular student" at Yale, Class of 2007. And it sounds like she's bringing the same enthusiasm to her academic pursuits that she did to skating. Good for her. I applaud her desire to regain some balance in her life.

And good for us, too, that she envisions an eventual return to skating, possibly in time for the 2006 Olympics. The odds are stacked against her, of course, but I have a feeling that Sarah still has some joy and abandon in reserve. I can't wait.