More Than Medal at Stake for Hughes
Harvard said yes a while ago and Yale recently gave Sarah Hughes "some good news," but it won't tell even an Olympic figure skating gold medalist before April 1 if she will be allowed to enter its ivy-covered halls.
While she ponders those choices and finishes her senior year at Great Neck North (N.Y.) High, she's also preparing for the world championships, which she skipped last year while riding the exhilarating wave of her stunning victory at Salt Lake City. Her performance at the world competition, to be held March 24-30 at the MCI Center in Washington, will factor into her decision about college and whether she'll continue competing at an elite level.
Hughes, 17, trains in Hackensack, N.J., near her Long Island home. She could continue that routine if she attends Columbia, but her coach, Robin Wagner, won't disrupt her own life to follow Hughes out of the area.
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. A leg injury early this season kept her out of the Grand Prix series, but she fought for a solid second-place finish behind Michelle Kwan at the U.S. championships in January. Her best finish at the world championships was third in 2001, behind Kwan and Irina Slutskaya.
"I've always been interested in having a well-rounded life, and I have interest in going away and living in a dorm," Hughes said Thursday. "The world championships will be an important time for me in finalizing my decisions. I have been incredibly busy since the Olympics, which totally changed my life."
Hughes said she's fine physically and is prepared for the heightened expectations that accompany her gold medal.
"There's always a certain pressure from myself to improve," said Hughes, who plans to add a difficult triple salchow-triple loop combination jump to her long program at Washington. "The Olympics was one event, and it was a great experience for me, and I felt that with everything people had put into me -- my coach, my parents, the community -- it was nice to repay them. Now, I feel whatever I do is certainly extra."
Wagner acknowledged Hughes isn't at the level she reached at the Olympics, where her technically demanding and artistically pleasing program carried her past flawed performances by Slutskaya and Kwan.
