Sarah Hughes' biography from www.saltlake2002.com
Residence: Great Neck, New York, USA
Date of birth: 2 May 1985
Place of birth: Manhasset, New York
Height: 5-foot-3
Salt Lake update
With a near perfect long program, Sarah Hughes moved from fourth to first and captured the ladies' gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake Games. She was the fifth-to-last skater of the night and had to watch favorites like Michelle Kwan and Irina Slutskaya skate for the gold after her. Her technical and presentation marks, ranging from 5.7 to 5.8, held up for the first ordinal. Slutskaya won the silver and Kwan finished with the bronze.
Steady improvement
Hughes emerged as a future star when she won the 1998 U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships at the age of 12. The following year, she made the step up to the senior level, placing fourth at her first U.S. Figure Skating Championships. That performance qualified her for the World Championships for the first time, where she finished seventh competing against the world's elite. Hughes continued to improve in 2000, finishing third at the 2000 U.S. nationals behind 1998 Olympic silver medalist Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen and then taking fifth in impressive fashion at the World Championships. She continued her steady improvement the following season, placing second behind Kwan at 2001 nationals and Skate America, and second behind 1999 world champion Maria Butyrskaya of Russia at the Nations Cup. At the 2001 World Championships, she took the bronze behind Kwan and Russian Irina Slutskaya.
All in the family
Hughes' father, John, also had a great deal of athletic success on the ice — as a hockey player. John Hughes, a native of Canada, was the captain of the 1969-70 Cornell University hockey team. Following graduation, John got a tryout with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL. When things did not work out with the Maple Leafs, John returned to Cornell to attend law school and is now an attorney.
High school girl
Despite her demanding skating schedule, Hughes maintains a regular school schedule at Great Neck North High School on Long Island. She takes honors classes and plans to study medicine in the future. Hughes is the fourth of six children.
Coach and friend
Hughes is coached by Robin Wagner, with whom she shares a close relationship that extends off the ice. When they were in Vienna for the 1999 Vienna Cup, Wagner scheduled an extra day so she could see the city with Hughes. Among the things they saw was the opera, "Nessun Dorma," to which Hughes skated in one of her programs.
