Rosie O'Donnell Interview
Big thanks to Bryan Powell for transcribing this interview for the site!! :)
Sarah Hughes on the Rosie O'Donnell Show (3/3/02):
[Rosie begins by airing a "movie," a video piece set to music, featuring
scenes from Sarah's Olympic victory, then introduces Sarah as the piece
concludes.]
Rosie: Please welcome 16-year-old gold medalist Sarah Hughes!
[Sarah enters to fanfare, waving to the crowd, and is seated.]
Rosie: Sarah!? You're 16! You won a gold medal!
Sarah: I know! It's great, isn't it?
Rosie: Isn't it shocking?
Sarah: Yeah, it was so shocking, and it was just great to make the Olympic
team, because I JUST made it --
Rosie: JUST made it --
Sarah: JUST made it, I was the last girl they sent.
Rosie: No kidding.
Sarah: Yeah, and so, I went and oh, I had the greatest time.
Rosie: Now, when it started, no one expected you to even place, correct?
Sarah: Well, I came in as the world bronze medalist.
Rosie: Oh, you did, so you were not like an unknown.
Sarah: No, and I'd been competing really well all season, but it was kind of
like the media and everybody just kind of ignored me a little bit, and so
even though I was skating really well, people just weren't paying attention.
Rosie: Right. And that was, in a way, a good thing, don't you think,
pressure-wise?
Sarah: Oh, it was great, and it kind of annoyed me a little bit --
Rosie: Yeah, sure.
Sarah: [LAUGHS]
Rosie: No, I mean, I can understand. They keep saying the other two were
gonna, oh, the other two and [SOFTLY] there's the little sixteen... [LOUDER]
oh the other two... yeah, and a little annoying.
Sarah: Yeah, yeah, so, and after I won, then everybody... "Where did she come
from?" And I was here all along!
[LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE]
Rosie: Nobody knew!
Sarah: Yeah.
Rosie: Now, you skated first, in the long program, and do you think that was
a benefit, in a way, that you got to go before everybody else, so you didn't
have anyone to compare to in your mind?
Sarah: Yeah, well, at that point I was just skating for myself because I
wasn't even -- I just wanted to move up one place, so I could have a medal,
and I wasn't sure, but, I've always liked to skate kind of early on. Actually
in the short program I skated so early and it's really bad to skate early in
the short, because you just pick it randomly, and, uh, and so I wasn't happy
with my draw and I was really, really upset, but I skated well anyway.
Rosie: You did, yeah. Now you, did you throw in extra triples in the... you
did?
Sarah: Yeah.
Rosie: So now, you had done it, you had landed everything, you've got like 20
seconds left and you do another triple just for fun?
Sarah: Well [LAUGHS], at the Olympics, you don't really decide to do
something that's really hard just for fun.
Rosie: Yeah, yeah, but I mean it's so RISKY, you know, I mean, even the guy
announcing it goes, "All she has to do is close - OMIGOD, SHE DID ANOTHER
TRIPLE!!" It was like, no one expected it!
Sarah: [LAUGHS] Yeah, actually, after the national championships I put
another triple-triple combination in my program, and I'd never done it before
in competition, so this was the first time, and I mean, my program was so
difficult anyway, that I was sort of like, "Oh well, I'll just try my best."
But, who knew? And so --
Rosie: You know what I loved? When you came off and there was a man, I don't
know who it was, it wasn't your coach, there was a man, and you looked at him
and you said, "I've never skated that good in my life!" [LAUGHS] So adorable!
Do you think that was your best performance ever?
Sarah: Yes, definitely. It was so perfect with the crowd and just my coaches
and, actually, my coach, and everything was so perfect, my skate, the
audience, the support, it was electric and when I was finishing my program, I
couldn't hear the music. It was just this huge roar, and I stood there on
center ice and I thought, "Ohmigod, I just did it. I did it. I did it." And
everything just goes blank and you just act however you feel. It's kind of
like you lose sense that other people are going to play the tape or see it
again, and you just do whatever you want. It was so great.
Rosie: Well, that's why I think America fell in love with you, because it was
so genuine, and you were so stunned, that it was like an amazing story to
watch, you know. And I loved seeing your parents, when I put them in the
movie, because your father looked like [LAUGHS], he looked like he was in
shock, he leaned back, he's like, went, "AHHHHH!" and I just pictured him
hammering that ice rink in your backyard together. How old were you when he
did that?
Sarah: Oh, I was about five, and, I think he made the rink for my brothers,
because my brothers played hockey all the time, and so, he actually, I think
we had a Zamboni one time. It was a --
Rosie: In your house?
Sarah: [POINTED SUDDENLY TO A PICTURE ON ROSIE'S DESK] Is that Tom Cruise?
Rosie: Yes, I keep Tom with me at all times. Do you enjoy him?
Sarah: Yes, of course.
Rosie: Alright, now I never thought this would happen. I've had him here for
six years. I only have two months left of this show. I'm going to give you my
Tommy. I love ya, little Sarah! I feel like a proud mother! You, from Long
Island!
Sarah: Yeah! Thank you so much!
Rosie: You're more than welcome. You know who you remind me of? You're not
going to even know this, because you're so young. Shirley MacLaine, like in
her first film. You remind me of a young Shirley MacLaine. Yes? Don't you
see? The face, and the energy? That's a good thing. You're so young, you
don't even really know what that means.
Sarah: That's OK.
Rosie: Did you know the next day, the day after you won the gold, I went to
pick up my kid at school, and I saw about a hundred little girls with ice
skates.
Sarah: Really?
Rosie: I'm not kidding you. I've picked them up every day, I never see anyone
with ice skates, but the day after you won, I thought, look at all of these
children that you've inspired, all of these kids, all of them went ice
skating the next day!
Sarah: Wow. When I was younger, I was always inspired by the current Olympic
champion. I mean, first it was Kristi Yamaguchi, and I always wanted to do
everything that Kristi did, I went out, and we bought like, twenty of the
cereal boxes that she was on, and I went and I watched every show she was on
and I taped everything and then with Oksana Baiul and Tara Lipinsky, it's,
it's, I would never have thought that I would have did what I did.
Rosie: Now it's you, honey, you're the one on the cereal, take a look at that
on the box of Wheaties. [HOLDS UP WHEATIES BOX]. You're the gold medalist and
you know, you're from Long Island. I just think you did an amazing job, and
you did a great thing not only for you and your family, but for the whole
country, because I think you made everyone's soul just get lifted up a little
bit.
Sarah: Oh, thank you.
Rosie: I wanted to get you a little something for you and your family,
because I know your family had to take you to lessons, and when somebody wins
a gold medal, it's not only your work, it's the work of the family who
supported you, too. So we have -- what?
Sarah: I've also been very lucky because there are, you know, I have five
brothers and sisters, so it's always been really difficult because there are
so many of us, and so it was always, um, it was an added effort to try to get
me to one place all the time, to consistently go.
Rosie: Right. And your mom, too, was sick, right? Your mom had breast cancer?
Sarah: Yeah, she had breast cancer, and she was really sick for a couple
years, and you know, it -- I mean, she had a bone marrow transplant, it was
very serious -- but after, when she recuperated and she's alive and she's
doing very well right now. She doesn't work any more and so she's just been
able to enjoy everything and it's made everything all the better.
Rosie: And that must have been beautiful to look, on that gold medal stand,
and see your mom standing there next to your dad, and all the hard work, and
her healthy. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing, honey. We're going to send
you and your whole family for a week to Hawaii.
Sarah: Oh my gosh! Hawaii!!?
Rosie: Yeah!
Sarah: Yaaay!!!!
Rosie: Hawaii! Your mom, your dad, and airfare, hotel accommodations, car
rental, cheaptickets.com, the tickets are cheap but the trip isn't, so go on
there if you want to get somewhere --
Sarah: Ohmigod! I've always wanted to go to Hawaii and I never could!
Rosie: Well, now you're going to Hawaii, with your whole family. Take these
Wheaties [HANDS BOX TO SARAH], eat 'em on the plane, alright?
[SARAH LAUGHS]
Rosie: We'll be right back with Mercedes Ruehl. Sarah Hughes! Gold medal!
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