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Lipinski returns to city where she trained
ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) -- Teen-age sensation Tara Lipinski returned Sunday to the area where she trained en route to winning last month's Winter Olympics.With a huge smile, the 15-year-old Texas transplant who practices out of the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills arrived to a welcome of hugs from family and friends and flashes from fans' cameras.
"I still feel like I'm in a little shock," the youngest gold medalist at any Winter Games said at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. "I don't feel like I grasp the whole thing yet. It's so big and amazing, and little by little it's getting to me."
With her mother Pat nearby, Lipinski displayed the gold medal she won at Nagano, Japan, and insisted she's still in awe about winning it.
"It's just so amazing that I've accomplished so much," she said. "And it was one of my biggest dreams since I was so young, and I think that's why I'm still in shock a little bit to realize what happened."
Lipinski spent last week at her true hometown of Sugar Land, Texas, a Houston suburb where she relaxed with her parents and caught up with her post-Olympic doctor and dentist appointments.
"It was good just being home with my dad and playing with my dogs," she said. "I've been skating for a while, so just going back and being with my friends -- I think it'll be like normal."
Lipinski is to be honored Monday by the skating club during an invitation-only reception. Beyond that, she said she would resume training this week for the World Figure Skating Championships later this month in Minneapolis.
She also plans to catch up on sleep and reacquainting herself with friends.
"I think we're just going to do the usual stuff," said Victoria Mason, one of those friends. "We'll look at the pictures she took while she was at the Olympics and all that. I think it'll just be like old times."