Sarah Hughes (USA) - 2002 Salt Lake City, Figure Skating, Ladies' Free Skate

Even now, it so beautiful. Sarah was the best skater that night.❤❤❤❤❤

I don’t know why everyone thinks Sarah Hughes didn’t deserve the title. Everyone else, Michelle Kwan and Irina Slutskaya included, underperformed. Back in the day with the 6.0 judging system, flutzes and under-rotations weren’t as harshly scrutinized or penalized, so it doesn’t negate the validity of her gold medal in any way. Sarah Hughes skated the best that night, her lines and artistry were also extremely impressive, and she deserved the championship no doubt.

The smile on her face at 0:43 to 0:46. This is the reason she won. She was relaxed and where she wanted to be. No pressure. She said afterwards she was not thinking about a medal. She was thinking about her performance. And gave the performance of a lifetime. It was not about winning and losing to her. It was about doing her best. Still wonderful to watch.

I keep coming back to this one. The precision, her surprise/joy at the precision, the build up with the crowd absolutely roaring at the end... she had to win. Some moments are just magical!

And one of the best laybacks of all time. Turned out hip, free foot parallel to the ice, amazing back position. That is how it is done.

It's been 20 years, and her beautiful performance still brings tears to my eyes!😀

What an incredible performance 😊

Her performance is great - I'll leave the qualifiers for those more knowledgeable about the sport and its particulars - but I will never get over the absolute roar of that crowd for the last 25 or so seconds - and that face she makes around 5:16. Kind of cool to be able to see one of the best moments of someone's life.

I just saw this now for the first time in 2020 and I 'm having tears of happiness for this girl I don't even know, that's how much the pureness and authenticity of her performance has touched me.

I feel like her score in the short program set something free in Sarah - based on the scoring at the time, she didn't feel she could possibly win, so the pressure was off. She just wanted to do the best she could do for her. So she skated her heart out, put all of her love for skating into the performance. Plus, she seems to have fed off of the energy from the audience. The better she did, the more they gave her in response. The cleanest possible jumps (including a triple-triple!) and some amazing spins. And that combined energy NAILED IT. I come from a theatre background. I hate auditions, because I'm competing. When I'm performing, I love when an audience gives me energy, and I try to better my own performance.

I play this video from time to time whenever I need a feel good moment. It hasn't failed yet to make me feel good and let out a much needed cry. Mostly what I love is her enthusiasm, even during the routine, and her pure joy after.

This is when the Olympics were just pure beauty! Great memories!

Twenty years later and I'm still so happy for her!!!! I remember this night so well.

Sarah's risk to do two tripple-tripple combinations fully paid off! The performance is as beautiful as difficult! A magnificent, solid and impressive performance! ❤💝🧡

I still cry watching this. Amazing performance.

One of my favorite Olympic memories. I remember watching this at 15 and being mesmerized. Sarah embodied the Olympic spirit to a tee. It was all about the skate and not the medal color. Her reaction along with her coach in the warm-up/dressing room was priceless. What an awesome moment. Hard to believe this was 20 years ago!

Triple loop combos are underrated in skating it's absurd they are given the same value as triple toe combos when they are far more difficult. And Sarah had two of them her flawlessly

never ever gets old. she's a lawyer, studying for her MBA at Stanford

Nobody expected her to win. She just went out there and put on a great show.

if you are going to use all your luck in one night, let it be on the night of the free skate of the Olympics... God Bless Her....