Lipinski, Yamaguchi headline in 'Stars on Ice'

Tara Lipinski says she is "kind of superstitious."

COMING UP STARS ON ICE

WHERE: KeyArena at Seattle Center

WHEN: Sunday, 4 p.m.

TICKETS: $35-$58; 206-628-0888; www.starsonice.com

Lipinski, 18, the youngest Olympic, world and U.S. National ladies figure skating champion in history, is part of the Stars on Ice tour that performs Sunday at Key Arena.

The show also features Olympic Gold medalists Scott Hamilton, Kristi Yamaguchi, Ilia Kulik and world champion Kurt Browning. The tour opened at Lake Placid, N.Y., in November.

"On the day of the (Lake Placid) show, some red beads fell off of my dress," explains Lipinski. "I decided to pick them up before they caused someone to fall. When I got back to the dressing room I saw there was a little red ladybug in with the beads. It looked like it was frozen. I love ladybugs -- they are totally good luck.

"My mom put her in a cup. ... Later, as I was getting dressed for another number, I noticed that she moved. I kept staring at her and saw her move again. Dead ladybugs are lucky but live ones are even better. I could not believe that this little ladybug could survive up in Lake Placid in November...

"When the closing number was over, I came in to pack up and found the cup was empty. I guess she was strong enough to fly away after all she went through. I felt that the ladybug and I had a lot in common that night. I too 'survived.'"

Lake Placid was Lipinski's return to ice mere months after surgery for hip problems that threatened to stall a career that includes winning the world championship at age 14. Even at 15, when she skated to Olympic Gold in Nagano, Japan, Lipinski had pain in her hip.

Tara Lipinski was 15 when she won Olympic gold in Nagano, Japan.

Doctors could not find the source of the problem despite intensive testing. The situation degenerated over the years until Lipinski had trouble recently getting out of bed and brushing her teeth. In September, she was sent to a hip specialist who injected dye into the joint. She had torn hip cartilage. During surgery they found cartilage overgrowing the bone and arthritis. Lipinski was in the hospital for a week, her father wheeling her around in a wheelchair.

"Even though it's been really hard, I'm so glad I didn't wait on the surgery. The doctor told me my hip could have locked up and that I never would've been able to skate again," she says.

Eight days after surgery, Lipinski hobbled on her crutches to the rink were she practices in Sugar Land, Texas. Her doctor wanted her to rest for two and half weeks, but she couldn't.

"When you are an athlete, and something disables you, it's your worst nightmare. All I want to do is get out there. All I want to do is skate," she says.

The physical therapy was aggressive to prepare Lipinski for the Stars on Ice show. She would skate 1 1/2 hours, go into therapy for three hours, go home to do pool therapy, get out and do more exercises before going to bed.

"After therapy, there was so much exhaustion and pain, I thought there was no way I would ever be able to skate again." Lipinski withdrew from the World Professional Championships in December; she didn't want to compete without triple jumps in her repertoire.

During Stars on Ice rehearsals in November, Lipinski's physical therapist came with her. Lipinski says she cried constantly. Being on the ice 10 hours a day is difficult even with a healthy hip, she says.

"I'm jumping," Lipinski says about her performance during the show. "I'm tripling. I can't do the other three triples on my right hip. It's the hardest thing I have ever done. I just keep pushing through."

There have been some life lessons for Lipinski through it all. "My entire life I've never taken off more than four days, since I was 8 or 9. I'd go on vacation and I would skate; everywhere I went I would skate. When I had to take that month off, I was so scared I would lose it all. But it all came back to me. The past six months have given me more confidence."

"I was becoming truly depressed because of the pain. Pain makes everything in your life difficult, even brushing your teeth. Maybe I'm not doing all the triples, but I'm back. I've gotten through it.