For Tara Lipinski, becoming a mother was a dream that took years to come true. Long before she enjoyed motherhood with her daughter, Georgie, she faced four miscarriages, failed IVF attempts and countless difficult medical procedures. Then, in 2023, Lipinski finally welcomed her first child. Motherhood did not bring her career to a halt, as she continued building her life around the sport. In an exclusive interview with Essentially Sports, Lipinski opened up about balancing her career with the joys of raising her daughter.

Now, as Georgie grows up, Lipinski is introducing her daughter to the sport that shaped so much of her own life. Speaking to Essentially Sports host Andrew Whitelaw on July 31, the Olympic champion was asked how she manages everything she does while raising a daughter and whether Georgie might eventually embrace the world of figure skating.

Lipinski, who is a figure-skating broadcaster and analyst, particularly with NBC, revealed that Georgie is already getting a small taste of the sport. “I take her skating. She skates once a week, but it’s, you know, it’s always going to be up to her if she likes it. She loves it right now,” Lipinski said.

For Lipinski, taking Georgie skating is not about creating another champion or expecting her daughter to follow the same path. Instead, she wants Georgie to explore what makes her happy and promises to stand behind whatever choice she makes.

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“Whatever she finds on her own, I will support and dedicate myself to,” she added.

That outlook comes from Lipinski’s own experience as a young athlete. Her relationship with skating began when she was only 3 years old, although her first experience was not on ice. Growing up in Sewell, New Jersey, Lipinski started roller skating with a friend and quickly became fascinated by the sport. By the time she was 6, her parents took her to an ice rink to try figure skating.

She initially preferred roller skating and was not particularly interested in making the switch. But that changed quickly. Within about half an hour, she was able to transfer many of the skills she had developed on roller skates to the ice. Her talent soon became impossible to ignore. At 9, Lipinski won the primary girls freestyle title at the U.S. Roller Skating Championships. As she became more focused on figure skating, her career began to take off.

At 12, she won gold at the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival, becoming the youngest athlete to win a gold medal at the event. Her journey from a little girl on roller skates to an Olympic champion is also why she understands what sport can give a child beyond medals and trophies.

“I do think sports are… it’s a great avenue for children to sort of explore and learn so many things,” Lipinski explained.

For her, some of the biggest lessons had little to do with standing on top of a podium.

“I’ve just felt that the things that I learned as a young person in sports, not only the discipline but just resilience and determination and, you know, losing and winning and all of the things, has really shaped who I am as a person,” she said.

Those lessons have stayed with Lipinski well beyond her competitive career. After winning Olympic gold at just 15 years old at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, she eventually moved into broadcasting and became one of the most recognizable voices in figure-skating coverage.

Now, she hopes Georgie can find those same lessons through sport, but on her own terms. “I hope that I can give that to her as well,” Lipinski said. And Lipinski has already shown that becoming a mother does not mean putting her own dreams aside.

Tara Lipinski shows Georgie she can chase dreams and be a mom

During the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, where Tara Lipinski worked as a figure-skating analyst, she brought Georgie along with her. In a February 6 Instagram Stories post, Lipinski opened up about her decision to bring her daughter to the Games.

Sharing photos of herself carrying Georgie on her shoulders, she wrote, “Maybe I don’t want to choose. For so long, women weren’t given that option. I want my daughter to see a mother who chases her dreams and shows up fully for her.”

“I can do both,” the Olympic champion went on, adding that she wanted to teach Georgie that motherhood and a career don’t have to be mutually exclusive. It is a message that Lipinski has preached before. Nevertheless, Lipinski has stated that it is not her career’s objective to come before her family. While she’s still working toward her career aspirations, “quality time with Georgie will always be the priority for me,” she said.

That balance has taken on an even more emotional meaning after the couple’s latest fertility journey. In May 2026, Lipinski revealed that she and Kapostasy had been trying to expand their family through surrogacy but lost their second child during the surrogate pregnancy in the second trimester. 

After everything she went through to become a mother, Lipinski now appears determined to give Georgie both the freedom to choose her own path and the chance to see her mother pursue hers.