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FLYING HIGH: lipinski takes to the air in the "kiss and cry" area after hearing the scores that made her skating's youngest gold medalist ever

How the carefree sprite Tara Lipinski upset Michelle Kwan to take the gold and break Sonja Henie's 70-year-old Olympic record as the youngest winner

om, I'm scared." the uncharacteristically anxious words came out of Tara Lipinski less than two hours before her final program. Uncharacteristic because her legend is so well known: a toddler, transfixed by the star-spangled anthem blaring from the TV, stages her own Olympic ceremony --with an overturned Tupperware container for a podium, some ribbon and dried flowers.

On Friday, over a meal of spaghetti in her parents' hotel room, the 15-year-old just wanted her mother's comfort. "It's O.K. to be scared. It's good to be scared," said Pat Lipinski. "But you can do it." After that, Tara was back in character and on the way to an upset and the fulfillment of a legend--not just the gold medal but the record as the youngest Olympic figure-skating champion ever. To do that she had to overcome a rival whose eloquence on ice had moved judges to tears. Michelle Kwan, just 17 herself, had come to Nagano for a coronation. But by finding a balance between technical perfection and blossoming artistry, a tiny confection of a girl showed the world that she would be queen.