When given the opportunity, I like to ask Olympians, “What is the most interesting trivia question, to which your name is the answer?” Tara Lipinski told me she became America’s youngest Winter Olympic Champion when she earned figure skating gold in Nagano in 1998 at the age of 15 years and 253 days. She mentioned that due to a change in the rules of skating which limit competitors’ ages, this is a record that may never be broken. (According to my research, the youngest Winter Olympic champion of all time was the German, Maxi Herber, who won gold in figure skating in 1936 at the age of 15 years, 127 days).

Somewhat in contrast, I met with Brian Boitano, who until last night was America’s most recent male figure skating champion, and I asked him about his feelings about losing the “record” to Evan Lysacek. Brian said that the sport he loved so much needed a fresh American face, and he was delighted for Evan to be that standard bearer.

This graceful passing of the crown is one of the Olympic Games’ most appealing faces.