Sarah, On and Off the Ice

“There has been an enormous amount of attention on me,” says Olympic gold medal figure skater Sarah Hughes matter-of-factly. “Of course, it has been a little overwhelming. But it has calmed down, as I knew inevitably it would with time.”

Last February, the then 16-year-old Hughes surprised the world when she won the women’s figure skating competition at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. In fourth place after the technical round, Hughes skated a near flawless artistic program and beat out such favorites as Michelle Kwan of the United States and Irina Slutskaya of Russia for the gold medal.

And now she headlines her first prime-time special, “Sarah Hughes: A Life in the Balance,” premiering Wednesday on NBC. The hourlong special combines new skating performances by the 17-year-old as well as private moments with her family on Long Island, N.Y., and a behind-the-scenes look at her charitable and public service projects.

“We have some fun family moments and serious family moments,” says Hughes. “I think it’s cool. I wasn’t expecting that cameras would be following me around everywhere for the special, but I had a great time. I did get four brand-new routines for the special. They all have meaning for me.”

Executive producer John Faratzis, who has been covering athletics for 24 years, says he wanted the show to reflect what makes Hughes special. “There is a great level of dedication to be able to compete at that level,” he says. “Oftentimes you meet people who are one-dimensional. There is no other way to put it. That is what their life is, especially when you talk about some Olympic sports when you peak very early. The kids aren’t well rounded. Well, Sarah is like the antithesis of that.”

Hughes, the fourth of six children, has always lived at home. “Sometimes [parents] ship these kids off and they go live with a coach someplace and the kid doesn’t even see their parents,” says Faratzis. “Sarah is part of a large family. She wasn’t treated differently than anybody else. She continued to attend public school, and most kids go straight to tutoring. She has friends and she’s involved in social activities. It was impressive to me from the beginning that she was able to balance all of these different elements in her life, and at 16 she could make the kind of commitment that was necessary to be a world classic skater but yet still be interested in school work. I thought that it would be interesting to people, given that she burst onto the world stage.”

In the special, Hughes talks about her mother’s bout with breast cancer. “Her cancer was very serious,” says Hughes. “It required a lot of treatment. She is healthy now, knock on wood. It used to be very difficult to talk about, but it’s very important to raise awareness for it. This summer I shot a commercial on breast cancer awareness, so the special shows behind the scenes of my commercials.”

The special also chronicles her work for General Electric’s Heroes for Health Program. “I am the ambassador for the program. I go around the country and visit hospitals and spend time with kids and recognize people who have really made a difference in the community.”

Hughes also is involved with Campbell Soup’s Labels for Education program, “where schools can collect labels on the cans. You add up the points [for each label] of the year and you trade in points for educational equipment. The Sarah Hughes Scholarship offers additional money. The special shows me visiting a school where we kicked off the program this year.”

Currently a senior at Great Neck North High School, Hughes is busy applying to colleges. At this point, though, she’s undecided about a major. “I was interested in medicine,” she says, but since making the special, Hughes acknowledges, “the more interested I am in filmmaking.”

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“Sarah Hughes: A Life in the Balance” can be seen at 8 p.m. Wednesday on NBC.