Vicki Abelson's Broadcast: The Road Taken

How fun to sit down with a young old friend and catch up after a long pandemic pause. Olympian, Tai Babilonia, is as beautiful, luminescent, gracious, inspiring, perseverant, focused, and fun as she ever was. The World Figure Skating Champion, and 5x U.S. Figure Skating Champion, was as fearless in retelling milestones in her life as she was living them. From great triumphs to heartbreaks, big and small, Tai’s acceptance of her lot, no matter what, no doubt helped carry her from one victory to the next. Her gratitude for her good fortune, her love, and respect for her parents, her brother, and her son are admirable and enviable. We talked about Tai’s journey on the ice––thank God for Mabel Fairbanks who took a very young Tai and forced her hand into Randy Gardners––beautiful story there bookmarked with the pages being written with loving care, overseen by Tai and Randy to honor her. From the ’76 Olympics to the 5 US Championships, to being only the 2nd Americans to win the World Championship, to the nightmar