Olympic Gold medalist Tara Lipinski is trading in her skates for a microphone as a commentator at Pyeongchang. This is her second time working as an analyst at the Games alongside Johnny Weir, as the pair started together in Sochi in 2014.
Although Lipinski found her career partner in Weir, she found her life partner in Todd Kapostasy- a sports producer whom she met through the industry as well. The pair enjoyed a whirlwind romance, meeting at the Sports Emmys in 2015, getting engaged seven months later and tying the knot in June of last year.
Learn more about the Cleveland native who melted the ice skater’s heart.
1. He Took Tara Skating in Central Park Before He Proposed
The fiance-to-be planned a New York City-themed engagement, taking his forever ice queen skating in Central Park as one of their pre-engagement activities. In his Instagram post above, he joked, “I was nice enough to give @taralipinski a private lesson in Central Park today. Kid’s got potential.”
He got down on one knee at Manhattan’s iconic Plaza Hotel, where he proposed by putting a commissioned painting of them getting engaged outside her California home in its window.
After the engagement the future groom shared his bliss on Instagram, listing the qualities he loves about Lipinksi:
I’ve never been more happy in my entire life then when @taralipinski said yes to marrying me last night. She’s the most beautiful, passionate, talented, and loyal person I’ve ever met, and I’m the luckiest guy on the planet right now.
They wed at Middleton Place in Charleston, South Carolina, with a menu that included chicken and waffles and chocolate milkshakes with Kahlua.
Lipinski said her wedding was the best day of her life, telling People it even surpassed the moment she won Olympic gold:
Obviously winning an Olympic gold medal for my country in 1998 was a very proud moment for me, but nothing competes with finding someone you love to spend the rest of your life with!
Weir served as her bridesman, donning custom Swarovski crystal-studded Hermès shoes and walking down the aisle to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.” He couldn’t contain his happiness for his best friend, telling People, “Tara is one of most loving and caring people I’ve ever met, so to see her find the love of her life and see them make it official was like a fairytale. It was hard for me to hold back tears of happiness for a woman who means so much to me.”
2. He Met Her When She Presented Him With His Sports Emmy
He’s a producer with Fox Sports, and you can find an extensive representation of his work- 51 videos to be exact- on his Vimeo page.
In the early days of his career, he served as a production assistant at ESPN, working there for seven years, most of that time helping with SportsCenter. He spoke about what attracted him to the production aspect of sports in an interview with Cleveland.com, saying:
Part of it was being an athlete, but also it was the story-telling aspect of it. I’m not a guy who’s ever going to sit and watch game after game after game, but I always loved the sort of feature stories on athletes and the human interest stories, even early on when I was doing SportsCenter stuff.
Three of his pieces went on to garner four Emmys. Two were awarded to him for editing, another for a short feature entitled Corked: The Albert Belle Bat Heist and the last for Derek Jeter: Captain’s Curtain Call, shown below.
Derek Jeter: Captain's Curtain Call from Todd Kapostasy on Vimeo.
It was at the Sports Emmys in May of 2015 that he met Lipinski. According to The Knot, she was the one who presented him with his award onstage.
The Emmy winner and presenter decided to mix business with pleasure and started dating that same month. Their first date, to Kapostasy’s dismay, was in fact, a group effort. On his Instagram page, he shared the email Lipinski wrote him, informing him that a crew of her friends were also joining them that evening.
“#tbt to the time I foolishly thought I was going on a first “date” with @taralipinski. To my dismay, roughly 24 hours before said date, I get this email making it clear she was bringing 18 friends as backup,” he reminisced.
3. He’s An Ivy Leaguer
Lipinksi beau is well educated, having attended Brown University in Rhode Island, and graduating with a double major in political science and history.
During his college years, he was a high-jumper on the track team. The stats below were taken in December of 2002 on the Brown Athletics site:
(www.brownbears.com)
In October, he took his new bride to his alma mater, and Lipinski posted about the experience in the photo below. “Todd took me to Brown today! I got to relive his college days with him. The campus is so beautiful! And of course I had to hit up the rink,” she said.
4. He Earned 10 Varsity Letters in High School & Was Inducted Into Its Hall of Fame
(www.perry-lake.org)
The Ohio native grew up in Lake County, the smallest county in the state, close to Lake Erie.
The Midwestern gentleman attended Perry High School, located 30 minutes east of Cleveland, in 2002
At the school’s Distinguished Alumni and Athletic Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in 2013, he was featured in the program, shown above.
Paying homage to his high school glory days, he tweeted a photo of his old football shirt, seen below.
Every time I move I pull this baby out of the closet, contemplate tossing it, then pack it up #phs http://t.co/mCaKnv4b
5. He Produced an Ali Video for the Super Bowl & Fox Was Subsequently Sued
Kapostasy produced the video above, which aired before the 2017 Super Bowl. It prominently featured Muhammad Ali, but Muhammad Ali Enterprises claimed Fox Broadcasting Company did not have the green light. They went on to sue the media company for $30 million, and Deadline published the court documents.
Forbes reported on the suit, explaining:
In a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the company seeks $30 million in damages, alleging that the Fox Broadcasting Co. used the boxing legend’s identity without authorization in a pre-Super Bowl promotional video.