Hughes won a surprising, close contest in the 2002 Olympic women's figure skating event, narrowly edging Russia's Irina Slutskaya on a tiebreaker. In her long program, Hughes landed seven triple jumps, including two triple-triple combinations. She had been in fourth place going into the long program.
Despite appearing on the cover of Time magazine the week before the event, Hughes was considered the third-best American skater at the 2002 Olympics, behind favorite Michelle Kwan and fellow teen phenom Sasha Cohen.
Sarah T. Hughes was the U.S. Federal District judge who swore Lyndon Johnson into Office on Air Force One after the Kennedy assassination.