On Thin Ice: The Tai Babilonia Story

I'm a bit older than Tai Babalonia, and growing up I followed her career closely. When she and Randy Gardner had to withdraw from the 1980 Olympics, I was devastated and seeing Tai cry on the ice made me think nothing could get worse that this for her. After seeing this TV movie, I realized there was much more behind this fragile and beautiful skater's life.

Okay, it's a TV movie which make you immediately think of contrived story plots and overly emotional scenes. On Thin Ice may be guilty of some of that, however the message should be clear to anyone that sees their child as a vehicle to attain goals. Tai nearly chose death over living other people's lives. Thankfully she is still with us today. If you are willing to get past production quality, acting ability (which really aren't that bad)and see the movie unvarnished for the story, the message you will receive is that hope can come from despair.