At the 2002 Olympics, Hughes placed fourth in the short program after being penalized for underrotating her triple flip and lutz. In her long program, she landed seven triple jumps, including a triple toe loop-triple loop and a triple salchow-triple loop combination. She won the long program, as the three contenders ahead of her after the short program all made mistakes in their respective long programs. Figure Skating rules at the time dictated that if someone placed fourth in the short program, but won the free skate, they could not automatically win the event. Michelle Kwan, who was in first place after the short program would have to lose the free program to Hughes and one other skater as well. Hughes won the free skate, with Irina Slutskaya placing second in that portion, ahead of Kwan. Therefore, the final standings were Hughes in first, Slutskaya in second and Kwan in third. Hughes won the gold medal at age of 16 years and 295 days, became one of the youngest figure skating Olympic champions. She is the only American woman to have won the Olympic title without ever having won either a World or U.S. senior national title.