Michelle Kwan

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Olympic Games
2nd Place	1998: Nagano, Japan
3rd Place	2002: Salt Lake City, USA
Michelle Kwan
Image:Michellekwan.png
Personal Information
Country : Federation	Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States of America : USFSA
Status	Olympic Eligible (Amateur)
Skating Club	Los Angeles FSC
Residence	Torrance, California
Coach	Rafael Arutunian
Former Coaches	Frank Carroll, Scott Williams
Choreographer	Tatiana Tarasova
Former Choreographer(s)	Lori Nichol, Nikolai Morozov, Sarah Kawahara, Peter Oppegard, Karen Kwan, Christopher Dean
World Championships
1st Place	1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003
2nd Place	1997, 1999, 2002
3rd Place	2004
National Championships
1st Place	1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
2nd Place	1994, 1995, 1997
Personal Best Records
Short Program + Free Skate Scores	175.20 : 2005 Worlds
Short Program Score	61.22 : 2005 Worlds
Free Skate Score	113.98 : 2005 Worlds
Career Total 6.0s	57

Michelle Wing Kwan (Traditional Chinese:關穎珊, Simplified Chinese: 关颖珊, born July 7 1980), is an American figure skater and media celebrity who has won nine U.S. championships, five world championships, and two Olympic medals. She has remained competitive for over a decade and is the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history. Known for her expressive artistry on ice, she has routinely been called one of the greatest figure skaters of all time.

Contents 1 Personal Biography 2 Competitive Biography 2.1 The Early Years 2.2 The Alternate Amidst the Scandal 2.3 The Jumping Bean 2.4 Development as an Artist 2.5 New Challengers Emerge: Russians and Baby Ballerinas 2.6 A Bittersweet "Fields of Gold" 2.7 Continued Passion Despite "Taking It One Day at a Time" 2.8 The Injury, The Bye, and the Tearful Withdrawal 2.9 Kwan's Future 3 Competitive and Career Highlights 3.1 Olympic Eligible Competitions 3.2 Other Notable Championships 3.3 Awards and Accolades 4 Miscellaneous Trivia 4.1 Scholarship 5 Quotes 6 External links

Personal Biography

Born in Torrance, California, Kwan is the third child of Danny and Estella Kwan, Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong. Kwan's interest in figure skating began at the age of five when she followed her two older siblings (ice hockey player Ron and figure skater Karen) onto the ice. Karen and Michelle got serious about figure skating when Michelle was about 8 years old. They began practicing three and four hours a day--waking up at 3 in the morning to get a couple skating sessions in before school and rushing back to the rink right after school to get a few more sessions in. All this rink time led to financial hardship for the not well-off family. Kwan's mother took on a second job and her father started working extra hours to finance the rink time and coach fees. Michelle's determination was apparent from an early age. Since the struggling family couldn't afford a Christmas Tree, Michelle made it her goal to win one at school by threading the most popcorn on a string. She ended up winning a miniature Christmas Tree for the family's holiday celebration. Eventually the family had to sell their house to finance the skating, but even that wasn't enough. At the age of ten, Michelle and Karen had to give up having a coach. Luckily for the two girls, talent scouts noticed them at that year's regional competition and awarded them scholarships to the Ice Castle International Training Center in Lake Arrowhead, California.

In 1999, Michelle enrolled at UCLA with the intent to major in Psychology or Political Science. Kwan recently stated that she plans to return to UCLA to finish her degree in the near future.

Competitive Biography

Kwan has won five World Championships (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2003), the most by anyone in the ladies' division since Carol Heiss (1956 - 1960), with whom she is tied for the most wins by an American. She has won nine United States National Championships (1996, 1998-2005), tying the record for most set by Maribel Vinson-Owen (1928 - 1933, 1935 - 1937). Kwan's eight consecutive U.S. Championship titles (1998-2005) and 12 consecutive U.S. Championship medals (1994-2005) are both U.S. records. She is the only woman in figure skating history to reclaim the World title three times (1998, 2000, 2003). She has also won a silver medal in the 1998 Nagano, Japan Olympics and a bronze medal in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Among her many accolades, in 2001 Michelle received the prestigious Sullivan Award given to America's best amateur athlete; the first figure skater to win the award since Dick Button won it in 1949. Kwan has received a combined total of 57 6.0s from her Nationals and Worlds competitions throughout the years. At the U.S. Nationals alone, she holds the record for most 6.0s with 42; the closest skater to her record is Brian Boitano with 9.

The Early Years

In 1991 Karen and Michelle began training with Frank Carroll, a leading figure skating coach. After just one year of coaching by Carroll, 11-year old Michelle placed 9th at the Junior U.S. Nationals. At the age of 12 in 1992, Kwan passed a test to become a senior-level figure skater despite the disapproval of her coach. In 1993, Kwan finished sixth at her first senior U.S. championships, and later that year she won the 1994 World Junior title.

The Alternate Amidst the Scandal

In 1994, Kwan finished second to Tonya Harding at the U.S. championships, which ordinarily would have earned her a spot on the U.S. team to the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. That place, however, was instead given to 1993 national champion Nancy Kerrigan, who had been sidelined by an assault and battery (eventually connected to Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly), after a practice session at those championships. The 13-year-old Kwan went to Norway as an alternate but did not compete. Instead, Kwan competed at the 1994 World Championships, where Kerrigan and Harding did not appear, finishing eighth.

The Jumping Bean

By the end of the 1994 competitive season, Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan, Oksana Baiul, and other competitors of the Lillehammer Olympics had left the amateur level for the professional ranks, leaving behind a sport badly damaged by the scandals, and ready for a new star to help it regain its stature. As a result of the scandal, the U.S. Championship was vacant for Kwan and others to capture in 1995. While Nicole Bobek captured the gold medal at the U.S. Nationals, Kwan again placed second. She then made a mark as a "jumping bean" in the 1995 World Championships, landing 7 clean triples--more than any other skater--but only placing 4th. Changes needed to be made to take 14-year-old Michelle to the next level.

Development as an Artist

Following 1995, Kwan and her team thought that she should transform herself from a "jumping bean" to a figure skating artist in order for her to emerge as a gold medal Olympic champion. This transformation manifested itself in her new competitive programs, Romanza (short program) and Salome (free skate); Kwan proved that she was a major contender for the world title. In 1996, Kwan won the U.S. Championships and the World Championships. In the latter event, she edged out defending champion Lu Chen from China in a close competition in which both competitors' marks for the free skate included perfect 6.0s.

In the 1996–97 season, Kwan skated to "Dream of Desdemona" (short program) and "Taj Mahal" (free skate). It was during this year that Michelle Kwan debuted the change of edge spiral in her short program which is still considered her signature move. However, in this season, Kwan struggled with her jumps because she wore new skating boots as a result of an endorsement with a skate company. She fell three times in her free skate at 1997 U.S. Nationals and refused to be interviewed with Lipinski and bronze medalist Bobek. She also lost the Champion Series Final and World titles to Tara Lipinski that season.

Kwan regained her U.S. title from Lipinski at the 1998 championships, in spite of competing with a toe injury. Many people consider her performances of her Rachmaninoff short program and free skate set to William Alwyn's "Lyra Angelica" at the 1998 U.S. Championships to be the high point of her career from both a technical and artistic standpoint. The performance earned her eight perfect 6.0s and left one judge in tears.

Although she was the favorite to win the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, the gold medal was awarded to Lipinski, then 15, with Kwan winning the silver medal. This was a widely contested result among skating fans. However, Kwan then won the 1998 World Championships, in which Lipinski did not compete. Lipinski's subsequent retirement from eligible skating ended an era of competition for Kwan and Lipinski. Without Lipinski, others stepped up to become her rivals.

New Challengers Emerge: Russians and Baby Ballerinas

While Lipinski turned professional shortly after the Olympics in 1998, Kwan continued to compete as an eligible skater. In the 1998-99 season, Kwan skated to "Fate of Carmen" (short program) and "Lamento D'Ariane" (free skate). At the 1999 U.S. Championships, Kwan attained her third title, landing a triple toe loop/triple toe loop combination despite an uncharacteristic fall on her second triple lutz at the end of her program. At the 1999 World Championships, however, Kwan made two major errors in the short program and minor errors in the long program, losing to Maria Butyrskaya.

Michelle Kwan's win at the 2000 U.S. Nationals was controversial. Despite a fall in the short program, the judges placed her in the top three in that segment, keeping her in contention for the title. However, she defeated Sasha Cohen, a young skater known as a "baby ballerina," in the long program to win the 2000 Nationals Championship. At the 2000 World Championships, after the short program, Butyrskaya was first with Irina Slutskaya second, while Kwan was in third after a flawed "A Day in The Life" short program. Kwan's fate was not completely in her hands; in order to win the title, she would have to win the free skate and have someone else beat Butyrskaya as well. In her free skate to music from the film "The Red Violin", Kwan landed seven triples, including a triple toe loop/triple toe loop combination. This was enough for Kwan to win both the free skate and world title as Butyrskaya finished only third in the free skating.

In 2001, while Cohen sat injured, other competitors Sarah Hughes and Angela Nikodinov challenged Kwan for the national title, but Kwan again won the U.S. Championships. Similarly, at the 2001 World Championships, Slutskaya, Butirskaya, Hughes, and Nikodinov, all challenged Kwan for the title. In the short program, Kwan was second to Slutskaya, skating to music from the "East of Eden" TV adaptation. Kwan battled back to win the title with her "Song of the Black Swan" long program, executing 7 triples, including a triple/triple combination, to break the "odd year curse" that she had experienced at prior World Championships.

A Bittersweet "Fields of Gold"

In the fall of 2001, Kwan and Carroll parted ways. Coachless, Kwan arrived at the 2002 U.S. Championships in Los Angeles with the media's scrutiny over her separation with Carroll and her season's inconsistencies. Proving that she was still a force to contend with, Kwan won the competition with a revived "Rachmaninoff" short program and a new "Scheherazade" program for her free skate. Joining her on the Olympic team were Sasha Cohen (second) and Sarah Hughes (third). The 21-year-old Kwan, along with Russia's Irina Slutskaya, remained the favorites to win the gold medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. After the short program, Kwan led, followed by Slutskaya, Cohen, and Hughes. In the free skate, a combination of a flawed, pressure-filled performance by Kwan (two-footing her combination and failing on her triple flip) and the success of another young phenomenon, 16-year-old Sarah Hughes, saw Kwan receive the bronze medal. During the exhibition gala, Kwan skated a tearful, bittersweet performance to Eva Cassidy's version of "Fields of Gold." Kwan finished the 2002 season second at the World Championships behind Slutskaya.

Continued Passion Despite "Taking It One Day at a Time"

While the question of Kwan's retirement to the professional level continues to linger, she has continued to compete on the eligible circuit. While a new generation of skaters has begun to emerge and present Kwan with new challenges, she has responded in kind; she has added three more U.S. championships (2003-2005, bringing her consecutive streak to an all-time record eight and total to a shared-record nine) and a fifth World championship (2003) to the list of her victories.

Coached by Scott Williams, Kwan won all phases of every competition she entered in the 2002-2003 competitive season with her programs: the exotic "The Feeling Begins" (short program) and "Concierto de Aranjuez" (free skate). She won the U.S. Championships again and regained her World title.

In 2003, she hired noted technician Rafael Arutunian as her coach, with whom she has attempted to increase the technical difficulty of her programs. Around this time Kwan was receiving criticism from skating experts who believed her programs were not at the same level technically as her competitors. While her rivals included the more difficult triple salchow-triple loop and triple loop-triple loop combos Kwan was wary of even attempting these jumps. She did occasionally attempt the triple toe-triple toe in competition though. In the 2003-2004 competitive season, she skated again to "The Feeling Begins" for her short program, and "Tosca" for her long program. Again, Kwan won the U.S. Championships. At the 2004 World Championships, after a difficult qualifying round, Kwan was penalized in her short program for going two seconds overtime. Then, just as she was about to start her free skate, there was a disruption caused by a spectator entering the ice surface, who had to be removed by security staff. In the end, Kwan placed third at the championships behind Shizuka Arakawa of Japan and Sasha Cohen.

During the fall seasons of 2002 to 2004, Michelle Kwan had only competed in one Grand Prix event, the Skate America event in which she took over for an absent Sarah Hughes. She won the event and qualified for the Grand Prix Final but chose not to compete in it. Kwan chose to not compete in subsequent Grand Prix events where the new judging system was being tested.

For the competitive season of 2004-2005 Michelle Kwan skated a long program to the "Boléro" music made famous by Torvill and Dean two decades before, and debuted a new short program, "Adagio" from Aram Khachaturian's ballet Spartacus. At the U.S. Championships, she won her 9th title, tying the all-time record previously set by Maribel Vinson-Owen. Interestingly, Vinson-Owen had coached Frank Carroll, who in turn coached Kwan. At the 2005 World Championship, Kwan saw herself seemingly unprepared in the new Code of Points judging system which had been adopted by the International Skating Union. Perhaps because of her lack of CoP experience, Michelle did not skate her best and finished off the podium by only 0.37 point. She fell on her triple salchow and two-footed a triple lutz. Most of Kwan's elements were rated level 1 or 2. For the first time since 1995, Kwan finished off the podium at the World Championships.

The Injury, The Bye, and the Tearful Withdrawal

Kwan looked at the 2005 world competition as a learning experience in the new judging system. She continued to train and stated that she would attempt to qualify for the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, Italy. Unfortunately, following a hip injury, she was forced to withdraw from three competitions during the 2005-2006 season: Campbell's Classic, Skate America and Cup of China. Kwan returned to competition at the Marshalls Winter Challenge with the debut of her new short program (Totentanz), and went on to win with technically downgraded performances in a fan-voting format over Sasha Cohen, Alissa Czisny, and Emily Hughes, who had all competed during the 2005-2006 season. On January 4, 2006, Kwan withdrew from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships with an abdominal injury incurred in December 2005. One week later, she filed a petition with United States Figure Skating for a medical waiver to be placed on the 2006 Olympic figure skating team. On January 14, 2006, on the same night after the United States ladies' figure skating event, the United States Figure Skating International Committee met and in a 20 to 3 vote approved Kwan's petition to be placed on the Olympics team under the stipulation that she show her physical and competitive readiness to a five-member monitoring panel by January 27, 2006.

Kwan performed her long and short programs for the panel on the stipulated day, and her spot on the Olympic team was established, as the panel felt she was fit to compete. However, on February 12, 2006, the United States Olympic Committee announced that Kwan had withdrawn from the Games after suffering a new groin injury in her first practice in Turin. Kwan tearfully remarked that she "respected the Olympics too much to compete." The Turin organising committee accepted the USOC's application for Emily Hughes (who had finished third at the U.S. Championships) to compete as Kwan's replacement. Shizuka Arakawa, not a favorite going into the Turin games, went on to win the Ladies' event.

Kwan's Future

After her withdrawal from the Olympic team, Kwan turned down an offer to stay in Turin as a figure skating commentator for NBC Sports.<ref>[1]</ref> On February 16, 2006, The Walt Disney Company announced that Kwan will "serve as a celebrity representative and spokesperson for businesses across the entire range of The Walt Disney Company".<ref>[2]</ref> This includes participating in advertising, promotions, public service announcements, making guest appearances on Disney shows, and making personal appearances at live Disney events.

During an interview with Bob Costas and Scott Hamilton, Michelle Kwan said she was not retiring yet. Speculation abounds as to whether Kwan will stay on the figure skating scene until the 2010 Olympics. If she continues to the 2010 games, she will be 29 years old. <ref>[3]</ref>

Kwan performed at the Marshalls US Figure Skating International Showcase in April 2006 and is currently touring with Champions on Ice.

Competitive and Career Highlights

Kwan's competitive history spans over a decade, as she has been competing at the national level since she was 12 years old. This section shows her record in the U.S., World and Olympic Championships, along with the other top skaters whom Michelle has competed against. The table below shows basic information of Michelle Kwan's competition records.

Competitive Information
Olympic Records	World Championships	US Nationals	CoP Personal Best Total Score	6.0 Records	Significant Accolades
1998 Silver Medalist and 2002 Bronze Medalist	5 Worlds Title	9 National Title	175.20 (SP+FS scores)	57 6.0s	Sullivan Awards Winner

Olympic Eligible Competitions

Olympic eligible competitions include the US Nationals Championships, World Championships, Olympic Games, the Grand Prix Series, and Four Continents Championships. Each Season contains all the olympic eligible competitions she entered as well as ones she entered and withdrew.

Other Notable Championships

Other Notable Championships include competitions that were sanctioned by the ISU but not considered one of the "canon" championship. There competitions are generally considered "fluff" or "cheesefests." In past seasons, they had include competitions with professional figure skaters but in recent seasons, they have only included olympic eligible figure skaters. These include such competitions as Marshalls and Campbells International Challenge, Ultimate Four, Hersheys Kisses Challenge, etc.

Awards and Accolades

These includes awards such as the Sullivan Awards, Polls, etc.

Miscellaneous Trivia

Image:SimpHomer Kwan 2 72.jpg

• Famed wedding dress designer Vera Wang, who herself was a figure skater, has designed many of Kwan's costumes. These costumes cost a minimum of $20,000 to make.<ref>[4]</ref>
• In 1999, she appeared in the Michelle Kwan Figure Skating computer game.
• Kwan always wears a good luck necklace (a gold dragon necklace) that her grandmother gave her.
• She finished 11th grade with a 3.8 GPA and 12th grade with a 3.9 GPA, for a cumulative high school GPA of 3.6. She attends the University of California - Los Angeles, taking 5 credits in English composition.
• Her sister Karen also skated competitively at the elite level, finishing 6th at the U.S. Nationals in 1997.
• When she first lived at Ice Castle, she lived in the cabin called "Debi Thomas' Teepee."
• Made a guest appearance in episode "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" as herself in season sixteen of TV show The Simpsons.
• Her book is "The Winning Attitude: What it Takes to be a Champion."
• Kwan has a wax statue of herself at the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in New York.
• Kwan and fellow figure skater Brian Boitano appeared as announcers in the film Ice Princess.
• She provided the voice of a shopkeeper in the Disney direct to DVD sequel Mulan II.
• She also made a guest star appearance in children's cartoon TV show Arthur.
• Her former boyfriend is hockey player Brad Ference.
• She made a guest star appearance in the Family Guy episode A Hero Sits Next Door.
• Kwan currently resides in Manhattan Beach, California.
• Kwan is a seven-time recipient of SKATING magazine's Readers' Choice Award for figure skater of the year, and in 2003, the trophy that is given out for the Readers' Choice Award was renamed the "Michelle Kwan Trophy."
• In May 2000, Kwan was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People magazine.
• She is the co-owner of the East West Ice Palace in Artesia, California

Scholarship

The Chevrolet/Michelle Kwan R.E.W.A.R.D.S. Scholarship program, established by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors, has teamed up with Michelle Kwan to annually recognize 10 outstanding female high school graduates from across the United States who are involved in athletics. Each scholarship provides a $5,000 award payable over four years: $2,000 for the freshman year and $1,000 per year for up to three additional years based upon maintaining minumum eligibility criteria each year.

Quotes

• "As a child, I'd wonder, 'When I die, will people still remember me 1,000 years later?' And without the gold medal... Well, the Olympics are the ultimate achievement in my sport. At times I think, 'Why should I push myself all those long hours in the rink?' But then I think, 'How will I ever know how good I could have been?' I want to be the Michael Jordan of my sport." - Kwan, following the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan.
• "Work hard, have fun, and be yourself." - Michelle Kwan's motto, appears on publicity cards.
• I'm not closing any doors right now," said Kwan who missed this year's Olympics with a groin injury. "Since 2002, I've kind of left everything wide open. ... I want to go back to school and finish up. But I think the first thing is to get healthy and feel good about my body and feel, oh, OK, I'm ready."

External links

• U.S. Figure Skating athlete biography
• International Skating Union (ISU) Skater Biography
• Official U.S. Olympic Team bio with links to three photo galleries
• Michelle Kwan
• Michelle Kwan Fan Page
• The Michelle Kwan Forum
• Cruella de Kwan: A Depository of Videos for Michelle Kwan
• Michelle Kwan Fanatics
• AAJA statements regarding headline controversy
• {{{2|{{{name|Michelle Kwan}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database
• Michelle Kwan - Champion Forever
• Michelle Kwan interview
• Michelle Kwan's REWARDS scholarship program
• Chevrolet, Michelle Kwan Award 10 College-Bound Female Athletes with Scholarships

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