Michelle Kwan Withdraws from Olympics!

NBC TV | 2-12-2006 | Self

[blondee123]

It was just announced (2:30 a.m. central time) on NBC TV that Michelle Kwan has officially withdrawn from olympic competition. Said that the U.S. team has filed a replacement form with the Olympic committee.

[Kaslin]

I have to disagree. It's the Olympics, for goodness sakes. Man up, Michelle. Bit your lip and get out there and win

Do you even know what a groin injury is?

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

She did not qualify at the trials because of an injury.

She was given preferential treatment and allowed to join the team nevertheless.

She took the place of someone who deserved to go.

Sportsmanship was not observed and so the whole team suffers.

Sounds like the liberal thing to do.

Afford preferential treatment to gain an advantage ......and then have it backfire!

[solitas]

bump

[OldFriend]

The end of her dream.

She was a joy to watch and a previous injury cost her the gold at an earlier Olympics.

It wasn't meant to be that she earns the gold but to many she was golden in our hearts.

[paudio]

There are 2 Hughes: Sarah and Emily. The one who won gold in 2002 was the older sister, Sarah. Emily is her sister.

[R. Scott]

Man up, Michelle. Bit your lip and get out there and win.

Far easier to say than do. A groin muscle twitches at the wrong time and she either goes down or loses points. Either way it is better she drops out and allow a skater who is healthy have a chance.

[Bear_Slayer]

Yesterday, my wife heard MK speak, suggesting that she might drop out. Her wording suggested, to my wife, that she might be pregnant.

Anybody know if there is any truth to this?

[F16Fighter]

The Olympics no longer holds any patriot connotation for me.

It's about IOC greed, elitism, politics, and self-absorbed self-promotion -- just like the rest of "entertainment."

[bonfire]

I agree. Ice-skating has a whole different set of "rules".

[montag813]

I feel bad for her, but it's better to do that earlier, so that Emily Hughes can prepare better..

Kwan had no business on this team. The closed-door approval a few weeks ago was most unfortunate. Now she took forever to drop out and Emily Hughes is being delayed by the snowstorm. Annoying. I hope Emily can quickly limber up and steal the gold. What a story that would make!

[rabidralph]

And from way outta left field...

[montag813]

It is sad that she had to drop out, but she should not have been there in the first place. She did not qualify in the Nationals but was placed on the team instead of Emily Hughes who had qualified. Karma.

Amen to that. It's nice to praise Kwan, but she should not have been there, and now Hughes has to rush to Torino in short order.

[Bear_Slayer]

She's not yer sister, is she?

[Thoeting]

Ah, poor kid. Michelle Kwan at the top of her game is a thing of beauty.

But I respect her for making a choice that allows another the chance to compete.

Even if she did this to protect her "value" as a performer, it had to be a heart-wrenching decision. These athletes have hearts of tigers and don't walk away from any competition. They always think deep inside that they can work around the pain.

[Republican Red]

Michelle Kwan should have earned a spot on the 1994 Olympic team, but was replaced by Nancy Kerrigan who petitioned for a spot after her attack.

But Nancy Kerrigan wasn't injured to the extent of affecting her performance. She won a silver medal that year.

I don't fault Kwan for attempting to overcome her injury and participate but if she wasn't in 100% competitive condition then Team USA should have brought along their substitute, Hughes. Hughes has missed out on much of the Olympic experience and has missed out on training time in Torino.

[rabidralph]

No, she's not.

[Shanda]

What ever happened to Tara Lipinski? She seems to have dropped off the face of the earth.

[commish]

I was really hoping Michelle would have a great olympics,but I am glad to see her making a wise and unselfish decision to step aside and let a healthy Emily hughes skate.

My biggest fear was that Michelle would get on the ice at less than 100% and tarnish her great legacy with a horrible performance.

I don't think that healthy she had a chance at winning anyway -- the new scoring system has completely destroyed her type of elegant long lines artistic skating. All the competition is now is a fight to see who can do the highest number of difficult jumps with a "heres some footwork" and an "Oh ny the way here is a spin at the end".

There is no longer any place in figure skating for beauty, elegance and coreography -- it is all nothing but tiny little jumping beans seeing who can do the most jumps.

That said, hopefully Sasha Cohen can get her head out of her anal orifice and skate two CLEAN programs for the first time in her life.

[Accygirl]

She did well in her practice two weeks ago (some reporters were actually there and reported on it), so she was cleared to go. I guess that these things just flair up though.

As for Hughes Part Deux, she's really bad; there's no way that either she or Kimmie Messigner can get a top ten finish (even if hell freezes over). I'm sad because I'd have preferred to see a Michelle Kwan compete at fifty percent than either Kimmie or Emily butcher the sport of figure skating.

[Accygirl]

New word for everyone... codewhoring.