Michelle Kwan attended the 1994 Olympics as a last minute replacement for Tonya Harding in case the officials disallowed her to skate. She was allowed with all her broken lace theatrics...starting twice.... and crying for everyone to see. I remember that little kid - who just barely qualified for the "grown up Olympics" sitting in the stands mouth agape - feeling the Olympic spirit...hearing that her father "coached" her.... Michelle Kwan.
This morning she still had that spirit - knowing her country would not be served well by her skating. It is still the flame of patriotism which burns in many of our athletes.
She won a world's title five times, a U.S. title nine times and two Olympic medals, gold and bronze, never having won the gold.
Her family weren't wealthy and she made many sacrifices staying an amateur and going to University rather than capitalizing on the "gold" as so many of the female skaters have done: Yamaguchi, Kerrigan, Lipinski, even Hughes who has stopped skating for now. They took the medal and became professionals immediately. Kwan opted to preserve the amateur status...while still able to make money, she never parlayed her status into the really big financial gains...as she will now be able to do.
I hope to see her heal and skate again, as a professional...
she brought so much to the sport... when you see little Sasha Cohen doing her huge leg extensions.... it was Kwan who introduced most of them and variations on them into the routines for competition....borrowed from an earlier skater in the 50s.
Strangely enough one of her competitors - Slutskaya - has also remained amateur although it is different in Russia no doubt - but I think she will miss Kwan - as they became good friends over the many years they competed with each other.
Kwan has done so much for the U.S. figure skating....even to the point of leaving the team for the good of the U.S.
It is an unusual trait these days among athletes.