Skating

Kwan goes with the flow

There's no talk of retirement - or a rigid, mapped-out future.

©Associated Press
March 31, 2003

WASHINGTON -- Michelle Kwan has no idea where the future will take her or what other history she will make in her career.

After a lifetime of planning everything down to the last detail, she is discovering the secret might be to slow down, relax and enjoy life as it comes.

"This year has been enjoyable, because I have been so relaxed," Kwan said Saturday night after winning her fifth title at the World Figure Skating Championships.

"Maybe that tells me something: That I should put less pressure on myself. I've had such a long, wonderful skating career, I think that anything else is extra. ... I have nothing to lose, I have nothing to prove -- just go out and skate."

When she does that, magic happens. Her fifth world title ties her with Carol Heiss and Dick Button for most by an American, and she has more world medals than any U.S. skater with eight. She has been first or second at every world championship since 1996, also winning in '96, '98, 2000 and '01. No other woman has recaptured the title three times.

Worn out after a long last season that included another Olympic disappointment, Kwan was unsure if she would compete this year.

She competed at Skate America, but only as a last-minute fill-in when Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes got hurt. She did the U.S. Championships, winning her seventh title. Finally, she came to worlds. Instead of looking rusty as many skaters would after a short season, the 22-year-old was the best she has been since 1998.

All talk leading up to the competition had been of a possible U.S. sweep with Kwan, Hughes and Sasha Cohen. Only Kwan lived up to the challenge. While Hughes and Cohen tumbled and stumbled, she put together three near-flawless performances.

"You're proud to be after her," said Elena Sokolova, whose silver-medal performance would have been good enough for gold most years. "But I hope, one day, it will change. That's the dream of everybody, I think."

But Kwan's rivals may have to continue dreaming. Kwan may not say the words out loud and commit to something a few years away, but she sounds like a woman who will take another shot at gold in 2006.

"It's like this never-ending feeling," she said. "I think that's why people ask, 'Why is Michelle competing? Why does she keep on going?' Because I haven't had that feeling (of), 'Well, that is enough, I've had enough competition, I can hang my skates up.' "

ATHLETE'S COMMISSION: Figure skaters formed an athlete-based organization, asking for more of a voice in the International Skating Union. The International Athlete's Commission is not a challenge to the ISU, U.S. skater Amber Corwin said. But skaters want more of a say in certain issues, she said.

Under ISU rules, skating has three athlete representatives but they can't vote on the ISU council or technical committee. The commission is opposed to the interim scoring system and its anonymous judging. The group asked for published marks and a lifetime ban for judges guilty of cheating.

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