Invitation for Kwan would cheapen dreams
By JOHN ROMANO
Published January 14, 2006
ST. LOUIS - We're in the final hours of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and awaiting another dramatic comeback. My money is on scandal.
I'm guessing it slides past Kimmie Meissner and beats the sequins out of Bebe Liang. I think it trumps credibility and pauses at corruption.
I think Michelle Kwan might make the Olympic team.
Not that it would be shocking. This is, after all, a sport that considers integrity a side dish. A sport of knee-whackers and crooked judges.
A sport that could shamelessly promote its national championship and, when it's all over, decide it really wasn't such an important event after all.
You should know, by now, that Kwan isn't here. Hasn't really been anywhere for quite some time. She has been injured, indifferent and indisposed for much of the past year. And, still, she is an Olympic contender.
Only in figure skating.
Look, I have no problem with an appeal system. I think it's a good idea to make sure injury or happenstance does not preclude one of America's best athletes from participating in an event that comes around every four years.
But I also believe the standards must be high. Before taking a dream from one person and handing it to another, the evidence must be overwhelming.
In this case, it's not even close.
Kwan is the most decorated skater in U.S. history, but that does not entitle her to a lifetime pass. This is not the Kiwanis.
The truth is Kwan, out with a groin injury, hasn't skated in a major event in 10 months. She hasn't been on the regular circuit in three years. The last time we saw her on the ice, she didn't even attempt a triple jump.
She has been injured twice since October and has had little opportunity to refine her routines for the new scoring system.
So maybe, against all odds, she is as capable as ever.
But how can anyone be sure?
And are they willing to crush someone else's hopes because they guess Kwan is going to be fit enough to compete next month?
"It's really hard for the girls who have worked so hard for a place on the team," said Sasha Cohen, who has a comfortable lead going into tonight. "But, then again, it's the U.S. Olympic Committee's job to pick the three skaters that will place the highest at the Olympics.
"I'm really not too deep into the politics of U.S. Figure Skating, but whoever it is who doesn't get to go will be devastated."
You've got to understand, this is not some ceremonial post. It is not putting Willie Mays on a final All-Star team or giving Emmitt Smith a one-day contract to retire as a Cowboy.
For Meissner, Liang, Emily Hughes and Alissa Czisny, this might be the only chance they have to be an Olympian. This is a dream they have chased for a lifetime only to find out it might be punctured by backroom politicking.
How can U.S. Figure Skating seriously contemplate this?
How can they spend four years revamping the scoring system to assure no one gets cheated on the ice, then turn around and consider cheating someone in a conference room with no cameras or accountability?
And, make no mistake, it would be cheating.
According to U.S. Figure Skating's bylaws, an injury petition can be granted based on a competitor's performances in six previous events over the past year. Kwan, 25, participated in only one of those six events. And she did not win a medal.
If she is named to the team, it will not be because of her performances in the past season. And it will not be because of her contributions of the past 12 years, as her supporters keep pointing out.
It will be because of money.
NBC wants Kwan. Wants the ratings she will bring in the Torino Games. Visa and Coca-Cola want her, too. They've already invested a ton in marketing.
So maybe U.S. Figure Skating looks at it as a business decision. Maybe officials believe it makes sense to send a medal favorite, such as Cohen, and a sentimental favorite, such as Kwan.
But the Olympics are supposed to mean more than that. The Olympics are supposed to be about aspirations and ideals, not calculations and schemes.
The thing is, I feel badly for Kwan. She has been a gracious champion and an even more gracious runnerup from the time she was a 13-year-old.
She is a five-time world champion and I wish she could have gotten the Olympic gold that eluded her in 1998 and 2002.
But just because she has fallen short does not mean she should automatically get another chance. Not at the expense of someone else. Not even someone who has yet to make a mark in international skating.
Czisny is 18. Liang is 17. Hughes and Meissner are both 16. None of them has ever won a major title or made a previous Olympic team.
So if one finishes second and another finishes third tonight, what are the odds they will be strong medal contenders in Italy? I honestly don't know.
All I know is, Tara Lipinski was 15 when she finished second in the nationals in 1998. She went on to win Olympic gold. And I know Sarah Hughes was 16 when she finished third in the nationals in 2002. She went on to win Olympic gold. Those are the real Olympic dreams.
The ones that aren't manipulated.