St. Louis – Michelle Kwan has skated before packed arenas and hundreds of millions of television viewers. She has skated with an entire nation riding on her every lutz, flip and axel.
However, one of the biggest performances of her life may come before only five people, in an empty arena, in an obscure ice rink in some suburb few have heard of. By Jan. 28, Kwan will skate before a monitoring committee of five people who will determine if the nine-time national champion and two-time Olympic medalist is fit for next month’s Turin Olympics.
The committee really has a sixth member. She goes by the name of Kwan. She says she’ll be the toughest critic of all.
“If I can’t feel I’ll be ready, I will pull myself off of the team and I said that before and I am sticking to it,” Kwan said late Saturday. “If I don’t believe that I can be at 100 percent and at my best I won’t say that it is good for me to go.”
Kwan spoke on a teleconference shortly after hearing the U.S. Figure Skating’s International Committee had upheld her petition to be put on the team despite missing last week’s U.S. Figure Skating Championships with a groin injury.
The competition ended Saturday night and the committee decided Kwan’s fate in only 40 minutes. Considering the 20-3 vote, there wasn’t much debate. It based its reasoning on Kwan, a bronze medalist in 2002 and silver medalist in 1998, earning a third Olympic medal for the U.S.
It also based the decision on medical reports. An independent doctor examined Kwan and confirmed the positive reports of her doctor, Leisure Yu. The groin pull kept Kwan from jumping for a month. She began jumping Friday and said she believes she’ll be 100 percent by the time the women’s short program begins Feb. 21 in Turin.
The site, date and exact form of the monitoring session have not been set, but it will not be the Four Continents Championships in Colorado Springs from Jan. 25-28.
“Right now I don’t believe I’ll go to Four Continents,” Kwan said. “I just started jumping. I don’t want to rush the healing process. If I prepared for a competition right now I’d say it would be difficult.”
Instead, she’ll likely perform her short and long programs for the committee. She’s optimistic about her health.
“(It’s) really good, really good,” Kwan said. “It has been improving a lot, and I feel that I might have to avoid a jump or two, but there’s nothing right now that’s stopping me.”
The decision, while nearly unanimous, likely will send ripples of controversy through a sport that gets racked with it every Olympic year. Kwan’s sudden insertion on the team bumped Emily Hughes, the younger sister of 2002 gold medalist Sarah Hughes, who took third place Saturday.
Kwan also has been plagued by a sore hip and only skated competitively once – the made-for-TV Marshalls Challenge – since placing fourth in the World Championships last March. Hughes competed in Marshalls and the Campbell’s Classic, Skate America and the Cup of Russia. She never placed higher than fifth.
As first alternate, Hughes could skate in Turin if Kwan isn’t fit, but Hughes isn’t expected to travel with the team unless the monitoring committee rules Kwan can’t skate.
“Our final decision will be on the monitoring session,” International Committee chairman Bob Horen said.
Kwan heard the news while watching TV and received lukewarm endorsement from rival Sasha Cohen, whose victory Saturday was overshadowed by the committee’s decision.
“The committee’s job is to have the strongest possible team,” said Cohen, who lost to Kwan four times at Nationals. “If healthy and all, she’s definitely one of the strongest skaters from the U.S. in the Olympics.”
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
