Michelle Kwan - Interview

**gsk8** · 10-19-2003, 02:20 PM

For those interested, here is Michelle's Kwan's Online Interview. As you know, it wasn't possible for her to answer everyone's questions, but she did her best

Enjoy!

**mzheng** · 10-19-2003, 03:17 PM

Thank your. Nice interview.

**sk8ing_lady2001** · 10-19-2003, 03:59 PM

That is a wonderful interview! :D

**Rgirl** · 10-19-2003, 07:31 PM

Great article, interview, and photos. (Woo-woo! on the two piece!) And Michelle answered an Rgirl question, plus the one I hoped she would! Another good one, Paula.
Rgirl

**Joesitz** · 10-19-2003, 09:12 PM

Excellent questions! Excellent answers! She is special, and she is game to leave herself open to do barrel rolls. I luv it. I'm kind of in tears thinking about her retirement. Yet she'll be around. I'll catch her on some sports special whether hockey or football. There will never, ever, be another Michelle.

Joe

**Mathman** · 10-19-2003, 10:06 PM

Rgirl, I am so jealous that she chose your question and not one of the 200 that I submitted. (OK, maybe "will you marry me" 199 times was a little uncool.)

Great pictures by Barry Mittan. I am going over in my mind whether I approve of the red two-piece "here she comes a-struttin' wearing nuttin' but a button and a bow" outfit. (Trivia question: what song is that a line from?) I will have to study it some more to make up my mind.

Michelle likes 50 Cent? Has she ever listened to the words of these songs?

Fantastic lead-in article, Paula.

As for Michelle, what a girl!

Mathman

**show 42** · 10-19-2003, 10:12 PM

Great interview........thanks Paula........

42

**Rgirl** · 10-19-2003, 11:36 PM

Originally posted by Mathman
Rgirl, I am so jealous that she chose your question and not one of the 200 that I submitted. (OK, maybe "will you marry me" 199 times was a little uncool.)

Great pictures by Barry Mittan. I am going over in my mind whether I approve of the red two-piece "here she comes a-struttin' wearing nuttin' but a button and a bow" outfit...

I'll bet you're going over it in your mind--and over it and over it and over it, lol.

And don't feel bad. Michelle didn't answer any of my "Will you marry me?" questions either.
Rgirl
PS She said she likes to dance to 50 Cent's music. You can't hear the lyrics when you're dancing.

**Piel** · 10-20-2003, 04:18 AM

Little Egypt - The Coasters

.....She did a triple somersault and when she hit the ground,
she winked at the audience and then she turned around.
She had a picture of Mathman tattooed on her spine,
saying Phoenix, Arizona, nineteen forty-nine.......:D

**Ogre Mage** · 10-20-2003, 04:40 AM

I am really encouraged to hear that Michelle is very interested in becoming a figure skating commentator when she retires (which hopefully she will put off until 2006). She's both media-savvy and tactful, and I think she would do a great job. ABC, are you paying attention?

**Skate Sandee** · 10-20-2003, 06:47 AM

I adore, adore, adore Michelle. But as someone who has worked in casting for years, I can tell you that Michelle needs to take a few diction classes to clean up her on-camera speaking voice. Articulation and clarity are not her strengths. (The way she drops the "O" in Olympics is just a tiny example). She's getting better, but she still has that lazy So Cal rythym to her speaking voice.

But I would LOVE it if she became a commentator...even for other sports! That would be a kick!

Great interview. A lot of different questions than we see in other interviews!

**Mathman** · 10-20-2003, 10:16 AM

And the Leiber and Stoller Award goes to...PIEL! (I have this song on the Smoky Joe's Cafe sound track.)

Michelle as a commentator would be so cool. She mentioned swimming as another sport besides figure skating that she thought she could do (even football). I know that she always lists swimming as one of her recreational hobbies.

Mathman

**Piel** · 10-20-2003, 10:40 AM

That's how I'm familiar with it too. Because of course we are MUCH to young to remember when it was released and played on the radio.LOL

**Yazmeen** · 10-20-2003, 10:47 AM

Great Interview, and Mathman, I want to do a comic bellydance to the Elvis version of "Little Egypt" some day.

**Mathman** · 10-20-2003, 03:56 PM

Yakety-yak (Don't talk back), y'all. And tell your hoodlum friends outside, you ain't got time to take a ride.

Yazmeen, let me know so I can buy me a ticket and sit down in the very front row-oh-oh-oh-oh.

About the interview, I was interested in Michelle's answer to Jackie's question about how to do a Charlotte. Michelle said: "Being flexible is not something that came easily to me. I remember being the most unflexible skater in the world." But she did constant stretching exercises until she became pretty good in this area.

So here is my question. "Stretching," like what dancers do, means literally stretching out the tendons that hold your bones together, making them longer. Is this right?

Does this have any adverse effects down the road? Are dancers and skaters more likely to get arthritis, for instance? I know that Dorothy Hamill suffered from such severe arthritis that she could hardly function, much less skate. But then she was able to treat it with Vioxx (and became the spokeswomen for that anti-inflamatory drug).

Mathman