Michelle Kwan - Interview

gsk8 · Oct 19, 2003

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 · Oct 19, 2003

Thank your. Nice interview.

sk8ing_lady2001 · Oct 19, 2003

That is a wonderful interview!

Rgirl · Oct 19, 2003

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 (RIP) · Oct 19, 2003

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 · Oct 19, 2003

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! :love:

Mathman

show 42 · Oct 19, 2003

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

42

Rgirl · Oct 19, 2003

Mathman said:
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 · Oct 20, 2003

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.......

Ogre Mage · Oct 20, 2003

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 · Oct 20, 2003

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 · Oct 20, 2003

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 · Oct 20, 2003

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 · Oct 20, 2003

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

Mathman · Oct 20, 2003

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

BravesSkateFan · Oct 20, 2003

Mathman. Arthritis has to do with your joints not your tendons/ligaments. I believe it is a result of the breakdown of cartilage between the joints. So I don't think stretching would be a contributing factor to arthritis. But I'm no doctor, so I could be wrong.

Joesitz (RIP) · Oct 20, 2003

I believe all athletes are flexible or they wouldn't be athletes. Does stretching make one flexible? I don't see how one could be flexible without stretching. But maybe some can.

As for extreme flexibility which acrobats (think Cirque du Soleil) must have comes from early and supervised training to allow the muscles to extend, and of course, to relax.

There are few figure skaters I would say that are not flexible. However there are a few more whom I would say should turn out the knees and point the toes. Ah, but that is another thread.

Joe

icenut84 · Oct 21, 2003

Mathman said:
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).

Flexibility is something that athletes in almost every sport should work on to an extent. It's to do with the range of movement you can get. AFAIK, it's not to do with tendons, but muscles mainly, and also the joints to an extent. Some sports have people who are more obviously flexible, like skating and gymnastics, but even people in things like swimming need to be flexible (particularly in the shoulders etc). It just means that they have a much greater range of movement. An athlete being flexible also means that they reduce their chance of injuring themselves, and makes the recovery quicker and more effective. So no, I wouldn't have thought that it has any adverse effects down the road - if anything, it is probably a good thing down the road.

And it was very inspiring to read that Michelle was once the most unflexible skater in the world. There's hope for all of us!

Also loved the answer about the barrel rolls. It'd be amazing if she could learn to do them anywhere near as good as Scott Williams can, the king of the barrel roll... it'd certainly be an interesting addition to her repertoire anyway.

Piel · Oct 21, 2003

Maintaining flexibility is good for anyone to fight the aging process. Especially interesting IMO is flexibility vs. joint laxity. I don't see how a lax or loose joint could not be prone to more injury especially when participating in sport.

http://www.carolinasportsmed.com/flexibility.htm

RGirl is the expert on this. Dr. RGirl, we need a consult.

Piel

Ladskater · Oct 22, 2003

Stretching or any exercise done improperly could lead to problems, but if one does not over do any type of movement then there should be few problems.

It's usually inactivity that leads to serious joint problems.

I was not very flexible either as a skater and it does help to practice by stretching - just like ballerina's do on the bar.

Michelle is a very accomplished young woman.

Michelle Kwan - Interview

gsk8

mzheng

sk8ing_lady2001

Rgirl

Joesitz (RIP)

Mathman

show 42

Arm Chair Skate Fan

Rgirl

Piel

On Edge

Ogre Mage

Skate Sandee

Mathman

Piel

On Edge

Yazmeen

Mathman

BravesSkateFan

Joesitz (RIP)

icenut84

Piel

On Edge

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~

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