In honor of Kwan's Hall of Fame induction

iluvtodd said:

We're planning on attending Nationals (our vacation for 2012 and a chance to visit some of our Northern CA relatives). We won't be at the HOF reception, to my knowledge (how do you get into it?), but we don't want to miss the induction ceremony! I am thrilled for Michelle, but I also wish that Rudy would be inducted along with her this year.

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Gail see my post #64.

A night all about the Kween!

I loved that USA Today article, particularly this:

There were other skaters who jumped better or spun more tightly. No one had the full package, though, like Kwan.

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So true...solid jumps, gorgeous edges, beautiful choreography, wonderful interpretation, power and finesse, elegance, command and presence, a connection with the audience, consistency, mental toughness, competitor's focus, grace, class, star power and that all important "it" factor. Michelle Kwan was the total package.

and this

While many casual fans might remember Kwan for finishing behind Tara Lipinski in 1998 and Sarah Hughes in 2002 at the Olympics, her overall achievements are unparalleled in skating — and in most sports.

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Again, so true! Just look at the US alone: we've had a different champion every year since Michelle won her 9th title back in 2005. No one from the US has stepped up and definitively claimed that top spot. Same thing on the world stage--no one has managed to put together back-to-back titles, and oftentimes the podium finishers one year aren't on the podium the next year. Michelle's success on the national and world stage is staggering! No wonder we've been so disappointed in the US ladies for the past couple of years. Michelle has set an impossible standard.

I miss the consistency, reliability, magic and pureness that Michelle brought to US skating and the sport. She is truly an amazing skater, an amazing competitor, and an amazing woman. I love her so much and I'm so proud of her! I hope they go all out with videos and comments from her competitors and admirers, tons of press, the whole nine...this woman deserves all of that and more.

Love Live the Kween!!

I'm with you, Kwanatic!

I've been a fan of hers since she was twelve, and she never disappointed me. You're right; she spoiled us. We expect wonderful new skaters to emerge and take over in the way she did, but so far, no one has in this country, and few have in other countries. (Thank goodness for Mao and YuNa!) She was a golden age of skating practically all by herself.

So glad she's being honored like this. And I'm so glad that her "second act" in life is looking to be just as promising as the first, as she moves ahead to other accomplishments.

skateluvr said:

Tonichelle, would there be any way in hell she WON'T be inducted?

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My favotite Kwan program is Salome.

i like all her programs.

but on another note--Thank you US Hall of Fame committe for putting her in HAll of Fame,
thank you sports media-tv, print , tweet, otherwise for posting in papers, online etc. Thank you for getting the word out and putting Michelle kwan Hall of Fame induction to US figure skating class of 2012 out there. it is appreicated by the fans.

Hey Toni, we need you at nationals! Buy a lottery ticket or hitchhike on a ice road truck. I think you would enjoy seeing me scream with 15 thousand other people when Michelle steps out on the carpet. Glad the sun came out today in Keni and reached 5.6 degrees above the horizon for 5 1/2 hours......all we saw in Spokane was ice fog.

Michelle - a brilliant skater with wonderful consistency and a great champion. She continues to be very gracious. Despite being away from the sport for several years, I still get Christmas cards from her.

demarinis5 said:

Gail see my post #64.

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Thanks! As much as it would be great to attend the actual reception, we would not want to miss out on watching the men's final live. Why, oh, why, do they have to schedule the events at the same time?

CoyoteChris said:

Hey Toni, we need you at nationals! Buy a lottery ticket or hitchhike on a ice road truck. I think you would enjoy seeing me scream with 15 thousand other people when Michelle steps out on the carpet. Glad the sun came out today in Keni and reached 5.6 degrees above the horizon for 5 1/2 hours......all we saw in Spokane was ice fog.

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yeah well now it's pouring down rain and is about 46* in Kenai. I hate this year's weather! ugh!

Tonichelle said:

Leave it to a Kwan-lovefest to bring you out of hiding KW! Miss your posts!

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I know... I've become a semi-stalker these days... I promise to do better!!

Kwanford Wife said:

I know... I've become a semi-stalker these days... I promise to do better!!

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adding stalker to your list of illegal activities, wow...

I thought it was lurking???? I thought what I do to Sinead Kerr was called stalking????
Toni! You send some of that warm weather south along with the rain....quit hogging it....
BTW, cant you just get on a ferry and ride down to seattle, then hitch hike to San Jose?
Just show some leg and those truckers will stop....

I also liked her Bolero program. Lyra Angelica was great too. Her 1998 program in Philadelphia was pronably her best.

I was thinking about Shirley Temple Black today, and for the first time a parallel between her life and Michelle's struck me.

Mrs. Black came into my mind because the news services reported the death of Vaclav Havel. Havel. This great statesman started out as a playwright in Communist Czechoslovakia, was later a political prisoner because of his dissident views. After that, when the Communist government was overthrown in 1989, Havel became the first elected President of Czechoslovakia. At that very moment of transition, the American ambassador to Czechoslovakia was Shirley Temple Black. She was actively sympathetic to the liberation movement, and at one point hosted a meeting with Havel and other activists (with strongly implied American support for the movement). Czechs were very fond of Black thereafter for her hands-on work with the agents of change. Yes, she was that same Shirley Temple who had as a child been the beloved star of feel-good musicals that kept up morale during the Depression.

I suddenly realized that in a way, Michelle's career has the potential to parallel Shirley Temple's. After ten years as the greatest child star on the planet, Temple aged out of the business in which she had excelled. Instead of lamenting her lost importance, she married and started a family, and then she became active in many organizations and later in politics. She worked very hard in (coincidentally) the diplomatic field, serving as the Ambassador to Ghana, the U.S. chief of protocol, a representative to the U.N. General Assembly, and finally the Ambassador to Czechoslovakia. She often used her early career to generate goodwill on behalf of her country.

The idea of a second act that is as constructive as the first one is so heartening. I think Shirley's career shows the possibility of how far Michelle could reach in the future.

Very interesting! Thanks for mentioning Havel too, Olympia. He was a great soul - a true hero!

MK graudated grad school last May. Anyone know what she has been up to last 6 months? Is MK at the rink regularly to stay in shape? Is she lobbying Obama Admin for a job or sorts?? What is our little gal up to? Any inside dope?

Michelle has is still working under the Obama administration as a diplomacy envoy. She's also working with Michelle Obama with the Presidential Fitness campaign...she's on the board for the Special Olympics...there's really too much for me to write! She's been super busy...

I'd say just catch up by reading about her here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Kwan

Michelle was said, in another thread, to be leery of skating under CoP. How many feel as I do that she felt anger toward her team (Frank) for not pushing her to a more difficult triple triple? MK was winning without them, or at least always on Podium. Do you fans/non-fans feel she could have upped the ante right after Nagano to compete with Irina/Sarah/whoever had a stronger triple triple? Why did she stay with the easiest when she had such solid technique? Was that not the reason she went to Artunian?

Thanks for those Michelle fans or even non fans to explain this....

I am a Michelle fan now and always, but I can't imagine what the explanation is for her parting company with Frank Carroll right before the Olympics. I'm not here to explain things...I joined to have other people explain them to me. So far I've learned a lot about skating from you guys, but nothing has cleared this up for me.

skateluvr said:

How many feel as I do that she felt anger toward her team (Frank) for not pushing her to a more difficult triple triple?

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I don't agree with this at all. I don't feel as though Michelle and Frank parted ways because she was mad about 3-3s. I am a fan who thought (and still thinks) leaving Frank right before the Olympics was a mistake, but as I'm not Michelle or Frank or a member of their inner circle, I don't know the reasons for why she left Frank...but I seriously doubt it was because of that.

skateluvr said:

MK was winning without them, or at least always on Podium. Do you fans/non-fans feel she could have upped the ante right after Nagano to compete with Irina/Sarah/whoever had a stronger triple triple? Why did she stay with the easiest when she had such solid technique?

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It becomes a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Michelle was a solid jumper and a solid spinner...but huge and difficult jumps were not her forte. She had good jumps and good spins, but her strength was in her artistry, interpretation, presentation and connection to the music. For a long time, no one could match her in this area. In the early 2000s skating suffered a shift in focus from artistry to tricks--big, difficult jumps and bendy spins. Michelle attempted to shift focus as well, but it was too late IMO. She was a classic Golden Era skater and she didn't fit in to the new COP Era mold.

Personally, I'm glad to have had Michelle during the Golden Era of skating. If she were born into the COP Era, we wouldn't have the masterpieces we were gifted with during her career. Imagine Salome or Lyra Angelica or East of Eden or Red Violin crammed with COP spins, COP spirals and overly long footwork, all in the effort to gain a level...it would rob the choreography of its beauty, depth and meaning. I'm glad Michelle didn't have to compete under COP...she wasn't a COP skater and, as an uber-fan, I'm grateful for that.

What's so impressive is that she managed to be the greatest skater of her time without the difficult 3-3s and super flexible spins. So to answer your question, she attempted to up the ante for a bit, but in the end figured it was better to stick to her strengths. And by doing that she ended up with 3 world titles and 7 US titles after Nagano. Not too shabby for a skater with only 3t-3t.