Michelle Kwan is ESPN's 20th Greatest female athlete of the past 40 years

Michelle Kwan is ESPN's 20th Greatest female athlete of the past 40 years

http://espn.go.com/espnw/title-ix/top-40-female-athletes/_/num/22

Congrats Michelle!

What a lovely write-up. And how nice to remember that she did always show up at press conferences and such, even when she would have preferred to hide away and not deal with things. This girl has moral fiber! She competed at World Championships after she didn't win gold at the Olympics; she showed up for competitions when she knew that her name and presence would sell tickets.

I would admire her even if I didn't love her skating so much. And I love her skating so much.

By the way, this feature on ESPN apparently celebrates the fortieth anniversary of Title IX. Let's take a moment to celebrate the fact that in 1972, "girl athlete" was finally not a contradiction in terms. In 1967 or thereabouts, for example, only men were allowed to run officially in the Boston Marathon. A registered contestant named K. Switzer, running in a hoodie, was Kathrine Switzer. When she was discovered to be a woman, a race official ran in and tried to pull her off the course mid-race. It took until 1984 for the women's marathon to be an Olympic event.

Kwan is a great athlete and a wonderful person as well. Even after all these years away from the sport, she still sends me a Christmas card every year. Recently she sent me a memorial figurine from her induction into the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame along with a personal note. It's one of my many special treasures from the sport, which includes a hand painted figure skating dish of a portrait of Mishkutenek & Dmitriev from Tamara Moskvina.

Katarina Witt was ranked 14th.

I've obviously misspelled Natalia Mishkutionok's name, which happens often as it is spelled many ways but this spelling is what the ISU uses. Apologies to Natalia. I spoke with her last when she was Josh Farris' coach at Novice level Nationals.

KKonas said:

Kwan is a great athlete and a wonderful person as well. Even after all these years away from the sport, she still sends me a Christmas card every year. Recently she sent me a memorial figurine from her induction into the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame along with a personal note. It's one of my many special treasures from the sport, which includes a hand painted figure skating dish of a portrait of Mishkutenek & Dmitriev from Tamara Moskvina.

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It's wonderful to hear about the cards, KKonas. And also the dish from Moskvina, one of my other skating heroines! Did you ever see the NY Times editorial about Michelle when she bowed out of the Torino Olympics? Someone sent it to me, and I actually had it up on my kitchen door for awhile. They praised her right there on the main editorial page, where they usually talk about weighty world affairs:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/opinion/14tues4.html?ref=michellekwan

A quote from the editorial, published Feb. 14, 2006:
We know this isn't a "Chariots of Fire" world, full of athletes competing for the glory of God or country or the simple joy of doing their best. Well, maybe the curling team members do, but for many of the rest, the Olympics are simply one more peak in a high-altitude life of tournaments, professional appearances and product endorsements. Ms. Kwan has lived in that world for nearly half her life, but her remarks at a news conference show that along the way, somebody raised her right. They suggest that at the ripe age of 25, she has been blessed with the gifts of maturity and perspective, something that many athletes learn only much later in life, if ever.

Olympia said:

Well, maybe the curling team members do,...

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Off topic, but U.S. President Obama was on The View a couple of weeks ago and admitted that he likes to watch curling on TV.

Mathman said:

Off topic, but U.S. President Obama was on The View a couple of weeks ago and admitted that he likes to watch curling on TV.

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Why is that not a surprise?

Congrats to Michelle! The write up on her and her career are spot on.

Thanks Olympia for posting the NY Times article. I remember reading that article and tearing up.

Congrats to Michelle and espn for recognizing what greatness is. Truly the best.

I think Katarina Witt and Michelle Kwan are the two greatest skaters of the past 40 years!