In my opinion athlete´s "body of work" is mostly brought forward if a skater who has great possibilities (is really expected) to win in the Olympics and doesn´t.
In my opinion, a "body of work" is brought to light because a skater "doesn't" have to be an Oly gold medal holder to be regaled as "one of the best". Not just Michelle......there's Kirk Browning, Elvis, Paul Wylie, Todd Eldrege, Irina, Lloyd and Isabelle, the list goes on and on of great skaters with huge bodies of work who don't own an Oly gold........It isn't meant as an "excuse" why they didn't win the Oly gold or a "balm" to soothe their egos. It was one of many competitions and they didn't happen to win........42