Interview with Michelle on Russia Today | Golden Skate

Interview with Michelle on Russia Today

K

Kathy

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
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ok...so dont get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for Michelle Kwan, but this is like the 2nd or 3rd time in an interview that I have heard Michelle mention Maria B. and this has sort of been bothering me. Why does Michelle keep saying that Maria B. was 29 when she won the world championships? She was 26 and those 3 years did make a difference. When she was 29 at the 2002 Olympics she got 6 place. Also Irina Rodnina may have have won the Olympics with a child, but she didnt have to do triple triples.
 
She's gone from the cutest little fireball to a gorgeous woman. If any American skater wants to be an actress, Michelle is the one. Drama, Comedy, chick films, action films. You name it, she'll do them all and be exceptional at them.

The interview was geared to much about Russian/Soviet skaters and their successes. She handled it well. I would have liked more about her friendship with Irina. She does mention Caroline and how impressed she is with her.

Nice chat.

Joe
 
You go, girl! :love:

Did she say that she looked forward to meeting Gorbachev??

Interesting that she pronounced Caroline Zhang's name in the American fashion (short "a") instead of Chinese.

So, she has never heard of her so-called "cousin," Christina Kwan, the U.S. champion amateur boxer at 95 pounds. I fell off my chair laughing when the interviewer said he read about it on the Internet. Attyfan and I almost got thrown off a couple of figure skating boards for posting a joke thread titled "Kwan goes pro" about Christina. :rofl:
 
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:rofl: at Michelle's mention of the famous 1948 Moscow chess tounament as a milestone in U.S.-Soviet sports relations.

This was the first official world championship tournament organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE -- the ISU of chess). Six grandchampions were invited, including two (Samuel Reshevsky and Reuben Fine) from the U.S. Fine refused to compete, figuring the outcome was already determined. Three of the five participants were from the Soviet Union, including the eventual winner, Mikhail Botvinnik.

Later the Estonian champion, Paul Keres, admitted that he had been blackmailed into throwing his match with Botvinnik by threats of revealing his pro-Nazi activities in occupied Estonia during World War II.

It was important to the Soviets that a true Russian be the world champion. In Botvinnik's first title defense in 1951, the Ukrainian challenger, David Bronstein, was ordered by the Soviet authorities to throw the match. Bronstein, having barely survived an assassination attempt at the Interzonal qualifying tournament, was eager to oblige. :ohwell:
 
Thanks for the link to the interview. Michelle handled herself very well.
Michelle is asked constantly by the press about her plans to compete in the 2010 Olympics and about her age (which is understandable since she has not announced her retirement). I think she answers with the Maria B. story automatically. She probably would like to say something else but she has too much class.

Maria B. placement at SLC was excellent . Finishing in the top ten at any age is something to be proud of.
 
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At 29, Maria Butyrskaya was the only lady to win two gold medals in the 2001-2002 GP. That same year, she won her third European Championship.
 
demarinis5 said:
Maria B. placement at SLC was excellent . Finishing in the top ten at any age is something to be proud of.
Click to expand...


yeah, it's great that Maria B. got 6th.. very good. But Michelle isn't going to compete to place 6th. or 5th, 4th 3rd, 2nd. She could have placed 6th in 2006. She wants another shot at winning. not competing. winning. no 29 year old lady has ever WON the OMG
 
I could hardly understand anything the first speaker said so I just quit trying to listen. It's either a terrible broadcasting voice or a really bad accent.
 
Oksana Chusovitina still competes in gymnastics at age 32 and even won the German nationals recently. So it is possible that Michelle could return.
 
I just don't think that Michelle has what it takes to have the OGM 2010. All the young, fairly consistent girls whit their tripletriples... No no.

2006 she mihgt have done it.
 
Lumi said:
I just don't think that Michelle has what it takes to have the OGM 2010. All the young, fairly consistent girls whit their tripletriples... No no.

2006 she mihgt have done it.
Click to expand...

Everyone thought that in 2006, Irina had it in the bag -- she has done 3/3s for a long time -- and no one thought that anyone would ever win with only 5 triples and no 3/3s. I think the issue is not whether Maria B was 26 or 29 -- the issue was that the whole world was saying that, under the existing technical demands, no one Maria's age could win worlds until Maria did it, just as after '98 and '02, everyone was saying that no one could win the OGM without a 3/3 until Shizuka did it.
 
Buzzz said:
Oksana Chusovitina still competes in gymnastics at age 32 and even won the German nationals recently. So it is possible that Michelle could return.
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It's not a question about competing. it's a matter of what age can one still kep with the young ones. I'd love to see Michelle and Sasha, too, skate competitively but it would not be for medals. I do believe their technical will not be up to present day expectations. However, at their present ages, they both should skate with a lot of confidence and grace which the young ones would love to have. So bring on the old gals and let's enjoy beautiful skating. they may well land in top 10 at Worlds.

Joe
 
attyfan said:
Everyone thought that in 2006, Irina had it in the bag -- she has done 3/3s for a long time -- and no one thought that anyone would ever win with only 5 triples and no 3/3s. I think the issue is not whether Maria B was 26 or 29 -- the issue was that the whole world was saying that, under the existing technical demands, no one Maria's age could win worlds until Maria did it, just as after '98 and '02, everyone was saying that no one could win the OGM without a 3/3 until Shizuka did it.
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Well, only Irina was consistently landin 3/3s of eligble ladies in 2005/2006. But still, she was JUST one lady. Now we have Mao Asada, Miki Ando, Yuna Kim, Kimmie, Racheal Flatt and Carolina Kostner landing difficult 3/3s. I think it is quite unlikely that ALL of them would have bad Olympic season or total meldown at Olympics. And of course we have rising stars, Mirai Nagasu and Caroline Zhang who might have have 3/3s in 2010. And not only the jumps... many of these girls oushine Kwan in nonjump elements too. I just can't see Kwan having the gold. Way too meny if's.
 
Lumi said:
... . Way too meny if's.
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That's the point -- too many ifs. Irina wasn't the only lady doing difficult 3/3s by '06 -- Shizuka had them also, and Carolina Kostner -- but no one tried them in Torino. Even all the young'uns coming up -- there are still things like competitive nerve (it is likely that many of the promising juniors, such as CZ, MN or RF won't have a lot of experience) or lack of consistency (Mao and Yu-Na both lost the world gold by not being able to hold it together for both parts of the event, and both Miki and CK are capable of spectacular melt-downs).

I'm just getting irritated with the "she's too old" -- if people at my office talked about me the way people on chatboards talk about Michelle, I'd have their a***s for age discrimination!
 
attyfan said:
I'm just getting irritated with the "she's too old" -- if people at my office talked about me the way people on chatboards talk about Michelle, I'd have their a***s for age discrimination!
Click to expand...

:rofl::rofl::rock::rock:

So true, so true...

And for the sake of arguement, I'd like to throw out my lonely opinion of one that folks grousing about her being too old to compete much less win sound like the same group who wanted her to retire because she was "holding down" the progress of up & comers who couldn't beat her... let it go.

If Michelle does indeed come back I see two scenarios: if she can compete and win, she will. If she can't compete, she won't. What difference does it make? She's a legend - nothing will change that - so if she wants to have some fun and skate again, let her. She's earned the right.

And for fans of other modern legends, I feel the same about your favorites... Sasha, Irina, DivaKwara, Plushy, Alexi ... they have contributed to this sport on levels that most of the newbies will only dream about - because if skating has taught me one thing its that todays wonderkid can be tomorrow's has-been very quickly...
 
I'm surprised that Mathman was able to post after looking at those pictures. :laugh: :laugh:

Would someone be so kind as to post what kind of surgery Michelle had. I know that she had surgery but don't know what kind.

Dee
 
Joesitz said:
She's gone from the cutest little fireball to a gorgeous woman. If any American skater wants to be an actress, Michelle is the one. Drama, Comedy, chick films, action films. You name it, she'll do them all and be exceptional at them.
Click to expand...

She would probably do just as well as Sasha. One thing she's got going for her is that Michelle's figure looks normal and healthy, unlike many starlets with lollypop stick figures in Hollywood today. She would be be a good role model for many.

However, before accepting any, or all, of your above mentioned film projects, she would need to get a little work done on her front teeth. Hollywood expects perfection you know...
 
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