Will media allow Kwan to be happy with any medal this time?

slutskayafan21 · Feb 2, 2006

I hope the media treats Kwan with more gentleness than in the past two Olympics. I hope they regard it as a huge success if she wins a medal of any color, even a bronze. They are deluding themselves if they try to believe the golds is hers to lose as it was the last two Olympics. Hopefully they go in with reduced expectations and are very complimentary of whatever success she does get. In fact even a top 5 should be viewed as a very good result for her at this point, and for the record 4th or 5th is around where I think she will finish.

antmanb · Feb 2, 2006

slutskayafan21 said:
I hope the media treats Kwan with more gentleness than in the past two Olympics. I hope they regard it as a huge success if she wins a medal of any color, even a bronze. They are deluding themselves if they try to believe the golds is hers to lose as it was the last two Olympics. Hopefully they go in with reduced expectations and are very complimentary of whatever success she does get. In fact even a top 5 should be viewed as a very good result for her at this point, and for the record 4th or 5th is around where I think she will finish.

I would have thought someone who's been in this sport for as long as Kwan has the media pretty sussed by now.

Regardless what the Media say, Kwan is the only one who truly knows where SHE thinks she will place depending on how she skates. The reason for any upset in Nagano is surely that she skated a clean solid beautiful program that in any other year (and in hindsite i include SLC) would have won her the OGM, but it wasn't enough.

In SLC i think the tears and upset must have been genuine frustration - she was in a position to win it but she made mistakes on her jumps and faltered.

This time around she knows that she has much less chance of gold than in the previous two Olympics and that must be a factor in her own expectations.

My own personal feeling is that she'll be happy with a medal of any colour and the only real disapointment she could have with a medal that is not Gold is if everyone else on the podium made mistakes which she could have capitalised on but didn't.

Ant

curious · Feb 2, 2006

Nope. She has to justify her place in the team with a medal in Torino or the media will crush her. Is not fair to her,but is already happening.

antmanb · Feb 2, 2006

curious said:
Nope. She has to justify her place in the team with a medal in Torino or the media will crush her. Is not fair to her,but is already happening.

I don't think that's the case because the only way that anyone could think she has to win a medal to justify her spot on the team is if Hughes could have won a medal at the Olympics had she gone....i don't even think Kimmie will win a medal come the games and i think Emily would have even less chance than kimmie....either i think would be lucky with a top 10 finish given their lack of senior international experience.

Ant

attyfan · Feb 2, 2006

IMO, a great skate will justify Michelle being on the team, medal or not. Also, if Michelle displays her usual sportsmanship and Bode Miller says something stupid (again), then her placement will be justified.

Joesitz (RIP) · Feb 2, 2006

antmanb - Agreed. She held back on the first Oly (injured toe) and faltered on the second Oly. Now the yunguns have caught up with her, and again she is injured. I don't see her as a complete dummy. She knows where she is in the current standings at this point in time. I see a very beutiful program skated but not a competitive one in Torino. She'll probably be the only relaxed competitor there.

As to the topic question. One has to understand that in America, she is by far the most well known and loved skater. This is what will bring an abundance of American media at her every move. Kwan sells newspapers, she sells TV, she sells products. The is the Eighth Wonder of the World :bow:

If Kwan comes out 12th in the Olys (possible, don't laugh) there will still be a formidable amount of articles, interviews, etc. associated with the media to let the fans know of her future plans. She may be approached for some sort of show biz offer because of her popularity and she is now available.

Joe

Mathman · Feb 2, 2006

Actually, I don't think the U.S. news media will pay much attention at all.

If Slutskaya wins as expected, the entire coverage will be: "Russian wins skating contest. Italian second, Japanese third. When does the NCAA basketball tournament start?"

If Cohen should pull an upset, it will be: "America has a new ice princess, following in the tradition of past Olympic champions Sarah Hughes and Tara Lipinski. Kwan eighth."

If Michelle gets the silver, they'll say, "Michelle Kwan failed yet again, in this, her very last try until 2010....When does that basketball tournament start again?"

MM

eliza88 · Feb 2, 2006

This may have been ansewered earlier...but has anyone ever medalled and 3 Olympic games?

eliza88

nymkfan51 · Feb 2, 2006

I think the only way Michelle gets ignored by the media is if another American wins and she doesn't skate well.

But should she win ... oh baby, oh baby, oh baby!!!!!!

ETA ... the boards would explode!!!

Mathman · Feb 2, 2006

eliza88 said:
This may have been answered earlier...but has anyone ever medalled and 3 Olympic games?

I think Sonia Henie, with gold medals in 1928, 1932 and 1936, is the only ladies' singles skater who has done it.

Irina Rodnina won three golds in pairs (1972, 1976 and 1980) with two different partners.

And Gillis Grafstrom won three golds and a silver in men's, 1920, 1924, 1928 and 1932.

Here are lists of all Olympic and World's medalists:

http://womenshistory.about.com/gi/d...ttp://www.gbrathletics.com/olympic/figure.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Figure_Skating_Championships

Hmm....Michelle kind of stands out, with nine worlds medals, second only to Henie's ten.

But hey, Michelle, what have you done for us lately? :laugh:

MM

STL_Blues_fan · Feb 2, 2006

And of course Artur Dimitriev - 2 golds and a silver!!

Lucy25 · Feb 2, 2006

I think how the media treats her will depend on how she reacts to her placement. Her behavior has stood her "in good stead" (to quote Dick) in previous years, and I expect it will be the same, regardless of how she made the team. I think it will also depend on her performance. If she skates free and clean and is obviously happy with her performance, but is off the podium, then I think the media will love her.

Kwanford Wife · Feb 2, 2006

Lucy25 said:
I think how the media treats her will depend on how she reacts to her placement. Her behavior has stood her "in good stead" (to quote Dick) in previous years, and I expect it will be the same, regardless of how she made the team. I think it will also depend on her performance. If she skates free and clean and is obviously happy with her performance, but is off the podium, then I think the media will love her.

ITA... the media loves Kwan and she loves them right back... seriously, though, I doubt the media will have anything to do with whether or not she enjoys a medal or placement... but how Kwan herself feels about that medal.

mememe · Feb 2, 2006

eliza88 said:
This may have been ansewered earlier...but has anyone ever medalled and 3 Olympic games?

eliza88

Klimova & Ponomarenko went bronze-silver-gold in 1984, 88 and 92. I think Graafstrom and Henie are the only singles skaters to get three Olympic medals, however.

nubka · Feb 2, 2006

slutskayafan21 said:
I hope the media treats Kwan with more gentleness than in the past two Olympics. I hope they regard it as a huge success if she wins a medal of any color, even a bronze. They are deluding themselves if they try to believe the golds is hers to lose as it was the last two Olympics. Hopefully they go in with reduced expectations and are very complimentary of whatever success she does get. In fact even a top 5 should be viewed as a very good result for her at this point, and for the record 4th or 5th is around where I think she will finish.

As for reduced expectations, I think it all depends on what Michelle thinks. If she actually manages to get on the podium (or lower, but she's happy with her skate,) I don't think the media is going influence how she feels about it. If she is happy with it (really and truly happy,) then, to heck with the media.

As for 98 & 02, there's no reason to believe that Kwan didn't have her own expectations, and that she wanted those gold medals every bit as much as the media wanted them for her. (Since she didn't get them, I would tend to think that she would be the one that would be hardest on herself.) We all tend to be overly critical of ourselves at times, without even needing the media's 2 cents...

While I admit that I haven't been crazy about Kwan's programs for the past 5 -6 years, I still think she is a very gifted skater. I'm hoping that TT has put to geather something that is actually interesting to look at, with lots of content, and I hope that Michelle skates the heck out of it.

If she really does do her best, I hope she will be happy with it, no matter what the media has to say...

Zanzibar · Feb 2, 2006

The majority of the media will probably not be kind to Kwan if she comes away with anything but gold. I can just imagine the sport's editors headlines:

'Kwan Chokes Again'

'Kwan's Farewell A Failure'

'No Gold For Michelle...Again'

That's just the nature of the business. First off, writers don't always get to title
their story and the sport's editors - mainly men - don't follow skating and aren't going to have a huge well of empathy for Michelle ala skating fans - or even the journalists.

It's sad - because she's really the 'win-ingest' US female skater of all time in my mind, but I'd wager the headlines will be less than kind.

chuckm · Feb 2, 2006

Kwan's happiness does not hang on what the media says. If Kwan is happy with her performance in Torino, that is all that counts.

It isn't the media of the moment that counts, it's how Kwan herself is perceived, and if she doesn't win gold, she will accept it gracefully as she always has when she hasn't won. There will always be the naysayers and the backbiters, but Kwan didn't get the pre-Olympic endorsements based on her winning gold in Torino. She got the endorsements because she is an excellent role model.

For those who think Emily was robbed, wait until Worlds. If Emily places lower than Kwan (which she almost certainly will), those wuz-robbed voices will be silenced. I believe that most of those who think Emily was robbed have never even seen her skate, and think she is a carbon copy of Sarah with all the skills and experience Sarah had in 2002.

julietvalcouer · Feb 2, 2006

If she's off the podium, I'm sure the media will be obnoxious. To me, it will just place Michelle alongside Janet Lynn as the most talented skater not to win an OGM (with Maribel Vinson up there with them. I'm not sure if she's quite, just because of the style differences, really up there with them, but I have to walk past her picture at work every day and I'm afraid she'll jinx me if I don't mention it!

) I think Michelle, this time around, will be happiest if she turns in a clean, beautiful performance. By now she has probably got the media thing down, and it's not what defines her self-worth.

And I agree with chuckm--any 'wuz-robs' will likely be quiet after worlds.

R.D. · Feb 2, 2006

perhaps, but I wonder what it's REALLY about. Is it that they THINK Emily is better, or is it that Kwan has already had her chance and should let someone else soak up the Oly experience? Two totally different reasons to believe the same thing.

mzheng · Feb 2, 2006

chuckm said:
Kwan's happiness does not hang on what the media says. If Kwan is happy with her performance in Torino, that is all that counts.
.

Yeah. Kwan has long past the point to mind what others have to say about her skating. She is doing it for herself one of her youngst dreams that competed in 3 Olympics (Well attend 4 Olympics). That's the reason drives her fighting through the injury and pain. If Emily has the talent, drive and desire like a young Michelle, I'm sure she'll get into 2010. Just like the young Michelle at 1994, now get into 2006. Media can say whatever they want. The USFSA Olympic select rules, as written in English, says Kwan's petetion is processed strictly according to the rule....as Dick Button said Michelle does not give a "rusty hoot'. :chorus:

Will media allow Kwan to be happy with any medal this time?

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty

antmanb

curious

antmanb

attyfan

Custom Title

Joesitz (RIP)

Mathman

eliza88

nymkfan51

Mathman

STL_Blues_fan

Lucy25

Kwanford Wife

mememe

nubka

Zanzibar

chuckm

julietvalcouer

R.D.

mzheng

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