Women Skating Stars

Haha, Mathman, what would YOUR expression be if you were forced to kiss Jimmy Carter? I would have such serious Maria Butyrskaya b-face that it would go viral on the 'tubes.

I have always respected Kwan as a person, though maybe her skating wasn't as fabulous to me as others thought. She was the perfect combination of good media training and living a respectable life with a strong family behind her. It worked, combining media training and just who she was. Sometimes it backfires, like with a Michael Weiss. His PR and media training was horrendous, he was totally unlikeable. Then you realize years later he wasn't his 'image' but a really good and decent man. Andre Agassi also fell into that, but he was in such a popular sport it didn't matter.

As for Michelle's political beliefs, I don't care unless she is actually trying to hurt others with her own idea of how the world should work and try to make legislation as such. My parents are absolutely opposed to interracial marriage or even inter-religion marriage (they do like the idea of SSM, which is curious) but they would NEVER ever ever sign a petition or vote to make those marriages illegal. Michelle walks a fine line, and I have no clue who or what her husband is. I do have a sense that she has a moral compass and is a class act.

Sam-Skwantch said:

That's kind of rude. You don't have to agree with someone's political leanings to respect them. Why waste your time hating people that see the world differently? :confused2:

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I disagree that it's rude, some people take a political stance of "only deal with it when absolutely necessary" and don't really want it consuming their life, at least something that is generally supposed to be fun stuff. Thats a hazard of being a person in the spotlight (for something non-political) and turning political, you are generally going to alienate a good portion of the population.

And the poster said they hate her political views, not her. I have a several friends who have very different political views from me, I respect her right to her opinion and views but I disagree with them and I don't "follow" her on social media because she posts political stuff and I prefer to not have that stuff polluting my social media pages (regardless of if I agree with her political opinions or not)

I don't think it's right to post that you "hate" a person's views without making an effort to find out what those views are.

lilahozi said:

@Mathman - I think all those fall under "campaigning for husband's election".

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I was going to write something similar and I am a great fan of Michelle's skating. Many of these appearances would undoubtedly not have been made were her husband not trying to get the nomination for the governorship of his state and, according to the last polls I looked at, he is struggling.

To the poster who posted the "I am an athlete, not a politician": it is a matter of public record that Michelle has made contributions to the Republican party before she married Clay. So while she might not be a politician, she does have and has supported a political view point.

I think we would be hard-pressed to identify what Michelle's views are on political issues. I do not know what she thinks about the war in Iraq or about raising the federal debt ceiling. It is not surprising that she felt gratitude and comradeship with the Republican leadership that gave her entry into public service. Her "political" message, whether delivered abroad under the sponsorship of the U. S. State Department, or in local schools in her new home state, is "set big goals, work hard, get back up when you fall." The causes that she advocates are health and fitness for women and girls and the Special Olympics.

Her husband is an old-fashioned Kennedy-Johnson liberal Democrat who believes that government has a role to play in improving the lives of ordinary Rhode Islanders. Michelle admires her husband's compassionate heart.

Well, that's about it on the subject of Michelle Kwan and politics.

Mathman said:

I think we would be hard-pressed to identify what Michelle's views are on political issues. I do not know what she thinks about the war in Iraq or about raising the federal debt ceiling. It is not surprising that she felt gratitude and comradeship with the Republican leadership that gave her entry into public service. Her "political" message, whether delivered abroad under the sponsorship of the U. S. State Department, or in local schools in her new home state, is "set big goals, work hard, get back up when you fall." The causes that she advocates are health and fitness for women and girls and the Special Olympics.

Her husband is an old-fashioned Kennedy-Johnson liberal Democrat who believes that government has a role to play in improving the lives of ordinary Rhode Islanders. Michelle admires her husband's compassionate heart.

Well, that's about it on the subject of Michelle Kwan and politics.

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Yes, until Michelle married Clay Pell, the evidence suggested that if she was anything, she was a Republican, though not a far-right one. So her political views might be more complex than we can figure out just by looking who her husband is. She and her husband may be like Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. Hawn is known for her support of Democratic and progressive causes, whereas Russell is famous for being a libertarian/conservative mix, a fan of hunting, and so forth. And yet not only do they stay happily together, but they have frequently appeared at each other's events. And then there are Mary Matalin and James Carville…I try never to assume because I'm rarely well-informed enough about a family's inner dynamics to know for sure.

Love this topic. Superstar doesn't mean super nice, thats an entirely different conversation. Superstar can mean different things around the world. Yuna Kim is a superstar in Korea but, not really in the USA. Same thing with Mao in Japan.

Skaters become superstars when they take us on a journey. Kwan grew up in front of our eyes. We were with her when she was just 12 years old at senior nationals. We were with her when she turned 16 and became Salome. We were with her when she earned that silver medal at Nagano and we were with her when she earned the bronze medal at home. She gave us many memories. During her reign she managed to earn 5 world titles something not likely to happen in a very long time. To me Tara while great was just a bleep on the radar. Carolina is another one that has been around long enough to be deemed a superstar.

Rudy Galindo - was a superstar at home because those who follow skating knew his backstory very well and his fairytale had a happy ending. In my book best win ever, better that Sarah's in 2002

CanadianSkaterGuy said:

Really?! Skaters should exercise humility no matter what level or accolades they achieve. ESPECIALLY skaters who do exceedingly well should have some level of humility in order to be a good role model for the sport. I get that you can't change a leopard's spots, but no elite athlete EARNS the right to be a douchebag who can say whatever they want or disrespect people. They don't get a pass, and if anything, they're held to a higher standard. Chan and Plushenko need to take a page out of Hanyu's book.

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Amen to this. I don't think any athlete has earned the right to be arrogant, rude, disrespectful, etc. I've heard that said about numerous top athletes, even some that I don't consider all that arrogant, but allegedly have "earned the right to be arrogant." Confident, yes, I have no problem with that. But being arrogant and trash talking your competitors, or dissing the judges or refs, cussing out the chair umpire, and so on are unprofessional and almost always uncalled for. I can understand a little venting or even arguing a bit in the heat of the moment, but routinely being nasty towards rivals, refs, line judges, chair umpires, etc., I have no respect for.

You rarely see Nadal or Federer going after the officials during a tennis match. Somehow, they've managed to win without making a**ses of themselves at every match. They are two of the top tennis players of all time, and they've managed to be successful without being arrogant and nasty. When they do vent, which isn't often, they take up their argument with the chair umpire, not the low-paid line judges and usually without spewing cuss words or going over the same event ad nauseum until the end of the match. I never liked McEnroe back in the '70s and '80s. He's calmed down and exhibited a totally different attitude as a tennis commentator and interviewer, but I never cared much for him during his playing days, no matter how good he was.

As for Michelle's alleged death stare at 2004 Nationals, I interpreted her look as one of confidence and getting into character, not staring down her rivals or daring the judges to give her bad marks. Obviously, other people had a different interpretation, LOL!

Regarding Michelle's politics: Working for a Republican administration doesn't necessarily mean you're a Republican. I live in a very conservative town in a very conservative state, but my very liberal sister had a job working for a our very Republican mayor several years ago. Michelle's career began under a Republican president, but she may or may not be Republican. My guess is that, regardless of her previous relationship with Christian Anschutz, Michelle's politics are probably middle-of-the-road to liberal. Also, maybe she was more conservative at one time than she is now.

YLFan said:

I kinda wish GS would remove Kwan from their Twitter feed bc of the endless political tweets and retweets. (Esp annoying bc I hate her political views)

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Would you have the same wish if you liked Michelle's political views? Edited to add: I'm not trying to be nasty. I am genuinely curious.

Here's Michelle, that wily politician, gathering signatures for her husband's run.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bre7lJ5IUAAqkn7.jpg:large

Panpie said:

Amen to this. I don't think any athlete has earned the right to be arrogant, rude, disrespectful, etc. I've heard that said about numerous top athletes, even some that I don't consider all that arrogant, but allegedly have "earned the right to be arrogant." Confident, yes, I have no problem with that. But being arrogant and trash talking your competitors, or dissing the judges or refs, cussing out the chair umpire, and so on are unprofessional and almost always uncalled for. I can understand a little venting or even arguing a bit in the heat of the moment, but routinely being nasty towards rivals, refs, line judges, chair umpires, etc., I have no respect for.

As for Michelle's alleged death stare at 2004 Nationals, I interpreted her look as one of confidence and getting into character, not staring down her rivals or daring the judges to give her bad marks. Obviously, other people had a different interpretation, LOL!

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Totally agree re: arrogance vs. confidence. Thumbs up to the latter, not to the former!

I'm one of the people who commented on Michelle's glare @ 2004 Nats although can't remember whether it was in this or another thread. Certainly didn't see it as "daring" the judges to mark her down and was more or less kidding re: staring down rivals. We all know that she was a phenomenal competitor but I don't recall seeing a look quite like that from her before. Anyway, the comment was purely lighthearted and not meant as criticism in any way.

skatedreamer said:

Totally agree re: arrogance vs. confidence. Thumbs up to the latter, not to the former!

I'm one of the people who commented on Michelle's glare @ 2004 Nats although can't remember whether it was in this or another thread. Certainly didn't see it as "daring" the judges to mark her down and was more or less kidding re: staring down rivals. We all know that she was a phenomenal competitor but I don't recall seeing a look quite like that from her before. Anyway, the comment was purely lighthearted and not meant as criticism in any way.

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Yes, I didn't think you or anyone else meant to be critical. I just interpreted Michelle's expression as confidence and getting into character and "the zone." Maybe people, especially Peggy Fleming and Dick Button, were expecting to see her smile before starting her program, so they were taken aback by her expression.