Adding more difficult jumps and jump combos to her program must be taking its toll as it does for skaters. Michelle has always played it safe so to speak, but now has to go up against the younger generation. It only stands to reason she would have to face possible injury at some point.
No kidding. The worst case scenario that could come out of this is that after this injury, Kwan *COULD* decide that she just cannot keep up with the younger ones and then decide to hang up her skates. But Kwan doesn't really come across to me as a quitter.
She
knows that playing it safe won't work. But I equate what might have happened to the phenomenon of "cramming" for an exam- you take it easy and don't think about the test until it is 3 days away- then you scramble and kick into overdrive to try to learn all the material for the test. You will burn yourself out, and, worst of all, you won't do so well on that test because you'll forget everything.
So- to complete this comparison, Kwan took it easy for three years,
knowing that she was being passed by others, and slipping in the world rankings. But now that the Olympics are nearing, wanting to go for the gold one last time, it (finally) starts to sink in; she realizes how far behind she is and tries to work harder than usual. But because she is not used to this type of work, she puts herself more at risk for an injury. And now here we are.
(Note that this is only my speculation- it's not based on any facts.)
But lots of skaters get injured without the "playing it safe" mentality. There's the other extreme as well; you just push yourself WAY too hard. But this is telling, because as I said before when was the last time Kwan was out with an injury? As Kwan fans love to say, she supposedly "knows her body". But apparently, and unfortunately, not this time.
JMO.
hwell:
