On July 7th 1980, a third child, Michelle Kwan, was born to Danny and Estella Kwan in Torrance, California. Ron, the eldest, Karen, and Michelle were the family's first native-born Americans. Danny and Estella came to the US in 1971 and '75 respectively from Hong Kong.
Michelle first skated when she was 5 years old. Her parents took her and her sister, Karen, to watch their brother, Ron, practice hockey.
Michelle and Karen wanted to skate too. After Ron's practice, they got their chance - and they liked it! Within a year; they were taking figure skating lessons. "My first skating memory is from when I was 6," says Michelle. "I was wearing rental skates and eating Nerds candy."
Michelle entered her first competition when she was 6. She won! A year later; she watched on TV as U.S. skater Brian Boitano won a gold medal at the 1988 Winter Olympics.
Michelle decided then that she wanted to win an Olympic medal too. "I thought, 'Okay, tomorrow I'll go to the Olympics,'" she says.
In 1990, Michelle's parents hired top coach Frank Carroll to work with her and Karen. The next year; the girls went to live and train at one of the best skating centers in the world, in Lake Arrowhead, California. Among them at Ice Castle were some of top skaters in the world.
Michelle finished ninth at the 1992 junior national championships. She wanted to take the skating test for senior level, but her coach, Frank Carroll thought she needed more experience.
Michelle, then 12, decided to take the test while her coach was out of town. She did a variety of skating moves in front of a panel of judges and passed the test. Her parents thought all along that Carroll was informed about the test.
Frank Carroll was mad at Michelle for taking the test. But she did better as a senior skater than she had done as a junior! She won four major events the following year.
In 1993, at the age of 13, she gained instant attention as the youngest U.S. Olympic Festival champion. Michelle landed six triple jumps before the largest crowd in skating history (25,691 people).
Earlier during that season she won both the Southwest Pacific Regionals and the Pacific Coast Sectionals, finished sixth at the 1993 Nationals in Detroit where she was the youngest senior competitor in 20 years and won the Gardena (Italy) Spring Trophy.
Hailed as a new "over-night sensation" - even though she had been skating since she was five - it was a very auspicious and impressive beginning.
After winning the prestigious World Junior Championships the following year, she took a silver medal at the Goodwill Games (behind an experienced Surya Bonaly) and leaped to the second place at the 1994 nationals and was first alternate to the Olympic and World Teams.
In the 1995 Nationals, Michelle placed second to Nicole Bobek, who later earned a bronze medal in the 1995 World Championships. Michelle placed 4th that year in the worlds, despite the fact that she had skated a clean program. From feedback by judges, Michelle realized that the judges wanted to see more of a young lady than a girl. So Michelle did away with her pony-tail and changed to a sophisticated bun, along with makeup to make her look more mature. She worked long and hard on improving the artistic side of her skating. And in the 95-96 season, Michelle unvailed her Salome program, bringing a new and exotic style to her skating. The judges and the world were in awe of her new-found maturity and beauty, and she went on to win both the national and world titles. The world title was particularly a tear-jerker for Michelle, that competition being one of her biggest goals.
With those gold medals behind her, Michelle began the 1996-97 season winning nearly all of her competitions. Michelle was deemed unbeatable, and I, myself, nearly expected her to win the nationals with not trouble at all. But what can you do when a win is expected of you by an entire country? Well, for Michelle, her emphasis moved from skating, to winning, and under the immense pressure by her country and most of all herself, Michelle stumbled in Nationals, and later in the Champions series soon after. However Michelle was not out of the running. After placing 4th after the short program of Worlds, Michelle finally realized that skating isn't about winning, but about being an artist on ice. The tragic death of her close friend, Harris, along with the death of Carlo Fassi and Scott Hamilton's ilness, Michelle got new perspective on her skating. She went on to win the long program, and would have won the entire event, had some of the other skaters scored a little higher. For her long program, Michelle skated like she had earlier that season and the season before - for the true love of her sport. And that is why she has my respect and admiration.
The 1997-1998 Olympic Season got off to a wonderful start as Michelle competed in Skate America. I honestly could not see how Michelle's artistic expression could have gotten any better, but Michelle was captivating in her short program, skated to Rachmanninoff piano conertos. She also introduced a new long program skated to "Lyra Angelica", which means "Angel's Song". This presented Michelle in a different way from the exotic and dramatic toned performances of the past two seasons. The program was not about any biblical charaters, or Indian love stories. The program was about Michelle and her personality. She finished her program with a look of absolute happiness. She took first place in the first competition of the Olympic Season.
Things got a little rough a month or so later, when Michelle competed at Skate Canada. At the end of her program, Michelle had a strange fall on her simple butterfly jump. Everyone was kind of confused: what a silly mistake for Michelle to make. However, little did Michelle know at the time that it was really a stress fracture in her left toe. Things got a little bleak for the rest of 1997. Michelle's spirits were down a little as she had to sit out of the NHK Trophy and the Champions Series Finals. However, Michelle got back to training in small intervals, and kept herself strong off the ice. Nobody was sure of how she would be in the 1998 Nationals in the beginning of January. In this competition, Michelle had to switch some jumps and choreography around to accomodate for her pain. This meant replacing easy, but painful jumps (like the triple toe loop) with harder jumps (like the triple flip). Michelle's practices were okay, but not too revealing on how she would actually do in the competition.
But the day soon came, and on January 8th, 1998, Michelle performed the short program of her life. Everyone was holding their breath as she flawlessly performed her lutz/toe combination and her triple flip (which she was having lots of problems with). Michelle was radiant when she finished that program, and sat down to see the scoreboard light up with seven 6.0's for presentation. This was wonderful- Michelle was in first place at a competition she wasn't sure if she could hold up for. However, the worst part was yet to come. The long program included all the jumps she had struggled with, in addition to the two jumps which hurt her (the triple salchow and the triple toe loop). People all over America were nervously pinned to the screen (like me!!) and watched as one jump after another were delivered with perfect ease. Michelle just beamed the whole program, with a smile of complete joy showing through after she landed her second triple lutz. All anyone could say was WOW. THat's what the judges said too: they awarded her EIGHT 6.0's for a total of 15 from the whole competition. Michelle triumphantly won her title back.
Another chapter of Michelle's story was written at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, where Michelle Kwan rallied to win a silver medal to fellow American, Tara Lipinski. The dissappointment and sadness were present, but Michelle held her head up and accepted her silver medal with maturity and dignity. Many, including myself, wish that Michelle had been able to skate later, when the scores would not have been held back. However, what will be, will be. Maybe Michelle wasn't meant for Olympic Gold this year. However, the future still looks bright for Michelle: she has assured the world that she will fight to the 2002 Olympic Games. Her fight took her to a second World title this past April in her home country. Despite a slip on a double axel and the doubling of a salchow, Michelle skated an otherwise wonderful program and won herself the title. In addition to that title, Michelle won the 1998 Goodwill Games title with spirited and emotional final performances of her Olympic Programs.
When the 1998-1999 Figure Skating season kicked off, most people remained unsure as to what Michelle's plans were. Would she skate in the Grand Prix series? Would she skate at Nationals and Worlds and defend her titles? Would she go on tour? Would she skip everything and go to college? Nobody seemed to know. Michelle was entered only in a few ISU pro-am competitions, ones which blurred the lines between professional and eligible skating. The most prominent rumors were that Michelle would skip nationals and worlds, and only skate in pro-ams. However, it appeared as if Michelle couldn't stay away. In addition to debuting an ISU short program to Carmen at the ISU opens, she sent in a request to fill the single vacant spot on the Skate America roster... the one that the USFSA had left open for her. However, it wasn't as simple as being added to the list. The ISU demanded that Michelle either skate in 2 events AND the Grand Prix Final (scheduled for the weeks in between nationals and worlds) or else she couldn't do anything. Everyone was confused about these unwritten rules, but in the end, the USFSA was forced to turn Michelle's request down. Too fill up the rest of her schedule which didn't include college at the present time, Michelle entered several pro-am competions, including the World Professional Championships where she debuted her new long program, Ariane. It appeared, and Michelle confirmed, that she would go for her 3rd national title in February.
February came quite quickly, and Michelle was in Salt Lake City, possibly in the same arena where she could be performing in 3 years at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games. Michelle skated a solid, but not perfect short program to take the lead over a group of youngsters, including 13 year old Sarah Hughes and 13 year old Naomi Nari Nam and some seasoned veterans such as Amber Corwin and Angela Nikodinov. When the long program came around, Michelle delivered on one of her promises about her next few years: She successfully landed her first triple/triple combination in competition since the 1997 World Championships. Certainly the toe seemed to have settled down over the summer! A very pleased Michelle took home her 3rd national title, and went to Helsinki, Finland in search of World Title number 3. However, this would not be easy. Michelle came down with a congestive head cold while in Helsinki, and performed a flawed short program that left her in 4th place after a fall on a double axel. However, Michelle didn't pull out of the event as many had predicted. Michelle fought through a rough long program and landed 6 triples to win a silver medal to Maria Butyrskaya, who gave the performance of her life to win gold. Once again, the World Championships served as a learning experience for Michelle. She knew then that the next 3 years would be no walk in the park. However, if there's one thing Michelle knows how to do, it is to strive to improve herself and her skating. This coming season, Michelle intends to balance a full skating schedule with college life at UCLA. However, regardless of the gold medals that Michelle Kwan wins, she will always be remembered as a true champion in every sense of the word.
Born: July 7, 1980-Torrence, CA
Height: 5'2"
Home Club: Los Angeles FSC
Hometown: Torrence, CA
Training Town: Lake Arrowhead, CA
Coach: Franl Carroll
Choreographers: Frank Carroll, Lori Nichol's
1998 U.S. Championships-1st
1998 Olympic Winter Games-2nd (Silver)
1998 World Championships-1st
1998 Goodwill Games-1st
1998 Masters of Figure Skating-1st
1999 World Pro Championships-1st
1999 Japan Open-1st
1999 U.S. National Championships-1st
1999 World Championships-2nd
Michelle Kwan: Spirit of a Champion
Steve's Michelle Kwan Page
Michelle Kwan's Web Corner
The Michelle Kwan Fan Page
Michelle Kwan, An Angel on Ice
Heather's Michelle Kwan Fan Page
The Michelle Kwan Page
Michelle Kwan, Luminous Grace-A Celebration of an Unmatched Figure Skater
Jenny's Michelle Kwan Page
Michelle Kwan Rulz Page
Jaime's Michelle Kwan Page
Michelle Kwan-Queen of the Ice
Michelle Kwan: Angel of Grace
Michelle Kwan's Magical Moods on Ice
Michelle Kwan Grace on Ice
Michelle Kwan: Drama on Ice
Michelle Kwan: Glace Ange
Lisa's Kwan-Krazed Webpage
Magical Michelle
Michelle Kwan Fan Page
Michelle Kwan Fanatics
Glory and Grace on Ice
