Michelle Kwan

Michelle Wing Kwan ( Kwan Ying Shan, Chinese关颖珊, Pinyin Guan Yǐngshān; * 7 July 1980 in Torrance, California, USA) is an American figure skater who started in a single run. It is the world champion of 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003.

Personal

Michelle Kwan is the third child of Danny Kwan and Estella Kwan, both Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong. At the age of five years, Kwan began operation by her sister Karen, figure skating, and her brother Ron, who played hockey, to be interested in figure skating. A professional training together with her sister Karen, she took on at the age of eight years. Two years later, the family could no longer afford to pay for the training hours. However, someone told from the association, in which the sisters trained, the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club, ready to support them financially.

From the eighth grade Kwan was taught at home. From 1998 she spent a year studying at UCLA in the fall of 2006, she went to the University of Denver. In June 2009, she received her Bachelor's degree in International Studies and Political Science. Then she began to study International Relations at Tufts University.

Figure skating career

In 1991 began Michelle Kwan and her sister Karen to train at the renowned coach Frank Carroll. 1993 Kwan denied their first national championship in the seniors and was sixth. A year later she was in Detroit U.S. vice champion behind Tonya Harding, which she first qualified for international competitions, including the Olympic Games in Lillehammer. In the U.S. champion last year, Nancy Kerrigan, however, an attack was carried out with an iron bar after a workout to this championship, which prevented their participation in the national championship. Then, the association gave her instead of only 13 -year-old Kwan the second place for the Olympic Games. Kwan traveled as a substitute runner to Norway, but did not play. Only after the games was it concluded that the stop of Tonya Harding was initiated. The title was then stripped Harding subsequently remained vacant. Kwan won in Colorado Springs the World Junior Championship and took little later on their first world championship in the senior part. This took place in the Japanese Chiba. She was there to come to the lifetime ban for Harding, the resignation of Kerrigan and missed qualifying by Nicole Bobek, the only U.S. participant and had the top ten to secure the United States a second launch site for the next World Cup, what do you with succeeded in eighth place.

In 1995, Kwan had to Nicole Bobek bend at the U.S. championships because of problems with the Lutz jump in the short program as well as freestyle surprising and was thus again runner-up. At the World Championships in Birmingham, she landed seven triple jumps in the free skate and finished fourth, won a place behind Bobek, the bronze.

After 1995, Kwan developed a more mature, more artistic style and also improved their speed and jumping technique. To this end, she chose heavier choreography. This paid off and initiated their international breakthrough. In 1996 she was in San Jose for the first time U.S. champion and in Edmonton for the first time world champion. She suggested doing the reigning world champion Chen Lu of China in a tight decision, in which both had two top marks for its presentation in the freestyle. Kwan also won for the first time discharged Grand Prix Final in Paris.

1997 Kwan had to struggle due to growth spurts and problems with their skates with difficulties in their jumps. In her free program at the national championships in Nashville she fell twice and stumbled once. So she lost her title at the 14 -year-old Tara Lipinski. Also at the Grand Prix Final in Hamilton and the World Championships in Lausanne, she had to admit defeat her compatriot.

The 1997/1998 season began well for them at first, with victories at Skate America and Skate Canada, but then she suffered a stress fracture in her foot. At the national championships in 1998 Lipinski hometown of Philadelphia showed a performance that many consider the technical and artistic high point of her career. In the short program she ran to Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 and in the freestyle to William Alwyn's " Lyra Angelica ". For her short program she got in the presentation of seven of the nine judges the highest score 6.0 and in the freestyle for their presentation even of eight of the nine judges. There were judges who were so touched that she burst into tears. The programs were choreographed by Lori Nichol. Kwan's performance was rated as the best ever to be shown in U.S. Championships and then she went as the favorite for the Olympic Games in Nagano. There Kwan won the short program before Lipinski and a victory in the freestyle or better placement than Lipinski would have given her to gold. She showed a solid Kürleistung with seven triple jumps. For her presentation she was consistently 5.9 notes, in the technical segment, 5.7 and 5.8 - notes, which left some space for Lipinski in the technical field. Lipinski ran her freestyle routine as last. As Kwan showed seven triple jumps, however, including a triple Rittberger triple Rittberger combination and a triple toe loop - Half - Rittberger triple Salchow combination. Lipinski got higher technical reviews and won the freestyle, as well as the gold medal ahead of Michelle Kwan. Lipinski and the third place winner of the Olympic Games, Chen Lu ended after her career and Kwan won the subsequent World Cup in Minneapolis before the Russians Irina Sluzkaja and Marija Butyrskaya that their main competitors were in the next few years. Kwan won both the short program here as well as the freestyle.

1999 Kwan defended her title at the U.S. Championships against a weak field. The national defense of the title she succeeded by the year 2005. At the World Championships in Helsinki she did not show her best performance and was subject Marija Butyrskaya.

At the World Cup 2000 in Nice Kwan was after the short program behind Butyrskaya and Sluzkaja. The free program, she won with seven triple jumps and since Butyrskaya still placed with their freestyle behind her compatriot, it was enough for Kwan to their third World Cup title.

Your fourth world title they won a year later in Vancouver. In the short program she was still behind Sluzkaja, the freestyle she won but before her, again she ended up taking seven triple jumps, including a triple toe loop - triple toe loop - combination. In autumn 2001, Kwan finished working with Frank Carroll. In December Kwan lost the Grand Prix Final for the third time in a row against Irina Sluzkaja.

When U.S. champion Kwan traveled along with the runner-up Sasha Cohen and Sarah Hughes in third place for the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. Kwan and Sluzkaja were considered favorites for the gold medal. Kwan won the short program just before Sluzkaja. Cohen and Hughes were on the third and fourth place. In the freestyle Kwan landed their combination on both feet and fell at the triple flip. She fell in the overall standings to third place back while their young country woman Sarah Hughes controversial gold before Irina Sluzkaja won. At the World Championships in Nagano Kwan won silver behind Sluzkaja.

In the years following the 2002 Olympics Kwan appeared shorter and contested in the fall of 2002 to 2004 only one Grand Prix event. Under their new coach Scott Williams, she won 2003 in Washington its fifth and final world championship title. She then moved to Rafael Harutyunyan with which they tried to raise the technical level of their programs. In the 2004 national championships seven times they had the 6.0 in the presentation. At the World Championship 2004 in Dortmund she got deductions for her short program, as it was two seconds over the time limit. From the fourth place she went out in the freestyle. She showed a conservative idea with five triple jumps and got the last 6.0 that has ever been forgiven, for then led the International Skating Union a new rating system. She finished the freestyle on the second place and eventually won the bronze medal behind Shizuka Arakawa, who had shown seven triple jumps, including two triple - triple - double combinations, and Sasha Cohen.

For the 2004/2005 season Kwan Christopher Dean hired as a choreographer and ran her free program to Ravel's Boléro, had written to the Dean with his partner Jayne Torvill two decades before Eistanzgeschichte. At the U.S. Championships, she won her ninth and final title, including their eighth in a row and moved the previous record holder Maribel Vinson sole equal. Vinson was the coach Frank Carroll, who in turn led to numerous successes as a coach Kwan. At the World Championships 2005 in Moscow Kwan was after the short program in third place. In her free skating she fell at the triple Salchow and landed with both legs the triple Lutz. Although she was third in both the short program and free skating, it was enough only for fourth place overall for them, 0.37 points behind the bronze medal. It was the first time since 1995 that there was a world championship podium without Michelle Kwan.

Kwan was trying to qualify for the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin to still to win the Olympic gold to her missing. But numerous injuries forced them after much back and forth finally to retreat. However, you have not announced their careers end. In August 2006, she underwent a hip operation. In 2007, they have been known to want to decide in 2009 whether they will participate in the 2010 Olympic Games. However, you did not do this and continued her studies.

Summary

With five World Championship titles Kwan, together with her ​​compatriot Carol Heiss and the Austrian Herma Szabó 's second most successful figure skater at the World Championships after Sonja Henie. In 2003, Kwan became the first woman since Carol Heiss 1960, which succeeded in winning a fifth world title. However, it is also the only woman who remained with at least five World Cup victories with no Olympic Gold. With nine national championship titles she holds jointly with Maribel Vinson 's record in the women's competition at the U.S. Championships. Kwan got in her career 57 times the maximum score 6.0.

Results

  • Z = Withdrawn

Works

  • Laura James, Michelle Kwan: Heart of a champion. Scholastic, New York 1997, ISBN 0-590-76340-7.
  • Laura James, Michelle Kwan: The Winning Attitude: What It Takes to Be a Champion. Hyperion Books, New York 1999, ISBN 0-7868-0546-3.
  • Michelle Kwan: Michelle Kwan: My Special Moments. Hyperion Books, New York 2001, ISBN 0-7868-1580-9.
Winter Olympic Games Figure skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics 1996 World Figure Skating Championships 1997 World Figure Skating Championships 1998 World Figure Skating Championships 1999 World Figure Skating Championships 2000 World Figure Skating Championships 2001 World Figure Skating Championships 2002 World Figure Skating Championships 2003 World Figure Skating Championships 2004 World Figure Skating Championships July 7 Frank Carroll (figure skater) U. S. Figure Skating Championships Colorado Springs, Colorado World Junior Figure Skating Championships 1994 World Figure Skating Championships Chiba, Chiba 1995 World Figure Skating Championships Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final Skate Canada International Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff) Toe loop jump Loop jump Ice dancing 2005 World Figure Skating Championships List of Olympic medalists in figure skating Scholastic Corporation Lily Kronberger Cecilia Colledge Megan Taylor Barbara Ann Scott Jeannette Altwegg Jacqueline du Bief Tenley Albright Gundi Busch Petra Burka Peggy Fleming Gabriele Seyfert Trixi Schuba Karen Magnussen Christine Errath Dianne de Leeuw Dorothy Hamill Elaine Zayak Rosalynn Sumners Debi Thomas Jill Trenary Kristi Yamaguchi Kimmie Meissner Carolina Kostner Tiffany Chin Janina Wirth Simone Koch Laëtitia Hubert Sydne Vogel Jennifer Kirk Caroline Zhang Rachael Flatt Kanako Murakami Adelina Sotnikova Beatrix Loughran Gretchen Merrill Yvonne Sherman Sonya Klopfer Laurence Owen Barbara Roles Janet Lynn Mirai Nagasu Alissa Czisny Ashley Wagner Gracie Gold
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