1993 Michelle Kwan - Skate America

There is a bit of a contest here on YOUTUBE to post the earliest Michelle, and this is the best I can do! I think Tripleaxel96 has me beat with her Nationals debut in 92, but I defer to an outstanding YT compatriot!

Beautiful music and beautiful skating make for an admirable debut. I often wonder what process goes into finding all these talented people, who are often identified by age 9.....and manage to achieve such greatness. I suppose landing triple jumps with ease is a good start, but how could you know what potential could unfold? Of course, there are hundreds of one day wonders we know nothing about, but, after a decade of hard work, she is certainly an obvious modern day successor to the mantel of Maribel Vincent Owen. Michelle benefited greatly from the professional, semi-professional status changes in the sport, but her longevity was certainly an anomaly for the event, although Irina Slutskaya was right there in her shadow the entire time....or perhaps I should say, on her coat tails!!!

Her 1998 US Nationals "Lyra Angelica" is a technical and artistic precipice of World skating that will probably never be surmounted!

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• figure
• skating
• 1993
• Skate
• America
• Michelle
• Kwan
• LP
• United
• States
• ladies
• Tonya
• Harding

[mdiamse]

Until a better skater is born who has both the technical solidity and artistic gift of Kwan (and Kwan's ability to pace herself so she can last years in competition), ALL current skaters will remain in Kwan's shadow. So it's not just Irina...

[k9henrydog]

A very beautiful shadow of influence, I would agree. I was really only pointing out that both skated a long time. Girls seem to be coming and going at an alarmingly fast pace these days....and many seemed quite scarred by the competitive pressure....I appreciate the fact that Michelle is remarkably SANE, after her experiences. Others aren't fairing so well....best wishes

[jgardell]

And it's amazing to note, too, that the fact that neither of them had an Oly gold never stopped them from being skating greats (and more respected than all recent Oly gold medalists).

[k9henrydog]

So true, and such an important point! As the Baron said "Triumph is not necessarily an Olympic Gold Medal!!" thanks for commenting.

[waddleduckie1]

The dream and the passion of Michelle to be on the ice existed because she made it happen, with the loving support of her parents. She was driven to succeed which is the reason why she's still skating. Whew!

[dylanvalente]

I agree. It's beautiful music, but it's not Michelle. You could see her anxiety as she skated to it. She had to try too hard. You certainly didn't see that in Lyra Angelica, where she seemed to be floating.

[k9henrydog]

Scherezade is a cursed piece of music. Very few have succeeded with it.......I knew when I heard she was skating to it, that it was not going to work out.....it just didn't suit her. thanks for commenting, best wishes

[dylanvalente]

Yes, and while I was at first so disappointed in Michelle's bronze, I now think it was a real achievement considering how much more technical ability she was up against compared to 98. In 98 the only skater with more jumping ability was Lipinski. By 2002, she had Slutskaya and (out of nowhere) Sarah Hughes's ridiculously difficult combinations to contend with. Even with a clean program she would have barely held them off.

[travismn]

The music is "An American Hymn."

[vistaprime]

what's this music?