|
|
 |
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE | |
True to her words Kwan to try out Olympic program at Goodwill Games
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- When figure skater Michelle Kwan lost the Nagano Olympic gold medal to American teammate Tara Lipinski in 1998, Kwan talked bravely about how she would learn from the experience. Nearly four years later, the four-time world champion and five-time U.S. champion begins her preparations for the Salt Lake City Olympics this week at the Goodwill Games. And it's plain her comments back then weren't hollow words. "It seems like just yesterday that I was talking about Nagano," Kwan, 21, said Tuesday. "But I've had a lot of changes in my life, going to school, meeting other people and doing other things. "Now I know that whether or not I take home the gold in Salt Lake City, I'll still have a fulfilled life." On Thursday, Kwan begins trying out her short and long programs for Salt Lake in the company of some of her main Russian foes over the past several years -- 2001 world silver medalist Irina Slutskaya and 1999 world champion Maria Butyrskaya. "It's very challenging right now and I'm very happy with it," Kwan said of her Brisbane program, which will include a triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination. She had turned that element at the world championships in Vancouver in March, but the move had troubled her going into the event. Frank Carroll, who has been coaching Kwan for 10 years, says Kwan's ability to stay healthy will be a big plus going into the six-month grind before Salt Lake. "She is very intelligent about her own body, and how much she can take," said Carroll. "A lot of her training is put into her own mind and I think that's why she has avoided injuries. She knows when to quit. Other skaters don't listen to their bodies." Kwan, who led after the short program at Nagano but had to settle for silver, said she won't be affected by what are expected to be small crowds at the Brisbane Entertainment Center. Figure skating is the only non-summer sport on the Goodwill Games program and is not often seen live in Australia. "When you are out there on the ice, your primary focus is to concentrate on what you have to do, regardless of how many people are watching," said Kwan, who attends UCLA in Los Angeles. "But watching this sport on television and seeing it live are two different things. I hope people will come out." The men's competition, featuring world champion Evgeni Plushenko of Russia, silver medalist Alexei Yagudin of Russia and 1998 Olympic silver medalist Elvis Stojko of Canada, begins Wednesday with the short program. The pair short program also comes Wednesday, with world silver medalists Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia in the field. Kwan, Slutskaya and Butyrskaya begin their short program Thursday. Also starting then is ice dance, which includes world bronze medalists Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh of Russia. The men's and pairs long program will be held Friday before the dance and women's finals on Saturday. Competitors will be chasing U.S. $600,000 in prize money.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
