Kwan Gains Fame From Misfortune
In skating circles, it is referred to as “the incident.” It had a profound effect on the sport of figure skating, which saw its popularity soar into another galaxy.
It forever changed the lives of Nancy Kerrigan, the victim, and Tonya Harding, the conspirator. And it pushed Michelle Kwan into the spotlight, pulled her back out of it, shuffled her around through a soap opera played out before a worldwide audience.
A year later, Kwan and her coach have relatively good memories about the whole situation.
“I think she was hardly invisible as a result of that incident,” Frank Carroll said Thursday during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, in which Kwan is the favorite. “I think it was probably one of her biggest assets, just the publicity, because as famous as the other two girls became, she rode right on the coattails of that success.
“For Michelle, that incident was nothing but a positive. It was a dreadful incident, but I don’t think it was negative for Michelle at all.
In the end, I think Michelle benefited from that incident.”
How?
Kwan’s presence became a cause celebre in Norway. Would Harding be thrown off the U.S. Olympic team? Would Kwan replace her? Would Kwan be allowed to join the team as an alternate, just in case?
For a 13-year-old who hadn’t yet achieved all that much in skating, this was pretty heady territory. News reports throughout last February speculated on Kwan’s status, even though neither she nor Carroll expected her to skate in Lillehammer.
“After it was over at nationals,” Carroll said, “and we knew that Tonya had won, and we knew that Nancy Kerrigan was second in the world championships and our major hope for a gold medal, we pretty much knew Michelle, who was second at Detroit, would not be on the team if Nancy recovered.”
They were summoned to Norway by the U.S. Olympic Committee, but, of course, Kwan never got to skate.
“That was very exciting,” Kwan said. “I wouldn’t say it was frustrating, I guess I was happy being there. … Just seeing the Olympics was an honor.”
Thursday night, defending pairs champions Jenni Meno and Todd Sand were sensational in the short program, worth one-third of the total score. Skating to “The Blue Danube,” they nailed every element, including super spins and side-by-side double axels to finish first with all nine judges.
“This is probably the best we can skate it,” Meno said. “We went with a more classical short program than last year. We’re known to be elegant and artistic and we wanted to show that off.”
Nearly every other couple struggled with spins or footwork. 1994 Olympians Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen had the least trouble, even though he slipped out of a spin, and were second heading into today’s free skate.
Also Thursday, 15-year-old Sydne Vogel of Anchorage upset 12-yearold Tara Lipinski, the ‘94 Olympic Festival winner, in junior women.