Was it merely a bad practice, caused by jet lag, travel fatigue and spending four hours in the cold at Friday night’s Opening Ceremony?
Or will U.S. figure skater Michelle Kwan, shaken by a disastrous 24 minutes at practice Saturday morning, decide she simply is not physically or emotionally ready to compete in a third Olympics?
Kwan sounded as prepared to withdraw as she was to press on, even while insisting she would practice again Sunday. She spoke of continuing problems from a groin injury, of how she must severely limit her practices after successive injuries this season, of how her mind and body have rebelled against adapting her skating to the sport’s new judging system.
“I really have to pay attention to how I’m feeling these days,” Kwan said an hour after Saturday’s practice. “Dropping out is not something I want to do, but I really have to listen to what my feelings are.”
If Kwan chooses to withdraw, it is unclear whether alternate Emily Hughes would be allowed to take her place in the women’s competition, which begins Feb. 21.
An International Olympic Committee provision allowing late replacements under “extraordinary circumstances,” such as injury, illness or death in the family, might not apply in this case because Kwan’s injury was pre-existing, according to U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel.
“I don’t think there is much precedent here, so there is not too much to go on as to what `extraordinary circumstances’ means,” John Hughes, Emily’s father, said Saturday from his home in Long Island, N.Y. “We hope Michelle is OK.”
There are no plans to bring Emily Hughes to Italy on a contingency basis “because there is no place for her to train,” her father said. He added that she is training full bore for her appearance at the world championships in mid-March.
But Hughes told WNBC-TV, “If they call me, I’m ready. Just point me in the direction and I’m there.”
Hughes finished third at last month’s U.S. championships, where only the winner, Sasha Cohen, was guaranteed one of the three U.S. spots in Olympic women’s singles. National runner-up Kimmie Meissner got the second spot.
Kwan, who withdrew from the national meet because of the groin injury, was given the final spot after a five-member U.S. Figure Skating Association monitoring team signed off on her fitness based on a Jan. 27 practice session.
“It is truly the opinion of this monitoring team Michelle could win the Olympics,” USFSA International Committee Chairman Bob Horen said after Kwan completed her short and long programs for monitors. Kwan landed four triple jumps that day in the long program but fell on a double axel in the short program, hardly Olympic-medal-level performances but clear evidence she merited the final place on the team.
Saturday, however, Kwan was teary-eyed after failing on four of her five triple-jump attempts in what was designated as a short-program practice at Turin’s Ice Palace. She chose not to complete a run-through of her 2-minute-50-second short program and abruptly left the ice 16 minutes before the session was scheduled to end.
“I have got to gather myself, my thoughts, physically [get] myself together,” she said.
Robin Wagner, who coached Sarah Hughes–Emily’s older sister–to the 2002 Olympic title, understands what Kwan is going through. Wagner saw it firsthand Saturday, because she now is coaching Italian skater Silvia Fontana, who is in the same practice group.
“It’s hard when you have been injured and are under all that pressure,” Wagner said. “It all gets very emotional.”
Despite the unfavorable circumstances–fatigue, physical stiffness, coach Rafael Arutunian absent because of visa problems–there was no doubt Kwan was stunned by how poorly she had practiced. She wore a pained expression and brushed her eyes several times after a fourth straight unsuccessful try at the triple-flip jump. One attempt ended in a hard, ungainly fall.
“It is kind of frustrating making mistakes your first practice,” Kwan said. “You want to get out there and skate brilliant and feel good and have your legs under you and go out there and do your programs.”
As I have suggested other times in this season, during which Kwan has yet to step up to Olympic-style competition, her body appears to be breaking down under the pressure of 13 years as an elite senior skater and the increased technical demands of the new judging system.
At 25, Kwan is asking her muscles and joints (hip problems plagued her last fall) to execute movements for which they have no physical memory.
“Unfortunately, I have to evolve with the sport and learn new things,” Kwan said.
That evolution has been complicated by constraints Kwan places on herself in the interest of avoiding new injuries and not exacerbating old ones.
“I wish I could practice more,” she said. “I wish I could spend more time on the ice like I used to. I’m so limited.”
In the 11 months since she placed fourth at the world championships, breaking a streak of nine medal finishes, Kwan has found it hard to regain the full range of skills that made her a five-time world champion and the winner of Olympic silver and bronze medals. Some jumps have become especially problematic.
Her last successful attempt at a combination of triple jumps in competition was four years ago. Kwan said she tried one in practice a week ago but did not land it.
“When I left [California on Wednesday], I was feeling just fine,” she said after practice. “Anything my body makes, any sound it makes, I’m alarmed.”
One solid practice Sunday and this could become a false alarm. Yet there was a telling sound to Kwan’s answer to the question of what she would say to Hughes at this point.
“As alternate,” Kwan said, “you have to be 100 percent prepared.”
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phersh@tribune.com
