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| Birth Name(s) : Michelle Kwan |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full Michelle Kwan Biography
Michelle Wing Kwan (關穎珊) (born 7 July 1980) is an American figure skater and media celebrity who has won nine U.S. championships, five world championships, and two Olympic medals. She has remained competitive for over a decade and is the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history. Known for her consistency and expressive artistry on ice, she is widely considered to be one of the greatest figure skaters of all time.
Kwan was homeschooled starting at the age of 13. Prior to that, she attended Soleado Elementary School in Palos Verdes, California. After graduating from Rim of the World High School in 1999, she attended UCLA for one year. In the fall of 2006 she transferred to the University of Denver with the intent to major in political science with a minor in international studies.
On November 9, 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named Michelle Kwan as a public diplomacy ambassador. In this non-salaried position, Kwan will represent American values especially to young people and sports enthusiasts and is expected to travel widely. Kwan made her first overseas trip in the capacity of public diplomacy ambassador with a visit to China from January 17-January 25, 2007.
Kwan has guest starred as herself in "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass", an episode of The Simpsons, and in the Family Guy episode "A Hero Sits Next Door". She has also made guest star appearances in the children's cartoon television series Arthur, and has also appeared in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. She provided the voice of a shopkeeper in Disney's direct-to-DVD sequel Mulan II, and she and fellow figure skater Brian Boitano appeared as announcers in the film Ice Princess. She has performed in numerous figure skating programs, and has cameo appearances in various other television series. In 1999, she appeared in the Michelle Kwan Figure Skating computer game.
Kwan wrote an inspirational book for kids titled, The Winning Attitude: What it Takes to be a Champion. She also wrote an autobiography, Heart of a Champion, at 17.
She was the co-favorite to win the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. She won the silver medal, with the gold medal being won by rival Tara Lipinski and the bronze medal by Chen Lu. Lipinski and Chen both retired from competitive skating shortly after the Olympics, while Kwan went on to win the 1998 World Championships.
Kwan continued to compete as an eligible skater in the 1998-99 season, although she bypassed the fall Grand Prix season and instead chose to skate in a series of made-for-television pro-am events. Her "regular" competitive programs that season were "Fate of Carmen" (short program) and "Lamento D'Ariane" (free skate). At the 1999 U.S. Championships, competing against a weak field, Kwan attained her third title. At the 1999 World Championships, Kwan did not skate her best, and placed second behind Russian competitor Maria Butyrskaya.
Coached by Scott Williams, Kwan won all phases of every competition she entered in the 2002-2003 competitive season with her programs: "The Feeling Begins" (short program) and "Concierto de Aranjuez" (free skate). She won the U.S. Championships again and regained her World title.
For the 2004-2005 competitive season she skated a long program to the "Boléro" music made famous by ice dancers Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean two decades before, and debuted a new short program, "Adagio" from Aram Khachaturian's ballet Spartacus. At the U.S. Championships, she won her 9th title, tying the all-time record previously set by Maribel Vinson-Owen. Interestingly, Vinson-Owen had coached Frank Carroll, who in turn coached Kwan. At the 2005 World Championship, Kwan did not skate her best, falling on her triple salchow and two-footed a triple lutz. She finished fourth, missing third place by 0.37 points. For the first time since 1995, Kwan finished off the podium at the World Championships. Later, Kwan commented that her lack of experience with the new scoring system had affected her performance.
After completing the spring and summer Champions on Ice tour, Kwan underwent elective arthroscopic surgery in August 2006 to repair a torn labrum in her right hip, an old injury which she traces back to 2002. Kwan announced she will not compete during the 2006-2007 figure skating season.
Among her many accolades, Kwan is a recipient of the prestigious James E. Sullivan Award (2001), which is given to America's best amateur athlete; she was the first figure skater to win the award since Dick Button won it in 1949. In 2003 she was named the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) "Sportswoman of the Year", and is the 5th figure skater in history to receive this honor. She has also been named USOC "Athlete of the Month" 14 times, which is more than any other athlete, male or female, as well as being named "Female Figure Skating Athlete of the Year" by the USOC multiple times. She is also the recipient of the USOC's "Citizenship Through Sports Alliance Award" (2004).
Choreographed by Karen Kwan, Michelle Kwan, Peter Oppegard, Nikolai Morosov; Earned 1 6.0 at Nationals, 2 6.0s at Worlds |
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