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Women of Wide World: Michelle Kwan
ABC Sports Online
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The youngest of three children, Michelle Kwan began skating at the age of 5 after watching her older brother play hockey. Two years later, she won her first figure skating competition.
|  | | Michelle Kwan won a silver medal at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. |
Today, Kwan is a princess on the ice with four World titles and five U.S. championships.
She made her debut on ABC's Wide World of Sports in 1995 as a 14-year-old, but was upset by Nicole Bobek at the U.S. Championships.
In 1996, Kwan took the podium when she won her first National and World titles. Although she was unseated by Tara Lipinski in 1997, Kwan returned to the top in '98 just before the Olympics. Despite skating on a stress fracture on her toe, Kwan earned 15 perfect 6.0s en route to the title.
"Once she got that title back in '98, I felt like everyone was looking at her differently, that she really proved that she can, go out and perform under extraordinary conditions," said five-time U.S. champion Peggy Fleming. "She had an injury but she still pushed through and focused and she pulled off a beautiful performance."
Kwan won a silver at the Olympics in Nagano, Japan, but is the favorite to win gold in 2002 at Salt Lake City.
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