Michelle Kwan....Retired?

[FSWer]

Say,I heard something about Michelle Kwan being offically Retired. However I don't know much. Can anyone please conferm this? Thanks.

[Schmeck]

Did you check on Heather's website and message board?

[ska8er]

Wow. This is the first I have heard.

Anyone?
Bueller?

[Nicki]

This is the first I've heard of such a rumor. The last I heard was that she was feeling well enough to skate again after her surgery, and was back on the ice, trying to regain her former fitness level. In interviews she stated that she had not made a decsion about her future yet, and was just seeeing how her skating progressed. She's been out of the country recently, as part of her goverment job, and has been blogging about her trip.

It would be pretty easy to do an internet search for this.

[Nicki]

I forgot to add that she will be doing some of the commentating at this weeks World Champioships, so maybe they'll mention her compettitive status then.

[Nicki]

Michelle answers this question in the 3/23 edition of the Washington Post. Sorry, I don't know how to post links, or I would put a direct link here.


Text of article from Washington Post:


Still on the World Stage, Kwan Keeps Options Open
Skating Star-Turned-Student Ponders a Return to the Ice

Since retiring from competition three years ago, Michelle Kwan has been busy studying international relations at the University of Denver, a path that has brought her together with many high-profile diplomatic figures including former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, above left. (Clockwise From Left: Photo By Jonathan Ferrey -- Getty Images; Photo By Vladimir Rys -- Bongarts Via Getty Images; Photo By Kevin Wolf -- Associated Press)

"All [career] options are out there," said Michelle Kwan, tutoring a class for youths in Kiev, Ukraine, this month. (By Sergei Chuzavkov -- Associated Press)

By Amy Shipley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 24, 2009; Page E01

Since her departure from figure skating three years ago, Michelle Kwan has meticulously laid the foundation for the rest of her life, lunching with heads of state, carrying out formal U.S. diplomatic missions in Ukraine, Russia, China and Argentina, and immersing herself in the study of international relations as a full-time student at the University of Denver.

Yet after finishing her degree last November, Kwan almost immediately resumed the serious on-ice training she had abandoned after withdrawing from the 2006 Winter Games because of an abdominal injury. Facing career questions any recent graduate faces, Kwan added an unusual one to the mix.

Should she try to earn a spot at the Winter Games in Vancouver next year?

The answer is not as obvious as in her teenage years. She doesn't know if she can muster the single-minded determination that drove her to five world titles. Though healthier and stronger than when she left, she isn't sure her body can withstand the pounding it used to take. And, even after three months of heavy training, she remains uncertain whether she can produce her former excellence.

"I want to see how far I can push myself and then make a decision," she said. "All options are out there. I'm not eliminating anything."

A return by Kwan, 28, would thrill the legions of loyal fans who adored her as she dominated her sport for a decade, winning nine U.S. championships and earning the distinction, in the minds of many, of being the greatest figure skater of all-time. It would also immediately improve the stature of the slumping U.S. women's program, which has sunk to its lowest level in decades with the International Skating Union's world championships set to begin today in Kwan's home town of Los Angeles.
And it would set the stage for fabulous theater if Sasha Cohen, a onetime rival to Kwan who also left competitive skating in 2006, similarly decided to come back. She, too, has said she is considering another Olympic run.

But a decision to stay out of the sport would leave Kwan free to pursue graduate school -- she said she has applied to a number of programs and is awaiting acceptance letters -- while continuing to further her career with the State Department. It would enable her to continue to dabble in television work; she has agreed to do color commentary for NBC during the world championships after having declined a similar offer when she pulled out of the 2006 Games.

It would also leave her competitive reputation unsmirched, while not preventing her from eventually joining a professional skating tour, a career path followed by many world and Olympic medal winners.

"I could train to get in shape to be in the Olympics, or to do a tour perhaps in the future, or it could be just chilling with my two nieces at the rink," she said. "That's where I'm at. . . . It's nice to have all of these options right now, because I am not sure."

Yet when someone at the rink recently remarked with awe that she had come so far after so much time off, the praise stuck with Kwan -- who admits it has been difficult to evaluate her own progress.

"I'm thinking I should already be doing long programs and triple-triples," she said, "considering how much I've done off the ice."

At least her body feels healthy and rested after three years of an exercise routine that consisted largely of five-mile runs around Denver's Washington Park. Since returning to skating, she has emphasized strength and flexibility, spending the majority of her time doing dry land work with a personal trainer. She has not hired an on-ice coach. She skates by herself for about an hour a day.

Some jumps have come back easily, she said. Others, are more of a struggle. Her surgically repaired hip feels better than ever, but she is also wary of doing further damage by pushing too hard too fast.

"I know," she said, "I'm not a spring chicken."

After pulling out of the 2006 Olympics, Kwan found it easy to give up the sport. She had no choice: Soon after the Games, she underwent arthroscopic surgery on her hip. The forced time off allowed her to dive into school in a way in which she had dreamed, but had previously failed to achieve during an earlier stint at UCLA.

"I've always had the mind-set of taking one thing at a time," Kwan said. "When I was in school, I really jumped right in and loved the experience of being a complete student, completely involved."

She did not cease to be a celebrity, of course. Soon after the Olympics, she found herself at the White House, sharing a luncheon table with President George W. Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Despite tingling with nervousness over the setting and company, Kwan was surprised to find she and Rice had much in common. Rice, a former amateur figure skater, had attended the University of Denver (albeit entering at age 17).

By the end of the dinner, Kwan offered to help the administration in any way she could, and Rice hinted at Kwan's occupying the volunteer post that she now holds. The interaction profoundly affected Kwan, helping to persuade her to switch her major from political science, in which she earned a minor, to international relations.

And earlier this month, on her fourth trip as an American Public Diplomacy Envoy for the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Kwan met with high-achieving students in Kiev, Yalta, Sevastopol, Bakhchisarai and Odessa, Ukraine. The permanent post will require another trip later this year, she said.

"I'm sharing my personal experiences, the things I've learned through skating and sport," Kwan said. "Things like hard work and dedication and, most importantly: Never give up."

Kwan finds herself mulling her own advice. While in school, she occasionally skated with friends at the university's two rinks, limiting herself to basic moves and perhaps an occasional single or double jump. Though she kept things relaxed to ensure she did not over-tax her body, the immersion was enough to put stress on her psyche. "I can't," she said, "go on the ice and play."

"Skating is something I really love doing," she also said. "It's always going to be a part of me. When I was at school, I knew I needed a little break, but every time I got on the ice, those feeling and memories -- you just can't get away from them. I missed performing, skating in front of people, skating with music. I missed the routine as well."

It was those feelings that drove her back to the sport last November. But she won't ride a feeling to the Olympic Games.
She said her life, now, is much too complicated to be decided on a whim.

Even so, she admits being inspired by 41-year-old swimmer Dara Torres, whom she watched win a silver medal during the Beijing Olympics during her diplomatic trip to China. A friend jokingly told her that, if she made a comeback, she could be the "Dara of figure skating."

Kwan immediately retorted that she wasn't 41.
She acknowledges, however, being a "grandmother" in her sport.

"I feel it's important to challenge myself," Kwan said. "I'm not training right now to get to the Olympics. I'm training right now to get in killer shape.

"I have so many options, so many directions I can take and figure skating is one of them. . . . I'm trying to decide what I want to do."

[Isk8NYC]

I found the articles using the Washington Post search feature, but you have to have an ID to view them. (Free registration)

Article 03/24/2009 "Still on the World Stage, Kwan Keeps Options Open: Skating Star-Turned-Student Ponders a Return to the..." by Amy Shipley (Washington Post) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/23/AR2009032300682.html)

Nice picture slideshow (AP & Getty Images) here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/23/AR2009032300682.html

Thanks for suggesting them, Nicki.

[ska8er]

Thanks for the info and posting the stories.
Kwan is an amazing athlete, and I have long admired her dedication.
She is hardly a "grandmother" in the sport!

[Mel On Ice]

can you imagine showing up for learn to skate and have the guest instructor be Kwan?

As for the rest of her life pursuits, live your life honey! She gave so much to this sport, she deserves her rest and reward.

[Isk8NYC]

Interesting follow on article from the AP:

Michelle Kwan in Vancouver? Don't rule it out
Wed Mar 25, 2009 By Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Her first triple flip in a few years completed, Michelle Kwan had to stop herself and do a little self-congratulation.

"That was a sweet moment," the nine-time U.S. champion said. "It was the first one in a long, long time. I'm not feeling pain and really having a good time on the ice."

Before fans do triple flips of their own in celebration, a few words of caution here: The greatest figure skater of her generation is not back on the ice preparing for the Vancouver Olympics.

Oh, yes, that could happen in the near future — it has to be the near future, after all, considering the games are less than 11 months away. But Kwan also might be in graduate school by the opening ceremony of the 2010 Olympics. Or she could be further ensconced in the television booth; she's working this week's world championship for NBC.

Or Kwan just might be competing in her third Olympics; she never got that far four years ago, having to leave Turin two days after the opening ceremony because of injuries that led to hip surgery.

"I'm not training for the Olympics," Kwan said. "That's not my mind-set or my goal right now. I just want to see how fit I can get.

"It's hard to determine where I'll be physically in the next four months.

Physically, my trainer has asked me the same thing: 'What are your limitations due to the surgery and the injury?' I went through a lot of therapy and chiropractic and acupuncture. I had not been without pain for a long time."

And now?

"I'm not really feeling set back at all physically," she said. "I know I recover slower and it's not like I am 17 or 18 anymore and I could skate all-out for three hours a day. It's a lot of off-ice work and then onto the ice for an hour and slowly working up to it."

At 28, Kwan still has the passion for skating, something she believes she will never lose. So even when she simply is tooling around the rink with her nieces, there's nothing but joy on her face.

And when she gets more serious on the ice, well, there are times she looks like the old Kwan, not an old Kwan.

"My sister Karen was watching me skate — she's always on the ice coaching — and she said, 'Are you training for something?' " Kwan said. She chuckles when she adds "A lot of days I am determined to come in and do my warmup and then my long program. But I don't have a long program!'

"I always will have that mental edge. Regardless of the job, if I do it, I do it 100 percent."

American women's skating isn't nearly at 100 percent on the competitive scene. The cold truth is the United States will be hard-pressed to hold onto three berths at Vancouver, needing very strong performances from the virtually untested (at the world level) Alissa Czisny and Rachael Flatt this week.

Even if there are just two spots in the games for American women, it's tempting for just about everyone to imagine what it would be like if Kwan and Sasha Cohen held those spots.

Cohen, the silver medalist in Turin, is considering a return to competitive skating, and will make a decision in June. Her last competitive event was the 2006 worlds.

"I definitely miss it and I miss that intensity of competition, especially with the Olympics coming up," Cohen said. "That platform and all the athletes coming together and showing what they worked for their whole life, it is amazing.

"I was really burnt out after the last ones and wanted do other things and keep the door open. Lately, I am feeling I could do three Olympics, and I'm not ready to give up on that just yet. That is why I'm saying in June I will make the decision, give it the time I need to decide if I want to get back and get programs put together.

"I will have a good month to really just train and then make an announcement and be prepared."

Things haven't progressed nearly that far for five-time world champion Kwan. Unlike Cohen, who performs several nights a week in the "Stars On Ice" tour and constantly has her skates on, Kwan only recently has gotten back in the swing.

If she needs any outside inspiration — something Kwan rarely requires — she simply looks at Dara Torres, who swam in the Beijing Olympics at age 41. Kwan calls that "amazing."

"I don't have a timetable. I do have goals," she said. "Right now, I want to do one thing at a time before I make any decisions. I want to make sure everything is out there and I look at all the options. Eventually, I'll get to a place I am comfortable with."
Bolding is my addition. I read this article online at Universal Sports. http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=13046&DB_OEM_ID=23000&ATCLID=3700514

[doubletoe]

Interesting follow on article from the AP:

Bolding is my addition. I read this article online at Universal Sports. http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=13046&DB_OEM_ID=23000&ATCLID=3700514

Great article, thanks! :D BTW, in case anyone is only reading the bolded sections, the second bolded section is actually talking about Sasha Cohen, not Michelle Kwan.