My personal opinion: If a mechanism existed for petitioning to join the team, then Michelle was within her rights to make the petition. I have loved watching her skate during her amateur career. If she is fully healthy and feels she has a legitimate shot at medaling, then she should go, but only after thinking long and hard about whether it might be time to give someone else a chance.
"Kwan. . . petitioned the United States Figure Skating Association. . . for an
injury waiver onto the Olympic team after injuring her groin. . . [T]he United States Figure Skating Association. . . by a vote of 20 to 3. . . named Kwan to the U.S. ladies' figure skating team on Sunday
morning, along with Sasha Cohen, who earned her berth by winning the ladies championship, and Kimmie Meissner, who finished second. Kwan will have to undergo another evaluation before the end of the month, however, before the USFSA is convinced she will be fit enough to skate in Torino.
By placing Kwan on the team, the USFSA was forced to bump Emily Hughes, younger sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes, to the alternate position. Hughes's fate is one Kwan herself experienced in 1994, the last time a female figure skater was granted an injury waiver onto an Olympic team — that time, Kwan had to make way for Nancy Kerrigan, who had been clubbed in the knee during a practice session at Nationals and was forced to withdraw from the event. "When I heard the news, of course I was thrilled, but I also know what Emily is going through, because I can relate, because I was in the same position in '94," said Kwan by telephone from her home in Los Angeles after the announcement. Kwan will perform a run-through of both her short and long programs for a five-member USFSA monitoring panel by January 27; that committee will make the final determination on whether she is ready to skate at the Olympics. The United States Olympic Committee sends its final team roster to the International Olympic Committee by January 30. Kwan said Saturday night that if she is not fully recovered and ready to compete by the deadline, she will withdraw from the Olympics. "If I don't believe I'm 100% at my best, I don't think it would be good for me to go," she said." [Time]
"To make its decision, the committee looked at results from nationals and five major international competitions in the past year. Kwan was fourth at the world championships last year. Hughes's best finish internationally was a bronze medal at the junior world championships last year. "Emily is a wonderful athlete, she competed well. Michelle competed well at worlds last year," Horen said Saturday night. "There aren't numbers I can compare there, there are relationships." Hughes didn't help her cause in the free skate Saturday. She took a hard fall
on a triple loop and cut a triple salchow down to a double, then stepped out of the landing. "It's disappointing for me, but I didn't skate my best," Hughes said. "Everyone's worked so hard and she's done so well for so many years. I feel they made a good decision, and we'll just see what happens." [AP/Washington Post]
"The USOC talks a good game about wanting to rid the various sports of "pipeline blockers" and preserving the movement's integrity. Pipeline blockers are athletes who have stayed in their sport too long and are just happy to "make" national teams and international trips. Here you have a case of a skater hanging on too long in the amateur movement who is injured and trying to petition her way onto the team. Many say Kwan deserves to be on the team for what she has done for the sport. If this was swimming or track, it wouldn't be an issue. No trials, no Olympics. . . No one is denying that Kwan, plagued by hip and groin injuries since October, is the queen of U.S. figure skating, but it's time to make room for the up-and-coming stars who could medal or gain international experience." [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
"Kwan certainly has legacy and reputation on her side, along with silver and bronze Olympic medals. But there are several arguments in Hughes'
favor, the foremost being that her sister, also 16 at the time, won the
gold medal at the 2002 Olympics a month after finishing third at
nationals. . . As for Kwan, having barely skated competitively
over the past few seasons, having skated just once in her career under
the new (and infinitely complex) international judging system, how
realistic are her chances of medaling in Turin anyway? Japan will send three skaters capable of
reaching the podium. There's also Russia's Irina Slutskaya, U.S.
champion Sasha Cohen and Italy's Carolina Kostner – all of whom
finished ahead of Kwan at the 2005 worlds. The ladies competition at the Olympics also has
increasingly become the domain of little girls with big jumps. The last
three gold medalists were 16, 15 and 16. The last two won with two
triple-triple combinations in their long programs. Kwan, 25, hasn't
landed a solo triple jump in public since March and hasn't landed
triple-triples regularly in years." [San Diego Union-Tribune]
Updated 2/3/06: Michelle is going to Torino.
