Michelle Kwan is working on her next chapter

School takes priority, but skating is still a great love

Michelle Kwan at Flywheel Sports with Yolanda Jackson of the Women's Sports Foundation. Kwan took part in a spinning class to raise money for GoGirlGo. (Lois Elfman)

By Lois Elfman, special to icenetwork.com

(10/12/2010) - This morning Michelle Kwan took a spinning class, even though it isn't really her thing. Kwan, however, agreed to get up before dawn and take a class at Flywheel Sports in New York's Flatiron district to raise money and awareness for the Women's Sports Foundation's GoGirlGo program. Tonight is the WSF's 31st annual Salute to Women in Sports and this morning Kwan and other female athletes were joined at the spinning studio by sponsors and others who paid to work out with them.

Considering how busy her schedule has been as of late -- juggling graduate studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston with skating and speaking engagements -- it was somewhat surprising she made time to come to New York. The bottom line is she may never have become Michelle Kwan, nine-time U.S. ladies champion, five-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist without the WSF. "I received a [travel and training] grant when I was 13 years old," Kwan recalls. "At that time, it was really tough on my dad and my mom making ends meet. It wasn't a huge grant, but it was huge in the sense that I'm not sure I would be here if I didn't receive it." Kwan doesn't recall exactly what they spent the money on, but it was probably new custom skates. She reveals a fact that she thinks she's never said before, "At one point I skated in used custom skates [purchased from someone else]. I won Olympic Festival (1993) in those used custom skates. That's an example of how a thousand dollars made a huge difference." While Kwan says she always knew there would be a point where "I wouldn't be running long programs and I would be doing something that is different," the last four years have still been challenging. It wasn't easy to transition from the structured schedule of training to school. "Doing research, writing a paper, writing a memo -- it takes a different sort of focus and a different sort of energy," she says. "It takes the same discipline. It takes discipline to be a good skater and it takes great discipline to be a good student or to be good at anything. So it's making that transition smooth in terms of focusing on what you have to do and accomplishing it by setting goals." Among the goals Kwan set herself was to return to skating form. In the summer of 2009, she skated in public for the first time in three years, performing in Yu-Na Kim's show in Korea.

Earlier this month, Kwan and Kim brought the show to the Staples Center in Los Angeles. "I got on the ice the first time when they announced my name and it was like, 'Oh my God, I missed this so much,'" says Kwan of All That Skate L.A.. "It was emotional, but yet it was so much fun because it was in L.A. with my friends and my family. I've never had a list of friends and family in the audience that long. I don't know if it's going to be another four years. You've got to appreciate it. You never know what's going to happen. "It had to be a very spectacular show for me to come back and it was definitely that. It was all that." Kwan loved performing with the incredible cast, including three of the four Olympic gold medalists from the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. It was her introduction to some of the young faces in skating. "It was the first time I met Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Patrick Chan and Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett," she says. It felt like a great progression for Kwan, who skated her first U.S. championships as a novice while Kristi Yamaguchi was still competing. She notes of the span of skaters she competed against or toured with during her career, such as Nancy Kerrigan, Oksana Baiul, Tara Lipinski, Sarah Hughes and Sasha Cohen. She found the whole presentation of All That Skate L.A. to be incredible and she particularly enjoyed working with choreographer David Wilson. "It was such a great visual -- the lighting, the backdrop, the videos," she notes. "There was nothing missing." With Kim now relocated to Los Angeles and training at East West Ice Palace in Artesia, Calif., Kwan is sorry she doesn't have more time to be on the ice with her. She doesn't know what Kim's future will hold, but she marvels at Kim's potential and says she respects the effort Kim is making to keep her skating fresh and new. After tonight's WSF gala, Kwan will head back to Boston and direct her energies into writing her master's thesis. "I personally just adore school," she says. "I wish the [two-year] program was longer -- not a lot longer, but a bit longer." She's "flirting" with the idea of pursuing a doctorate, but will take her time to decide. "I will keep all doors open like I've done the last few years," Kwan says. She anticipates there will be another State Department trip in her future. She was appointed a public diplomacy envoy during President George W. Bush's last term and has continued in the position under President Barack Obama. She has also recently been appointed to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition and enjoyed meeting fellow members like NBA players Grant Hill and Chris Paul and track star Allyson Felix. On a side note, she says the intensity of Bikram yoga, which she does regularly, helped her get through spinning class. It's an exciting and dynamic time for Kwan as she moves forward with her life. "Going forward in other chapters of my life I understand I've had great success in sports, but you have to approach it like a starting line in a race," she says. "You have to go at it and you have to work hard. "It's exhilarating," she adds. "You have to fight for everything you want."