Kwan Is Still Carrying Torch

Michelle Kwan, saying “the possibilities are endless” to improve skills that have brought her five world figure skating titles, gave her most emphatic indication she will compete at the 2006 Turin Winter Games and vie for the gold medal that eluded her at Nagano and Salt Lake City.

“The possibility of me being at the Olympics in Italy is pretty high. I just have to keep on working hard with Rafael [Arutunian, her new coach],” she said Tuesday after her first official practice at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

“It’s weird because now I’m starting to believe I can be in Italy and compete in another Olympics. I find myself thinking, ‘This is crazy. Shouldn’t I be professional and just be touring and doing shows?’ I’m still here, skating, with the kids.”

Completing her medal set -- she won silver in 1998 and bronze in 2002 -- isn’t her motivation, she said.

“I can’t justify every day in practice just for that gold medal,” said Kwan, whose quest for a record seventh straight U.S. title and eighth overall will begin Thursday at Philips Arena. “I came close to it, and I know I wouldn’t be happier [if she’d won] .... I’ve been lucky skating gives me that passion. I don’t know what it is. I can’t put a finger on it. It’s not about medals.”

The Manhattan Beach resident acknowledged she’s “cautious, a little scared” of committing to training for Turin, where she’d be five months short of 26. But nothing else has satisfied her competitive nature.

“After the 2002 Olympics, I sort of left my thoughts blank, ‘Whatever happens, happens,’ ” she said. “That’s how I went about last season. Right now, certain things are changing. I can see my attitude changing. I’m very ambitious.”

Turin would be her fourth Olympics as a spectator or skater. She was designated an alternate on the 1994 Lillehammer team after the infamous attack on Nancy Kerrigan at the 1994 U.S. championships, which occurred 10 years ago Tuesday.

Tonya Harding won the 1994 U.S. title after Kerrigan was struck on the right knee with a metal baton after a practice at Detroit’s Cobo Hall and couldn’t compete. After associates of Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, said he had paid them to hurt Kerrigan and enhance Harding’s chances, the U.S. Olympic Committee moved to keep Harding off the Lillehammer team. Harding filed a $25-million lawsuit against the USOC and was allowed to skate; Kwan was sent to Lillehammer in case Kerrigan didn’t recover or legal action kept Harding out of the Games.

Kwan was on the ice with Kerrigan before the attack and remembers allowing Kerrigan to leave first. “Then it was chaos after that,” Kwan said. “My coach [Frank Carroll] pushed me aside. At 13, I didn’t understand what was going on.”

Kwan has outlasted the post-Tonya/Nancy frenzy that drove fan interest and TV ratings sky-high. Charles Foster, president of U.S. Figure Skating, said he sent her a letter of tribute before his election last spring and said she means “everything, in one word,” to the sport.

“She’s a marvelous competitor. She’s been a wonderful symbol for people, for the youngsters to look up to,” he said. “She’s everything a family could want in somebody.”

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Rena Inoue and John Baldwin Jr. of Santa Monica have met with TV producers to discuss starring in a reality show. They’ve already lived some intriguing plot lines.

Boy from California meets Japanese-born girl. They’re paired on the ice, fall in love, finish third at last year’s U.S. championships despite a fall that cuts her left knee and finish 10th at the world championships. They come back this season with a fourth-place finish at the NHK Trophy event and fifth at the Cup of China.

But they must be even sharper when the pairs competition begins tonight, because the U.S. can send only two duos to the world championships in Germany in March. They skate last, when judges tend to be generous with marks.

“It’s a lot of pressure, but that’s true whenever you’re one of the favorites,” said Baldwin, who has competed in singles or pairs every year since 1986.

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Five-time ice dance champions Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev, second after the compulsory dance, withdrew because of soreness around a cyst on Lang’s left Achilles’ tendon. “I was going to try to stick it out ... [but] the irritation grew pretty bad,” she said.

Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto lead Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov with only Friday’s free dance to go. “It’s a disappointment to see our friends and competitors injured, and we do wish them a great recovery,” Belbin said.

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Facts

* What: U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

* Site: Philips Arena, Atlanta.

* TV: ESPN2, 7 p.m.

Today’s events (all times Pacific)

* 7:30 a.m.: Junior dance, compulsory dance, Gwinnett Center.

* 10:20 a.m.: Junior men short program, Gwinnett Center.

* 2:20 p.m.: Junior pairs free skate, Philips Arena.

* 5:10 p.m.: Senior pairs short program, Philips Arena.

Note: Each of the 20 pairs will perform a short program, worth one-third of the final score. Each duo must perform certain lifts, throws, jumps and spins. The defending U.S. champions are Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn. No U.S. pair has won a world title since Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner in 1979.