Kwan Can Tell You All That Glitters Is Not Gold

If you need a reminder about the essence of the Olympics, you can look up the words of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.

“The main issue in life is not the victory but the fight; the essential thing is not to have won but to have fought well,” the founder of the modern Olympics said.

Or you can listen to Michelle Kwan.

Kwan, 17, admittedly was disappointed when she didn’t bring the women’s figure skating gold medal home to Lake Arrowhead.

But she didn’t complain about the judging, trash her room in the Olympic village or dwell on anything other than the medal she had won in Nagano.

Each time she appears, the value of silver increases.

“As kids, you say third place is like kissing your mother, second place is like kissing your brother and first place is like glory,” she said during last week’s World Championships in Minneapolis.

“But it’s not like that. It’s very different. Every time I look at my medal--I have it in my home still, in the box--I feel like I’ve achieved something so high, I can’t even say. It’s like a secret, a secret with me and the medal.”

Something else Kwan didn’t do after the Olympics was abandon the sport that enabled her to achieve. Unlike most figure skating medalists from Nagano, among them women’s gold-medalist Tara Lipinski, Kwan resumed training after returning home and competed in the World Championships.

Peggy Fleming, who rarely criticizes, was so offended by the no-shows that she made an exception, saying, “I was taught to carry through on what I committed to.”

Kwan, however, concentrated only on what she had to do, winning her second world championship before starting to look ahead to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

There are no guarantees she will win the gold medal there, either.

“Maybe there’s another 13-year-old coming up,” she said. “You never know.”

Then again, it’s not about the gold medal.

“You have to have the patience and discipline and dedication to come back and fight again,” she said.

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After Floyd Patterson’s resignation as chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission because of memory lapses, George Foreman, 49, is prepared in case he suffers from a similar affliction. . . .

“That’s why I named my four boys George, to make sure I wouldn’t forget,” he said. . . .

Foreman hasn’t forgotten he vowed never to fight Larry Holmes. . . .

That doesn’t mean he can’t change his mind. . . .

While his lawyer checks out the validity of a $10-million offer from an unidentified promoter, Foreman said Monday, “I’m not in the habit of refusing $10 million.” . . .

Holmes, 48, should have talked to Shannon Briggs before pursuing a fight with Foreman. . . .

“George Foreman punches harder than Lennox Lewis,” Briggs said after Lewis TKO’d him in the fifth round 10 days ago. . . .

Patterson’s resignation reminds track and field promoter Al Franken of a conversation he had with Ingemar Johansson when the two former heavyweight champions were in Los Angeles a few years ago for a celebrity race. . . .

Johansson suffers no ill effects from his boxing career, probably because he cut it short. . . .

“It’s not only the fights,” he said of his decision to retire prematurely, “it’s the punches you take in training every day.” . . .

Oscar De La Hoya opens training camp at Big Bear next Monday for his fight June 13 against Patrick Charpentier. . . .

Rumors that De La Hoya injured himself recently while snowboarding are “very false,” according to his handlers. . . .

It would be safe to call Gary Stevens a money rider. . . .

His last four victories: $500,000 Dubai Duty Free on Annus Mirabilis, $4-million Dubai World Cup on Silver Charm, $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on Indian Charlie and $150,000 El Rincon Handicap on Hawksley Hill. . . .

The new Raider coach, Jon Gruden, doesn’t look 34. . . .

Or even 24. . . .

Friends here thought he might get carded when they met recently at a Manhattan Beach establishment. . . .

Al Davis, who collects Heisman Trophy winners, has his eyes on another in Charles Woodson. . . .

Rolling Stone reports that Woodson may become the first client of aspiring agent Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs. . . .

NFLPA spokesman Carl Francis said Combs’ day job as a rapper isn’t a concern. . . .

“Half of the [team executives] don’t know who Puff Daddy is,” he said. . . .

I bet Gruden does.

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While wondering if Rupert Murdoch will attend today’s Dodger home opener, I was thinking: It’s OK if he doesn’t as long as he sends his checkbook for Mike Piazza’s contract, Mark McGwire should get back on that 162-homer pace in Coors Field, I’m pretty sure the Angels could have found a place for him.