Golden Goal

Through all the changes in her life, as she grew from a cute little jumping bean into a mature artist and world champion, Michelle Kwan has been driven by one unwavering passion.

Her goal is to attain a kind of athletic immortality, to be revered by figure skating fans and historians as a legend long after she has landed her last triple loop.

“Not necessarily for the number of medals, but just to be remembered as someone who made an impact on figure skating and left a lasting impression,” she said after winning her fourth world title last year. “Someone who made it better.”

The thought is never far from her mind. “I always ask myself, ‘What do I want them to remember?’” she said.

The height of a double axel jump, the position of a spin, the edging of a spiral? Or her resilience and consistent excellence in an era when skaters compete in two or three times as many events in a season as their predecessors did?

Her wish would be fulfilled if she wins the gold medal at the Salt Lake City Winter Games. It’s the one major prize she has not claimed, and it would be the ultimate affirmation of her choice to remain Olympic eligible after finishing an achingly close second to compatriot Tara Lipinski at Nagano in 1998.

“The desire has always been there, ever since I watched Brian Boitano win the 1988 Olympics,” she said. “I’m going to try and represent my country well. You just have to keep your head down and skate from your heart.”

If that’s not good enough, will she still belong on a pedestal in the eyes of historians--and in her own mind?

“If she doesn’t win, it will be a disappointment for her, even though maybe she goes into it thinking she just wants to deliver the best performances,” said Katarina Witt, the 1984 and 1988 gold medalist from East Germany and the only woman besides Sonja Henie to win consecutive Olympic titles.

“The truth is, the Olympic gold medal is it, and there is only a small group of those elite gold-medal winners because the Games are only every four years. The gold medal is something very, very special for an athlete.”

That Kwan merits a niche among the sport’s elite is beyond question.

In winning her sixth U.S. title last month at Staples Center, she tied Theresa Weld Blanchard and Gretchen Merrill for second behind Maribel Vinson, who won nine in the 1920s and 1930s. With four world titles, she’s second among U.S. women to Carol Heiss, who won five. Overall, she’s tied for the fourth-most world titles with Lily Kronberger of Hungary and Witt, behind the five won by Heiss and Herma Jaross-Szabo of Austria and the 10 won by Norway’s Henie.

“Just to hear my name in the same breath is amazing,” she said after she passed Janet Lynn, Peggy Fleming and Tenley Albright on the list of U.S. women’s titlists.

Yet, no list can quantify Kwan.

In many sports, greatness can be divined from numbers. Batting averages, touchdown passes, rebounds, goals and assists measure athletes’ performances.

But because so much of figure skating is subjective, it’s impossible to render absolute judgments. What pleases one eye is unsightly to another; some observers value line and carriage over jumps, while others put a premium on athleticism.

Titles are not absolute indicators, because they might reflect who was best for a day or two, not a season. Choreographer Sandra Bezic, who has designed programs for Olympic champions Lipinski, Kristi Yamaguchi and Boitano, considers Lynn the best skater she ever saw.

“She never won a gold medal, but Janet was the most exquisite skater to ever watch,” said Bezic, who will be a commentator on NBC’s Olympic telecasts. “She had an ethereal quality about her. We used to call her Janet of Arc. Her expression, her artistry, everything was exquisite. She transcended everything really, and I don’t think anyone has come close.”

In that vein, Bezic says Kwan has already made such an impression that she need not win the gold to be classified as extraordinary.

“She certainly doesn’t need it to be the most respected,” Bezic said. “I don’t think she has anything left to prove. She’s proven time and time again she’s a tough competitor and she comes through under pressure.... She’s certainly a really well-balanced competitor in terms of technical ability and artistry, which is hard because usually a skater favors one or another.”

Fleming, the 1968 gold medalist and a commentator for ABC, also believes a victory at Salt Lake City would merely burnish Kwan’s already golden image.

“An Olympic medal would be the frosting on the cake and would be a real bonus for her,” Fleming said. “It would be really well deserved. She’s tried so hard and she has been such a great role model.

“She’s right up there with the best. She will go down in skating history as one of the enduring ones. She’s been on top so long, and that’s the toughest place to be.”

And yet ...

“The Olympic gold medal should be part of her gold-medal collection. I think it’s very, very important,” Witt said. “[If she doesn’t win] it won’t take anything away from how much of a great figure skater and great athlete she is. But there will be always this little thing where you think, ‘Oh, God, I wish. That should have been part of my gold-medal collection.’”

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Rating the Champions

In the pantheon of female figure skaters, Henie reigns supreme. She won 10 consecutive world titles from 1927 to ’36 and Olympic gold medals in 1928, ’32 and ’36. She then carved out successful careers in ice shows and movies, inspiring countless kids to lace up skates. No one is likely to duplicate her dominance.

But after Henie, there’s no obvious ranking.

Albright earns a place on any list of greats for having won silver at Oslo in 1952 and gold at Cortina, Italy, in 1956. Heiss, too, for winning silver at Cortina and gold at Squaw Valley in 1960.

Fleming, the first U.S. woman medalist after the plane crash that killed the 1961 U.S. figure skating team, won five U.S. titles from 1964 to ’68 and three world titles from 1966 to ’68. She was good at tracing compulsory figures, which then counted heavily in the final score, and was known for her grace and classical line.

Her victory at Grenoble, marred by two faulty jumps, was the only gold won by a U.S. athlete. It made her an instant star, to her surprise. “It was just one more accomplishment. It didn’t hit me until years later,” she said.

Dorothy Hamill became a household name in winning at Innsbruck in 1976, exuding a girl-next-door appeal. She was endearing, too vain to wear glasses in the kiss-and-cry area and always squinting to read her marks.

She won without doing a triple jump, but she had the good fortune to have a name that rhymed with a skating maneuver, the camel, which was renamed the Hamill Camel. She was athletic and artistic, but she’s probably remembered as much for her wedge haircut, which was copied by millions of women, as for her skating.

Linda Fratianne of Northridge advanced the sport by making the triple jump a necessity for women, and she won four U.S. titles and two world titles. She was the favorite in the 1980 Lake Placid Games but was too far behind Anett Poetzsch after the compulsory figures and finished second.

Witt, powerful and provocative, won four world titles in five years from 1984 to ’88. She defeated world champion Rosalynn Sumners of the U.S. to win gold at Sarajevo in 1984 and out dueled U.S. champion Debi Thomas at the 1988 Calgary Games after both chose “Carmen” for their free skate.

“Kat’s fantastic, perhaps the strongest competitor I’ve ever seen,” said Bezic, who choreographs for the Stars on Ice tour, in which Witt now performs.

“She had the most incredible attitude. She will turn any negative into a positive and has such killer instinct. And her sexuality is so refreshing in a sport with so many little girls.”

Witt demurred when asked where she belongs among the sport’s greats, saying every era has its idols.

“It’s interesting if you talk to people, what has stuck in people’s minds,” she said. “For me, of course, it is a compliment when people remember my performances and they remember ‘Carmen’ and ‘Where Have All the Flowers Gone?’ [from the 1994 Lillehammer Games, where she finished seventh]. It is very rare that you go to someone and you say, ‘What did they skate to?’ or ‘What story did they bring to you?’ and they know. I think that’s what makes me very proud.”’

Kristi Yamaguchi won her only U.S. championship in 1992 before winning gold at Albertville. A two-time world champion, Yamaguchi was strong technically but remote emotionally; she left for the pro ranks after the Games. Her successor, Oksana Baiul of Ukraine, won the 1993 world title in her second international competition. She followed that by edging Nancy Kerrigan for gold at Lillehammer and turning pro. Lipinski, the youngest individual Winter Olympic gold medalist at 15 years 225 days, also switched tracks to professional shows after her upset of Kwan at Nagano.

By contrast, Kwan has competed 10 times at the U.S. senior championships and eight times at the World Championships. She has not finished lower than third at a major international event since the 1995 World Championships, where she was fourth.

Sustained excellence elevates Kwan to a lofty perch, in Witt’s eyes.

“She has been dominating her sport the last couple of years, and she always has been someone who, athletically, is trying very hard and did great jumps,” Witt said. “And at the same time, she is a beautiful and elegant skater out there. And especially within the last decade, there hasn’t been a skater who stayed for such a long time and has been successful a long time.”

Scott Hamilton, the 1984 men’s gold medalist, measures Kwan’s success by the number of skaters who imitate her. One example is the Charlotte, in which she glides backward on one leg while leaning forward and grabbing her ankle, with her other leg pointing high behind her.

“It’s not like she’s the first one to do it, but because she’s winning and so exceptional, other skaters copy her,” Hamilton said. “It shows she’s not only well-liked for being a champion, but skaters like the way she skates.”

That factors into his certainly she will realize her dream of skating immortality no matter the outcome at Salt Lake City.

“Janet Lynn told me something very early in my career,” Hamilton said. “She told me, ‘Whatever you do can never be taken away from you regardless. Everything you accomplish is added to what you’ve already done.’

“That being said, look at Michelle, who has won six U.S. titles, and I don’t know how many people have done that. Just in that regard, in modern-day skating, which is a whole different animal, that you’ve had the ability to win that many titles when it’s so much easier for teenagers to jump, that says a great deal about her competitive nature and her ability to put it together when the pressure’s on....

“Just look at how beautifully she skates. I always was one of those who never wanted to be the first to do something or have anything named after me, but I wanted to do it in such a way that it was unique and I stood on my own. I think Michelle has done that.”