Word: kwan
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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TARA LIPINSKI was so at ease last week in Nagano, Japan, that a number of insiders were marking her as the favorite for the Ladies Figure Skating gold medal, even though MICHELLE KWAN has bragging rights as U.S. National champion. The two rivals, together with another former American champ, NICOLE BOBEK, are part of the team that has the Olympics murmuring, "U.S. medals sweep." That kind of talk isn't, of course, going down well with other competitors. Russia's MARIA BUTYRSKAYA settled on her target a month ago, sniffing, "Lipinski made mistakes in many competitions this season...
That fierce self-assessment, with its apparent reference to Kwan's spectacular fall last year, is magnified by Lipinski's appearance. There is a moment during every competition when the audience is reminded of just how young--and tiny--Lipinski really is. Just before it's her turn on the ice, as she waits for her name to be called, she skates around with the flower girls. She carves small circles around them, head down, eyes focused, concentrating on the program she is about to perform. At 4 ft. 10 in. and 80 lbs., with her hair pulled back...
Lipinski's artistry is still nascent, and in that way she is where Kwan was about four years ago. Then Kwan was a ponytailed girl who could not believe people were actually interested in what she had to say. Now she rules the ice. Her skating has a light, effortless quality that transcends the mechanics of the sport and its often rote choreography. She feeds off the power of her music, using the swells and dips of the notes to guide her movements and propel her spins and jumps. "The skating quality she has achieved--her edge, her body line...
...Kwan does know how good she has become, and she is already looking beyond the Olympics. "I want to keep going," she says. "I know I'm capable of a lot more in skating, and I want to accomplish more. I want to be a legend. I want people to remember me after 1,000 years." Every so often, however, the rigors of perfection and the sting of memory give her pause. Backstage, as she waited before her long program last month, Kwan turned to her coach and asked, "Do you think people know what it's like to compete...
...FRIDAY The Games will crown a new queen of the ice. Michelle Kwan was perfection at the U.S. nationals. Tara Lipinski is the world champion. No one else can beat them...