MICHELLE KWAN - Nhung Leverett

She always skates with her heart. When she is skating, she is totally involved in her art. This is a famous American figure skater. Michelle Kwan is my American figure.

Why did I choose Michelle Kwan?
I chose Michelle Kwan because I really want to find out more about her:
• She is an Asian-American who became famous in American sport history and in the world.
• She is a legend due to a life of hard work and dedication towards becoming a better person.

Biography
• Her Chinese name is Kwan Wing Shan
• She was born on July 7, 1980 in Torrance, California. Her father named her Michelle because he liked the song “Michelle” by his favorite band The Beatles.
• Michelle Kwan is the third child of Danny and Estella Kwan, Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong.
• She has 2 older siblings: a brother Ron and a sister Karen.
• Michelle's interest in figure skating began at the age of five and began serious training when she was about 8 years old. She practiced 3 - 4 hours/day, waking up early to skate before school and skate again after school. To pay for the rink time and coaching fees, her mother had to take a second job in the factory and her father started working extra hours. When Michelle was ten years old, her family could no longer afford a coach, but they were offered financial assistance by another member of the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club that allowed her to keep training and to follow her dream.

Academic background
• Michelle was homeschooled starting at the age of 13.
• In 1998, she graduated from Rim of the World High School.
• In 1999, she attended UCLA for one year.
• In the Fall semester of 2006 she transferred to the University of Denver with the intent to major in political science with a minor in international studies.

Competitive biography
Michelle has competed in many competitions in the early 1990s. She has won 61 gold medals out of 92 competitions.
• She is a nine-time U.S. national champion
• One of three Americans in the sport's history to have won five World figure skating championships: 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003.
• She has won a silver medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics (Japan) and a bronze medal in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics (Utah – USA). In 2006, she withdrew from Winter Olympics in Torino (Italy) after suffering a new groin injury in her first practice in Turin.
• After her withdrawal from the Olympic team in February 2006, Michelle Kwan said she was not retiring yet and plans to compete in the 2010 Olympics even though she'll be older than much of her competition. But nothing has stopped her yet and with such a strong drive, only the sky is the limit.
• In August 2006, Michelle had surgery and announced she will not compete during the 2006-2007 figure skating season.

Other activities
Beside her skating career, Michelle was also name as a public diplomacy ambassador to represent American values to young people and sports enthusiasts. She made trips to China, Russia last year and to Argentina in this year.

My interesting fact
An interesting fact I found during my research was “Michelle’s Olympic dreams”. Before 1988 Michelle only wanted to learn to skate for fun. After watching Brian Boitano’s winning the gold medal in the 1988 Winter Olympic, Michelle began to want to the feeling of winning a medal herself. That’s when she vowed to herself that she will go to the Olympics one day. Her dream became true now.

Conclusion
To achieve greatness an athlete has to overcome many obstacles. To become the famous athlete that she is today, Michelle Kwan has fallen down and had to get up again. She has won many championships but has also known the pain of loosing. Those are the facts of an athlete’s journey to greatness. Michelle Kwan is a young lady that had the will and dedication to take that journey and followed her dream. Her motto in life as well as in skating has always been “Work hard, be yourself, and have fun”.