Torino bound? Kwan verdict comes today (AP pitches fit and boycotts session)

NBC Olympics ^ | Jan 27 2005 | AP

[commish]

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Michelle Kwan's task is simple.

Prove she's healthy enough to skate, and her quest for that elusive Olympic gold medal can continue. Appear to still be hobbled or ailing, and that dream is likely over.

The "Should she or shouldn't she?'' debate that's swirled around U.S. figure skating all month will finally be resolved Friday. A five-person monitoring committee will watch her do her short and long programs on her home ice in Los Angeles, and determine whether she's fit and healthy enough to compete.

Kwan will do run-throughs of her short and long programs for the committee.

If she is, she's on her way to Torino. If not, she'll have to watch again as someone else gets that gold medal she's sought for so long.

"If I feel that I can't be ready, I will pull myself off the team,'' Kwan said earlier this month. "I've said that before and I'm sticking to it. If I don't believe I can be 100 percent and at my best, I don't believe it's good for me to go.''

Kwan was the gold-medal favorite for both Nagano and Salt Lake City, but wound up beaten by an American teenager both times. She won a silver in Nagano in 1998 and a bronze in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Now 25, she's stuck around the last four years for one more shot at an Olympic gold medal.

But the five-time world and nine-time U.S. champion had to ask for a medical bye onto the team after withdrawing from nationals with a groin injury. Her petition was granted -- with the condition that she prove to the monitoring committee Friday that she's ready to compete in Torino.

Though she's set the gold standard for the sport for a decade, she missed almost the entire season with injuries and didn't jump from mid-December until Jan. 13. At her only competition, a made-for-TV international, she didn't complete a single triple jump.

The monitoring committee will want to see that she can jump and spin, as well as do her short and long programs.

The session is scheduled to start late in the morning at the East West Ice Palace in Artesia, Calif., her home rink, and Kwan will do her short program first. After a break, she'll come back and do her long program.

The session will be conducted by U.S. Figure Skating international committee chairman Bob Horen; technical controller Charlie Cyr; world judge Paula Naughton; international judge Lorrie Parker; and athlete representative Brittney Bottoms. Though she won't be scored as if in competition, Horen said she wouldn't be given a pass, either.

"I will assure you, the monitoring committee will be as tough as the judges were (at nationals),'' Horen said.

If the committee decides Kwan isn't healthy enough to skate, she will be replaced by Emily Hughes, the younger sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes. Emily Hughes finished third at nationals.

The sessions are closed to the public.

The Associated Press was offered one of two spots in a reporting pool to watch Kwan's performance but declined because of conditions imposed by U.S. Figure Skating.

Pool reporters would be prohibited from reporting what they witnessed at the sessions for several hours, until after the panel announced its decision on whether Kwan could join the Olympic team. Figure skating officials also insisted that the pool reporters agree not to write a column about Kwan's performance for 24 hours.

"The AP couldn't agree to either of these restrictions,'' sports editor Terry Taylor said. "Her skating is news and the embargo amounted to a news blackout. As for when a column is written, we believe that's for us to decide.''

David Raith, executive director of U.S. Figure Skating, was not immediately reachable for comment by telephone.

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[HairOfTheDog]

Thank you!

[MotleyGirl70]

I appreciate the update. I'll watch the 10:00 sports cast.