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| Home > athletes > Michelle Kwan > Full Biography | |||||||||||||
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Michelle Kwan Biography |
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| Michelle Kwan is an American figure skater and media celebrity who has won nine U.S. championships, five world championships, and two Olympic medals. She has remained competitive for over a decade and is the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history. Known for her consistency and expressive artistry on ice she is widely considered to be one of the greatest figure skaters of all time despite having never won an Olympic gold medal. Born in Torrance, California, Kwan is the third child of Danny and Estella Kwan, Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong. Kwan's interest in figure skating began at the age of five when she followed her two older siblings ice hockey player Ron and figure skater Karen onto the ice. Karen and Michelle began serious training when she was about 8 years old. They practiced three to four hours a day, waking up at 3am to skate before school and going back to the rink right after school to skate again. Paying for their increased rink time led to financial hardship for Kwan's working class family. Her mother took on a second job and her father started working extra hours to finance the rink time and coaching fees. Eventually the family decided to sell their house, but that still wasn't enough to finance the skating. When Kwan 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 them to train at the Ice Castle International Training Center in Lake Arrowhead, California. Kwan was homeschooled starting at the age of 13. Prior to that, she attended Soleado Elementary School in Palos Verdes, California. After graduating from Rim of the World high school in 1999, she attended UCLA for one year . In the fall of 2006 she transferred to the University of Denver. Kwan has guest starred as herself in "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass", an episode of The Simpsons, and in the Family Guy episode "A Hero Sits Next Door". She also made a guest star appearance in children's cartoon TV show Arthur, and the TV show Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (TV series). She provided the voice of a shopkeeper in the Disney direct-to-DVD sequel Mulan II, and she and fellow figure skater Brian Boitano appeared as announcers in the film Ice Princess. She has performed in numerous figure skating programs, and has cameo appearances in various other television series. In 1999, she appeared in the Michelle Kwan Figure Skating computer game. Kwan has had numerous endorsement contracts and has appeared in television commercials for sponsors including Campbell's Soup, VISA, Coca-Cola, and Kraft. The Chevrolet/Michelle Kwan R.E.W.A.R.D.S. Scholarship program was established by the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors in cooperation with Kwan. In February, 2006, Kwan was named a "celebrity representative" for The Walt Disney Company. Kwan has won five World Championships (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2003), the most by anyone in the ladies' division since Carol Heiss (1956 - 1960), with whom she is tied for the most wins by an American. She has won nine United States Figure Skating Championships (1996, 1998-2005), tying the record for most set by Maribel Vinson-Owen (1928 - 1933, 1935 - 1937). Kwan's eight consecutive U.S. Championship titles (1998-2005) and 12 consecutive U.S. Championship medals (1994-2005) are both U.S. records. She is the only woman in figure skating history to reclaim the World title three times (1998, 2000, 2003). She has also won a silver medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and a bronze medal in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Among her many accolades, Kwan is a recipient of the prestigious James E. Sullivan Award, which is given to America's best amateur athlete; she was the first figure skater to win the award since Dick Button won it in 1949. Kwan has received a combined total of 57 6.0s (perfect scores) from her National and World competitions throughout the years. At the U.S. Nationals alone, she holds the record for most 6.0s. Because figure skating is no longer scored on a 6.0 scale, Kwan's records will stand indefinitely. | |||||||||||||
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