Kwan Arrives, Puts in Some Ice Time

Figure skating’s gold medal favorite finally arrived at the Olympics.

Michelle Kwan had a somewhat ragged first practice skate on Tuesday in front of about 100 reporters--five times the normal turnout--at the White Ring arena.

She fell hard on her first jump, a triple lutz, but then skated without mishap.

Kwan’s arrival leaves Nicole Bobek is the only member of the strong U.S. women’s figure skating team not in Japan.

By staying home for treatment of a foot injury that has healed--but kept her out of training for a month last fall--Kwan missed the opening ceremony. The U.S. champion expressed some regrets for missing the festivities, but admitted it probably was a wise decision.

“I wish I could have been there for my teammates, but I watched it on TV, so I kind of was there,” she said. “I had therapy on my foot and didn’t know if I was ready or not. I thought maybe I should stay home a little longer.”

Kwan still is not up to her usual three practice sessions a day, and her left foot--a stress fracture of a toe kept her out of competition for almost two months--still is monitored.

Not only did she miss the opening ceremony, but Kwan will stay in a Nagano hotel rather than the village. That, too, will take away from the total experience, but Kwan said she will spend much of her off time in the village.

“It’s important that she be comfortable and rest and get the sleep she needs,” said Frank Carroll, her coach. “I stayed in many an Olympic village and it’s noisy and distracting. You can ask Paul Wylie; he has lots of Christopher Bowman stories.”

Bowman was known as something of a party-goer and his adventures at the 1992 Albertville Games are legendary in figure skating circles.

Kwan isn’t likely to get involved in any such shenanigans.

“What we’re concerned about is it’s wonderful to be part of the Olympic experience and it’s fabulous to participate,” Carroll said. “But Michelle will feel most fabulous if she skates well here.

“It was Michelle’s decision . . . She has very strong opinions and feelings about things.”

She also has a very strong chance for a gold medal, so the Kwan contingent played it cautious.

Carroll, who did most of the talking Tuesday, said Kwan’s doctors “monitored her on how much time she was on the ice and how many triple toes she could do.” The triple toe loop was the most painful jump for Kwan while she was recovering from the injury; she even dropped it from her short program at nationals, substituting a more difficult triple flip.

Kwan is the only one of the three American women figure skaters currently in Nagano. Tara Lipinski arrived last week and went to the opening ceremony, then headed to Osaka to train for several days. She’s expected back Wednesday night.

Bobek remains in Lake Arrowhead and said she will arrive in Nagano on Friday.