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Kwan had to ask for a medical bye onto the Turin team after withdrawing from nationals with a groin injury.
In a bit of irony, the last person to get a medical bye onto the Olympic team was Nancy Kerrigan, who bumped a 13-year-old Kwan in 1994.
“I got a call this morning, and it was from Nancy Kerrigan, wishing me luck,” Kwan said. “She wished me luck and sent me all her good wishes.”
Dressed in a black sweatshirt and warm-up pants, with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, Kwan smiled and gave someone a small salute as she approached the ice Friday morning. Once she stepped onto the ice at 11:02 a.m. PST, though, she was all business.
“You know today was not the Olympics,” Kwan said, but added, “It was pretty intense this morning at the rink, a situation I never was in before. I was thinking this is not a normal practice session.
“Nothing is ever certain. You finish skating, that is all you can do, and you wait and see.”
The monitors stood behind the boards where the hockey benches would be, and several U.S. Figure Skating and U.S. Olympic Committee officials sat on the other side of the rink, along with two pool reporters.
Kwan began with some leisurely skating around the ice, then warmed up with some jumps. She did a couple of doubles, then a triple flip, triple salchow and triple lutz. Eight minutes after the session began, she started her long program, Rachmaninoff’s “Prelude in C Sharp Minor.”
She skipped the first element, probably a double axel, but looked solid the rest of the way. She didn’t have her usual theatrical flair, appearing to focus more on technique and execution than performance.
She did three triples — one as part of a triple toe loop-double toe loop-double toe loop combination that earned applause from coach Rafael Arutunian. After the spirals that have become her trademark, she finished the program with a double lutz.
She showed little reaction when she finished and looked serious as the monitors discussed their notes. Only four minutes later, she started her short program. She fell on a double axel, evoking an unwanted flashback.
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“I fell on a double axel. That is how I pulled my groin,” said Kwan, who only started doing the jump again Thursday.
But she immediately landed a triple lutz-double toe combination, and other than a shaky landing on her triple flip, the rest was solid.
She wore a big smile and a look of relief when she finished the second program. While the committee huddled and examined their notes, Kwan stayed on the ice and did a perfect double axel followed soon after by another one.
After a few minutes, she skated over to the monitors to analyze her short program, looking at how she could enhance the difficulty or execution of her elements. By 11:36 a.m., she was gathering up her jackets and pants and leaving the ice.
After a 45-minute break, she returned so she and the monitors could evaluate the elements in her long program. The focus was entirely on her footwork, spins and spirals, which have specific difficulty levels under figure skating’s new judging system.
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They began with her straight-line footwork, which had great speed and intricate steps. When she finished, Cyr talked about using the entire surface and Kwan skated over to examine some of her tracings.
After a few minutes of consultation, she went to work on her spirals. As she skated away from the committee, she passed the stereo and reached out with her left hand to flip it on without breaking speed.
Finally, she went through her spins, spending most of the time working at center ice on a flying camel with a front inside edge. Cyr gave her several suggestions, and they could be heard laughing at times.
After a few more minutes of consultation, she tried the spin for a fourth time, changing the angle of her body and her arm position. Cyr clapped and said, “That’s it.”
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