Gold standard? Adjust expectations for Kwan

American skating star has chance to medal in third Olympics

Damian Dovarganes / AP

With a trip to the podium in Turin, Michelle Kwan would become the first skater in 70 years to win a singles medal in three different Olympics.

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U.S. Olympic hopefuls
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By Filip Bondy

msnbc.com contributor

updated 1:41 p.m. ET Jan. 29, 2006

Filip Bondy
After one fairly successful audition at a California rink, Michelle Kwan has officially been named to the Olympic team. Now that she is there, and a big part of the extravagant buildup, it may be time to turn down our expectations a bit. Kwan can make history in another way, without capturing the title at the Winter Games.

While too many people are focusing on the notion of Kwan earning her famously "elusive gold," it would be an amazing accomplishment for her simply to reach the medal podium again. No male or female figure skater since Sonja Henie, 70 years ago, has won a singles medal in three different Olympics.

Such a feat requires enormous longevity in a sport that is changing technically by the season - and sometimes, it feels, by the day. Kwan would become only the third skater ever, besides Henie of Norway and Gillis Grafstrom of Sweden, from 1920 to 1928, to pull off such a triple combination.

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In Turin, Kwan faces an unfamiliar scoring system, and opponents with technically more difficult routines, and the handicap of a practice schedule limited by injuries.

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If we lower our aim for Kwan, she may surprise us. But if we hold her to the gold standard, this is all likely to end in great disappointment again.

Better to think bronze, and to stop the foolish chatter.

Questions, please:

I know everyone talks about Bode Miller, but after Hermann Maier won that race last weekend, shouldn't he be the biggest story? The guy was in that serious crash a few years ago and I never thought he'd ski again.
-- Charlie White, Los Angeles

The Herminator may well turn into the best tale of the Winter Games. As he's detailed in his well-timed, English-version book release, "The Race of My Life," Maier has come back from utter despair and hopelessness after nearly losing his right leg in a motorcycle accident in Aug., 2001. He'd given up hope, along with everybody else.

Maier, who dominated Alpine skiing from 1998 to 2001 with two Olympic golds and three overall World Cup titles, is already an enormous hero in Austria. His recent return to the top of the medal stand at a World Cup race was no fluke, either. If we can look past our natural American provincialism, then Maier ought to get some major coverage in Torino.

CONTINUED : Finland's goalie shortage

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