Michelle Kwan Quotes

I got a call this morning, and it was from Nancy Kerrigan, wishing me luck. She wished me luck and sent me all her good wishes.

I’m a big eater.

There were days I forgot my school clothes, and I would actually go to school with skating tights and a little skirt. It’s very embarrassing… I definitely had to be comfortable in my own skin, and my mom taught me that.

The biggest lessons I learned were probably the times where I had the biggest setbacks and the biggest challenges – when I had the biggest jumps forward and lessons learned.

I tell aspiring young skaters to dream big, work hard, have fun, and follow their passion. It’s simple to say never give up, but learn from your mistakes to keep growing.

You can always say, ‘I wish I had landed that triple flip better, or I wish I didn’t fall.’ They’re not regrets, just mistakes.

I would just love to be able to give back to figure skating.

Sometimes my body is aching, but I always think, ‘Why am I in this? Why do I love it so much?’ That’s what makes me persevere, that’s what makes me keep on going.

I was improving in the sport at age 10, 11, when I was getting my triple jumps – and it was suddenly very isolating. I was doing really well in competitions, and it felt strange because people that were my friends became almost jealous.

When I was younger, I always dreamed of being a legend, to be remembered in figure skating.

Looking back, I feel very fortunate to have had such a long career. Many skaters end their careers in their early 20s. I had the opportunity to go to two Olympic Games – almost three after being the alternate in 1994 and then in 2006 being injured.

When I look at my own career, growing up, I was doing really well at age 11, but it was kind of isolating because back then, people weren’t hanging out with me. My mom was always there. She had my back and was like, ‘You keep focused. You gotta keep focused.’ And I think those kinds of lessons were hard.

You see figure skaters fall all the time. It’s the way you pick yourself back up and keep going.

A few years after I finished skating, someone asked where my medals were. I’m like, ‘In a suitcase somewhere.’ Now they’re nicely displayed in an ice rink, but medals don’t really mean that much. It’s the experience, the story of the skating, the love.

I was so worried about winning, it was as if I was caught up in my own web.

Skating has given me so much that it’s priceless.

There’s a lot of emotions that always come out after a skate of a lifetime. I always start crying because there is so much buildup to that competition.

I had dreamed of being at the Olympics since I was 7 years old.

Sports provides that tool kit to be successful in life. Because it’s not always going to be smooth sailing.

I want to see how far I can train. I have to see how far my body will go.

I always thought after 2002 that I’d hang up my skates and turn professional and just go on tour and do shows. But I don’t know when it is enough. I mean, I still enjoy it. I’m the luckiest girl alive that I get to perform in front of thousands of people, do what I love doing.

Because I’m pushing my body so hard already, the last thing I want to do is have music that’s really too strong, in my head.

If you represent your country and millions of people are watching, it comes through a lot of grit and hard work.

What I love the most is getting on the ice and just popping in a fabulous CD and skating – all by myself, the rink completely empty, just me and the music.

I actually prefer soothing music – and maybe that’s the skater in me.

Girls, in particular, benefit from sports.

The Women’s Sports Foundation has empowered so many young girls and women across the U.S. I benefitted from WSF with a travel and training grant when I was 12 years old. It really helped my family financially.

As an athlete, that’s something I always take with me. You fall every day, whether it’s in a job, or you miss something else, but you learn how to do it better next time. You learn it in sports. That’s a life lesson.

If you ask another competitor, they may tell you they felt very competitive towards me. But I can tell you that my biggest competition was myself. There’s only so much you can do, right? There is only so much energy that one has. My focus was on how do I get the best out of myself.

Even at a young age, when you start to do well, it’s tough because it’s lonely on top, and I wasn’t the most popular.