How the USA judge put her 2nd is beyond me

Yes

So true Curtis. When was the last time a skater gave us chills and goosebumps on performance alone since she left the arena. No one. This is the essence of skating, this is why we watch and follow the sport. As good as it's gonna get.

​@theprinceoftides6836 Agreed! Will say though that another answer is MICHELLE KWAN. Absolutely amazing and gracious throughout her career. My full respect and appreciation to her!

I agree. It's of the best ever. Ever.

All about jumps today, baby ! Jumps where it's at. They're pushing for three quadruple jumps for the women maybe by next year's Beijing Winter Olympics.

All the catch foot positions that are more difficult in many cases but ugly (esp in pair skating)

No contest, it's Michelle. Always has been, always will be.

My favorite is her 98 SP " Rachmaninoff " .💕

No doubt. As good as it's get.

Not true. She worked with Frank starting at around age 10 or 11. He was her long time coach.

She challenged herself more than challenged the Olympics. She beat herself at the 2002 Olympics, however when she came back to win the 2003 world championship, she became an legend.

Prime Michelle's look of confidence!!!

Right! When was the last time we saw a skater morph in a season like this?

Bnizzofashizzo I haven't really. It was like she was a completely different skater from 95 to 96.

I agree ! One could argue Angela Nikodonov or Mao asada with Tarasova but otherwise , this was truly amazing. Well, actually Gabriella Papadakis and Guillam Cizeron wod be the closest

+Mitch Grube I agree 100% about her and Paul Wylie.

I believe when Tara beat her in just about everything the following year in 97, Michelle psychologically never quite recovered from that.

@@shihlin1 Ya, she won another 4 World Championship, 8 more National title , another Olympic medal and became as legend, Yup , she never really recovered Lmfao 😂🤣😂, Effing moron.

@@angiemaniaciskatingfan723 Michelle grew up and her body changed during 97 ~ 98 , she had problems and tried to find the new body balance. That's why Tara won the 97 US National.....😎 Lucky Tara was a kid with a kid's body and weight, Tara won just because Michelle became a young lady. 🤭🤭🤭

@@TT-ee4qp as usual, you are rewriting history. Michelle was injured at the end of 1998 and lost to the uninjured Tara. It was 25 years ago. Time to move on.

Totally agree. Michelle kwan is my favorite. But, Lu Chen's performance is so different from Michelle's ..... both they created wonderful programs.

The US judge placed her 2nd. The nerve!

Shame!

+kyrvhy Fiesta Flamenca

Personally I think U need to get a new set of eyes or brain, or both lol.

Jr Ewing i used to think this way about her, but looking back her consistency is commendable because it’s a reflection of her solid technique. that itself, combined with her artistry was a competitive advantage in the late 90s-early 2000s, when most female skaters struggled to land 7 triple jumps *cleanly*, let alone landing triple axel or triple-triples. skaters like slutskaya and nakano tried to push the envelope when they hadn’t got their basics covered, and the result is sloppy and under-rotated jumps, and their faulty attempts hadn’t been successful enough to overtake kwan. so understandably there really wasn’t any incentive for her to take further technical risks.

@@kev7978 Exactamundo, back then to be able to fuse artistry and technical ability was very important and nobody does it better than MK, that's why she ruled the world of ice for more than a decade. She was also bailing the 3Axel at 13 but her coach , the legendary Frank Carroll and her team decided she doesn't need it, she was that good.

Michelle's artistry is the most difficult technique which many skaters never touched the level. Michelle's artistry impacted Sasha Cohen, Sarah Hughes, Yuna Kim, Mao Asada, Gracie Gold and Nathan Chen. Michelle kwan created so many different style programs and is one of the greatest artists on ice in the history.