Michelle Kwan -- Sports have power to change lives

I miss Michelle. I miss having even a part of her spirit available to me via the TV 3 times a years when coverage of her skating would be shown. When she had such a rough skate in '97 and came back stronger with a greater sense of herself in '98 I applied or tried to apply that to my life. I don't know why I have such a lovely heartfelt connection with a woman I will never meet but after 12 years of passionately following her figure skating career I can honestly say, that the intrepidness of her spirit enabled me to dig deeper within my self. Even when you don't get what you wanted more than anything, in the end, it's just a thing and you still have the rest of your life ahead of you. Hard work is it's own reward and that graciousness and sportsmanship mean the most when we have been disappointed the greatest. Disappointment is never license to be ugly. I love her skating and her essence. I miss her artistry every October, November, December, January and March. My spirit is greater because her Michelle Kwan.

I totally agree. I too felt a very close spiritual connection with her from watching her perform & the jo y I always felt when watching her. Even in her not perfect performances she never gave up. Michelle has inspired me all these years & I miss seeing her skate.

To me, she will always be one of the greatest figure skaters. Its true; she left a big void in the skating world when she stopped competing. But I will always think about her and know that her resilience, grace, and competitive spirit is difficult to measure up to. I think we have yet to wait and see the next Michelle Kwan in the skating world.

I do get emotional when I try to visualize her skating over and over when competitions are underway.