Michelle Wingshan Kwan

By: Elena Huang

Pictures

Who is Michelle Kwan?

Michelle Kwan was known for a graceful, confident, and cheerful, olympic figure skater. Although

Michelle Kwan did not get any gold medals in the olympics, she holds 42

championships, 30 gold medals (not in Olympics) 15 silver medals, and 4

bronze medals. She is America’s “ice skating ambassador” and the queen on ice. We will always

remember Michelle Kwan forever.

Early Life

Michelle Wingshan Kwan was born on July 7, 1980 in California. She was a beautiful baby... But her talent of figure skating was not shown quite yet... Kwanʼs dad Danny Kwan, and mom Estella Kwan was Hong Kong immigrants. Their first child was a boy Ron, 2 years behind him was Michelleʼs sister Karen, and the smallest out of the three was Michelle. When Michelle was five years old, she went to her brother, Ronʼs first local hockey game. It inspired Michelle and Karen to start ice skating. Michelle had first started intense training at age seven, but one year before that, Michelle entered her first competition against Karen and won. The two sisters continued on their training and worked hard together even through the hard times...

Michelleʼs Family Tree

DadDanny Kwan

MomEstella Kwan

BrotherRon Kwan

SisterKaren Kwan

MichelleChampion

figure skater!

Education

In 1985 Michelle went to Soleando Elementary School. (Public.) In 1994, Michelle started being home schooled due to figure skating schedule.In 1998, Michelle graduated from high school. And in 2006, Michelle went to UCLA.

Life Achievements

Training

Frank Carrol taught

Michelle and Karen when they were in

intense training.

Michelle and her sister practiced a

lot... -3 hours to four hours a day,

even on school days -wakes up at 3 AM every morning to train

-after school and after homework train

1997Michelle

fractured her second toe from training and did not enter that year’s

competition.

Michelle Kwan was is a very

confident and cheerful skater, look at her

“quotes” on the next page.

Quotes

“When I hear music, it always reminds me of

angels and clouds. Thatʼs what I was thinking of while skating. That Iʼm free, and Iʼm going to

cloud nine.”

“I know Iʼm capable of a lot more in

skating, and I want to accomplish more. I want to to be legend. I want people to remember me after

1,000 years.”

“Try your best!”

“Practice makes perfect!”

“You never fail until you stop

trying!”

“Be yourself!”

“Have fun!”

From Michelle’s point of view

Hi everybody, my name is Michelle Kwan, and I am so happy to be here after all those years, I really need a break! Anyway, right now, I am 32 years old. As many people ask me, I will never stop skating even though I stopped figure skating professionally. I’m pretty busy these days you know; interviews with important people, fans, reporters, and magazine authors... I enjoy it all though. But I always make sure I have time to hang out with friends, and my boyfriend, Adrian. You can be able to see me on TV, or if you’re lucky enough, somewhere in Massachusetts...

Fun Facts

Michelleʼs favorite athlete is Michael Jordan.

Michelleʼs autobiography is “Heart of a Champion.”

Michelleʼs nickname was Shelly.

Michelle is 100 pounds.

Michelle is five feet and two inches.

Michelle also likes swimming, biking, and bowling.

Michelle Kwanʼs favorite meal is pizza.

Michelle has a dog.

Michelle did not roller skate before ice skate.

Michelleʼs skate size is 7, women.

Michelle gets $1,000,000 a year from tours and promotions.

Michelleʼs favorite book is “Night” by Elie Wiesel.

Interesting News!

2.

3.

4.

5.

Did you know?

Heart of a Champion: Autobiography of Michelle Kwan

Sources

1.“Kwan, Michelle”. Britannica

Student Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia Britannica

Online School Edition.

2. Wikianwers.com

3. Sirsdiscover.com

4. EBSCO host

5.Michelle Kwan’s Fan Page

6.Wikipedia

7.elibrary

8. My mom