|
Michelle Kwan, Sasha Cohen, Sarah Hughes face the press
By Charlie Snyder // usolympicteam.com // February 19, 2002
Q1:Your event is so late in the Olympic schedule, where will you be staying during the Games?
MICHELLE KWAN: I thought I would want to go home after the Opening Ceremonies, but people have been so nice and I feel really comfortable and I decided to stay. It's hard, ladies is the last event, that's why I chose to stay in a different place [splitting her time between the Village and her parents] because I'm sure after lots of great performances and medals being won there's going to be lots of celebration in the Village.
SASHA COHEN: I am planning on going home to Lake Arrowhead because of the altitude and also just to have a place where I can really train and not feel that its in competition mode."
SARAH HUGHES: I plan on going to Colorado Springs for a couple days just to get away and I'm not in competition for two weeks. So, I think it will be nice to go to Colorado and when I come back I'll be ready to compete."
Q2: Are you ready to go?
MICHELLE KWAN: It feels like yesterday I was at the press conference in Nagano and talking about how I have another opportunity to go to the Olympics and just seems like wow, I'm here now in Salt Lake it's just four years flew by. It's been a great four years while I was staying amateur and staying focused and first it was to make the Olympic team and now here I am, you're skating your heart out, there's a lot of pressure of course having the Olympics in (our) home country which is a lot of fun also and enjoy myself."
SASHA COHEN: First of all, I'm really excited to have made the team. And I've been training really hard and first of all I want to do a clean program, skate my best and that's mainly what I'm concerned about."
Q3: How do you deal with the spotlight? And how has the spotlight changed?
MICHELLE KWAN: I remember after the incident of Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan in '94 I was the alternate in Lillehammer and I didn't get to skate, but I was there as a spectator. Doing interviews when I was 13 years old it was pretty overwhelming. My second time with the Olympic experience in Nagano it was all new and exciting and now here I am in Salt Lake, it's always exciting. This doesn't last for the rest of your life. You have to understand that, you have to enjoy when you can and someday I'll be talking to my grandkids and they'll be saying how many reporters were at the press conference? I want to be the photographer right there taking a picture because it's remarkable, it's fun."
SASHA COHEN: I'm excited to have the chance to be in the spotlight where I am able to tell the public how I feel and what I think and it gives me a great chance to spread a lot of my ideas to lots of young girls all around the country."
SARAH HUGHES:I think I was 13 also (speaking of Michelle Kwan) when I first went to a press conference and I think it was after the program. I had to sit there and I don't think anybody asked me a question but I remember I wanted to take it all in because I didn't think I'd make it to another press conference again. It's been a really positive thing for my last three years, especially being here right now - just taking in the whole thing. Even when I see my picture in the paper, I'm not quite as excited as the first time, but I know that for all the people around me and for everybody that knows me, they're sometimes more excited than I am."
Q4: What else will you be doing here at the Games?
MICHELLE KWAN: Well this year I decided to march in the Opening Ceremonies, take in the whole experience. I'm in between housing right now, living in the Village and with my parents. I've been able to walk around the Village the past few days and meet a lot of different athletes. I was in the gym yesterday and you see people with different body structures. I was trying to guess the other athletes, this one guy was like 300 pounds!"
SARAH HUGHES:I came in yesterday and it was really cool when I went to get processed. They had all these clothes and outfits and we were all trying them on and seeing how everything looked and walking around. It's a lot of fun to get everything with the Olympic rings on it. This morning I got a chance to see the village and I'm going back today and it was so much fun to see all the other athletes. Usually, I'm always surrounded by figure skaters and sometimes a few speedskaters and hockey players. So here to have so many diverse sports, and snowboarding and ski jumping and all these other things, I think that's cool. Some of the teams eat all together and it's just interesting to see how other sports, how some things are the same and some things are different."
Q5: What will you be wearing during the Olympic performance?
MICHELLE KWAN: Vera Wang designed both my short program and long program dresses. She made a lot of dresses for me, very beautiful, very comfortable. She does bridal wear and she's very familiar with skating because she did Nancy Kerrigan [Kerrigan's dress]. She skated as well so it's nice to know that she knows what you need with rotation, she has to be very picky with the weight of the dress. It was nice to work with her."
SASHA COHEN: One of the more important aspects when you go out and skate because if you really feel good in what you're wearing and wearing something that you really stand out in really helps you with your performance and gives you a little extra edge. Mare Talbott is doing my dress for the Olympics and I haven't worn it yet and I'm very excited to get them and perform in them."
SARAH HUGHES:I always love thinking of new designs and working with my coaches, designer and seeing what direction it will go, and what we want the dress to look like. This year for my short and long I'll be wearing a dress from Jeff Billing, who designs for the Stars on Ice, and I'm really excited to wear them."
Q6: What do you wish to express during your program?
MICHELLE KWAN: Usually a lot of my emotions come out on the ice and sometimes I feel a little anxious, especially when I have seven triples to do, but what I've been practicing lately is to be able to put a bottle on your emotions and reflect the program, let certain emotions come out so you give a great performance. I feel a lot of joy when I'm skating and hopefully when people are watching, they feel that sort of joy also."
Q7: On doing the quad jump in the Olympic competition?
SASHA COHEN: We were training it after Nationals and I could do a small percentage but more recently Mr. Nicks (her coach) and I decided that we really want to stay with a program I'm more comfortable with and my triple triples are going really well and we're just really excited to put together two strong programs here."
Q8: On bumping into other skaters during warm-up time?
SASHA COHEN: When I go out to warm up I know that I have six minutes and I have quite a few elements to warm up and I'm focusing on how I'm going to get it all done and try to get everything in. But it would be really silly if I followed other skaters because I wouldn't get my stuff in and we would get hurt. I just focus on myself and try to get my stuff in and follow the advice of my coach, Mr. Nicks."
Q9: Have you made any changes to your program since nationals?
SARAH HUGHES: I thought I skated really well at nationals and I've been skating well all season, but I wanted to change some things. First of all we made changes to the music, the last 90 seconds. I really like the new ending and I think it's exciting and a different pace from my prior ending. I think I will have the confidence in my program. Technically, I added a second triple-triple combination. I really wanted to add a second triple-triple, because I can do it, and I'm here because I'm certainly capable and I wouldn't be comfortable if I thought I wasn't taking control over my program."
Q10: Tell us about winning Skate Canada?
SARAH HUGHES: The competition in November was great for me and it was great to be on top of the podium. It was really gratifying, and I was skating well, and just to win there was a whole different feeling than coming in second or third. Afterwards it bothered me a little that everybody kept asking how it is to beat your top competitors, how it is to beat all these other skaters, because that's not what it was about. It was about skating well and just standing on top and that was great, but it's sport, and things change so I was happy with my skate."
View Sarah Hughes and Sasha Cohen's bios.
|
