I don't care how flexible Sasha Cohen is, or how many extra rotations the skaters can do today - NOBODY moved the audience like Michelle Kwan. She brought respect back to figure skating after the Kerrigan/Harding fiasco. She is, in my opinion, the most complete skater I've ever seen. She is an artist, not just a robot racking up the points, which is how all the skaters look like today. Michelle Kwan will always be the face of figure skating for me. I miss her.
@@joaocampelo3725 How much we missed Michelle & Yuna/Mao/Caro's eras. Nowadays figure skating is a joke with the Russian ladies team...what so great about quad jumps without artistry. Disrespect to the beautiful sport of figure skating.
Keir, we will never see this kind of beauty, this kind of magic on ice ever again, so sad. She's the goat, nobody is even close, nobody does it better.
It's just too bad Michelle's formidable coach, Frank Carroll, didn't see the jumping frenzy the sport was heading in and didn't emphasize the importance of adding a triple-triple combination jump. Tara already had triple-triple combos in her long programs by this point. I know Michelle was having all sorts of physical ailments in 97 and she took out the triple-triple combo in her programs. But the problem is she never put the triple combo back into her programs later on when her health improved and it hurt her in big int'l competitions. Even at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, the pressure of triple combo jumps got to her and she finished third with a Bronze.
@@shihlin1 However, Tara was overrated and Michelle was robbed. Tara didn't really make a correct 3+3, and her performance was like a kid. Michelle's performance was classic, beautiful and womanly. Actually, Tara had a kid's body and weight so easier to jump, nothing more. Tara retired because she got hurt and grew up, then everything changed. Michelle kept top for more than 10 years, Michelle's technique was great to made it happen.
That's why so many people thought Tara didn't deserve to win the 1998 Olympics gold , because she was a jumper, and she didn't really make a correct 3+3.......Like the Russian girls today.
Absolute magic !!!!!!!!!!!! You can't take your eyes off her. When I watch her skate ( or should I say float ) across the ice in those moments I haven't a care in the world. I find absolute peace and joy. THE MOST INCREDIBLE YOUNG WOMAN. She's not just an athlete, she's a therapist. She exudes love, joy and peace. GOD BLESS MICHELLE. THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOURSELF WITH THE WORLD. WE NEED YOU.!
@@comment6864 Michelle finished no lower than 3rd place between 1995~2004, her longevity was unreal. For that, Michelle's artistry and technique were hard to close for the other skaters.
@@fnb8171 Tara Lipinski said : Michelle Kwan is an idol of mine. One of the best skaters all the time was making me work harder and harder. （∩▽∩）● ( Michelle was robbed and Tara was overrated at the 1998 Olympics. )
Almost sixteen years after Michelle's last competition, I come back to this program. I am still waiting for a skater to make me feel the way she did (very difficult with today's robotic, quad filled junk). I will admit now that her skating brought out the kind of emotions very few experience in their lifetime while watching a sport. I actually choked up and shed a few tears over a couple of her performances. Watching on TV was was great if you couldn't be there, but it was nothing like seeing and feeling her skating in person. I recall being at the Vancouver World Championships in 2001, sitting close to the very top row of the arena, and feeling like she was handing me her soul on her small, graceful hands. At that time, a gaggle of hate-filled fans and a few media cronies were going crazy over the new comer who was very, very flexible and hit lovely positions who skimmed the ice surface and lacked the deep edges that could give control over the body and blade. That skater looked great on TV but when seen in person you realized how small the radius of her skating was on the circumference of the ice surface, and that she didn't emote and couldn't reach the person sitting way up top. Michelle used every inch of the rink surface, corner to corner pouring her heart out, and did so without the ugly pumping of the back when gaining speed for jumps. She is so iconic and will forever cement a place in my heart. Kween Kwan Forever!
After all these years, this program never gets old. It was simply perfect in so many ways. One of the best ladies free skating program in the history of the sport if you ask me.
Michelle Kwan changed Ice Skating into a beautiful artistic sport. The obsession over the jumps may be what the judges wanted but for me Michelle knew how to make the audience feel the emotion of the program. Michelle is by far the most decorated and well known female figure skater.
I hope Michelle knows how much we love her still. The more I watch today's Olympics, the more I watch these videos to remember what ice skating should really be.
This is still THE program to beat....never have I seen a woman skate and make me emotional the way Michelle Kwan has. It just simply has not been the same since she's been gone from the game. Olympic Gold metal or not...to me personally this is the greatest figure skater of all time. LOVE YOU MICHELLE!
**sigh** I'm just captivated by her each time she skates....this might be my favorite performance!!! We LOVE YOU Michelle!!! We need you back, skating's not the same anymore!!! BEAUTIFUL!!!
Biggest injustice of all is Tara wining the 98 Olympics skating to a song from a cartoon. A cartoon, people! While Michelle skated not only maturely but to a mature music, by Alwyn and a real Satie in the middle.
She FLOATED through this program! And I cried when she landed the 2nd triple lutz. Her Rachmaninoff SP and this Lyra Angelica LP are masterpieces. No one has the emotional impact or seamlessness that she has. Michelle embodies the music and that's something you can't teach.
I've seen this presentation many times, but today, I cried. She's the most elegant ice skater, her motions, her feelings that she puts when she is skating, all that make me watching her again and again. I miss you Michelle, my ice skater queen.
Greatest figure skater of all time imo. An athlete, a performer, and an artist. Her technique is unquestionable; her honesty, undeniable. And the passion she has for figure skating is poignant. So much beauty in her performances. She is the Shakespeare of figure skating- timeless and legendary.
SO TRUE this is hands down the BEST long program performance of Skating history....absolutely a classic. So angelic, free and joy to this program that makes it in a league of its own. I'm going to be completely honest, I really haven't followed Figure skating since Kwan left the game. She was really the only reason why I watched figure skating. I now follow Venus and Serena in the tennis circuit lol but I do miss REAL figure skating where ARTISTY was just as important as the jump fest i see now.
I don't think anyone can argue that this is a classic and epic performance not only from Kwan but from figure skating in general. It all came together, from the athleticism, the artistry, the costumes and the moment. What a routine
This performance is what figureskating is all about. Athleticism stamina artistry and pure joy are what strike me. This is the single BEST performance I have ever seen by a skater. Lifelong fan. What a joy to watch---MAGNIFICO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the finest LPs ever. I'm not crazy about the new code but at least no one will ever better Michelle's LP scores here--what a program for the ages! Sometimes I think it's a blessing when the great ones don't get the OGM--Shannon Miller didn't get the AA gold in '92 and went on to become the most decorated US gymnast ever. If Michelle had won in Nagano perhaps she wouldn't have become such a legend. One of the most beloved (and deservedly so) skaters in US and international history.
@@TT-ee4qp In today's scoring where they review jumps, Tara's as well as Sara Hughes' triple/triples would be severely downgraded. Their second jumps in the combination were always finished on the ice and their Lutz jumps were obliviously taking off on the wrong edge (Flutzing -- Flip/Lutz combination for those who don't know the terminology). When my group of figure skating friends and I went to competitions, we also went to all of the disciplines' practices where you could easily see the tracings on the ice as well as see it with the naked eye. Michelle's Lutz was on a flat edge about 45% of the time and the other 55% on the correct back outside edge. The discussions around Flutzing was crazy back then! 🤭
@@Evilene52 One thing I've noticed is no one uses the long back outiside edge to get into a proper Lutz anymore! They all use step over technique while on inside edge then try to switch to outside but it just don't work. I love the older technique as it's how it was meant to be. The counter rotation is what makes the Lutz a Lutz and what makes it so difficult. I miss this time in skating and life terribly. I think this is why I tend to come back to these videos often...
It hurts my heart that this graceful, elegant and superstar skater didn't win a gold medal in the Olympics the 2 times she tried 💔 ... Probably one of the best US ladies figure skaters of all time.
Some of my favorite things about this program: 1. The combination spin, followed by footwork into the second triple lutz that perfectly follows the musical buildup to the climax of the piece. 2. The very last triple toe loop - the way she holds the landing position and turns her her arms and leg even more upward at the very end to gracefully accent it 3. The very manner in which her demeanor, presence, costume, facial expression, and execution perfectly reflect the music. 4. Her final pose.
Quite simply, it is the greatest skating performance ever--I can recall where I was in 98 when I saw it, I can recall how I felt, how even I had tears running down my face watching this. Stunning, 12 years later it still moves me.
How many skaters are out there that we can say they've performed magical performances like this.. MULTIPLE times in their career? There may be a few performances from others that stick out, but Michelle? 96 World LP, 98 Nationals SP & LP, 2000 World LP, 2001 National SP, 2001 World LP, 2002 National LP, 2003 National LP, 2003 World SP & LP, 2004 Nationals LP, 2005 Nationals SP.. I'm sure I'm missing some. That many times!! Def. one of the most breathtaking skaters who will ever live!
I honestly can say this is one of the beautiful things I've ever seen. The memory is so strong in my mind that all I have to do is say "Michelle Kwan Philadelphia" and the images come back to me. And yes, I cried too after watching this. How a person could create something so perfect is beyond me.
As did I. I had never cried over skating or any other sport. Yet, I was in tears by the end of this. Hey, I even remember where I was. 14y.o. watching in my sister's room. lol
Anthonio, a thousand years from now, when most of humanity is gone from this planet, and a super intelligent alien race invaded the earth, and they ask, what is so special about the human race, we will show them this program and they will cry. This is simply magic on ice.
After being a lifelong skater (since 3) and rabid skating fan (in my 60s), I no longer watch skating, or even care. So sad as I used to block off time for every major skating competition and have watching parties. But the COP has stripped all excitement and soul from it. Too bad the old system wasn't enforced and 'fixed' (no ordinals) yet kept the basic idea. So here I am, watching old skating, to get my 'fix', on Christmas day.
LemonLadyRecords I know what you mean about the artistry. Watch Karen Chen and Star Andrews do their 2018 Nationals. You may fall in love with the sport again!
I hate to admit it, but figure skating, for me, has actually gotten a bit boring with there being jump after jump after jump.... and meaningless skating in between just to set up for the next jump. I sincerely miss great skating by the likes of Michelle, Boitano, Hamilton, Fleming, and the whole bunch pre early 2000's. There are so many injuries now also with the skaters attempting so many quads in one routine.
Michelle Kwan, I followed you since you were entered Figure Skating. I love all your performances, hurt me when you did not won gold, but bronze and silver. You've grown to be an elegant lady. Wish you well.
Michelle truly took the audience on an emotional journey with her. The jumps were seamlessly enmeshed within the choreography and done to the crescendos of the music, the second triple lutz in particular.
I think this is one of Michelle's best performances. Well, I think she didn't the greatest choreographies, but she had so much emotion on ice and I don't think that anyone else could ever make such connection with the audience! She is one of greatest skaters ever!
It doesn't get better than this. This performance, the Rach short program, her Salome and her Tosca...these are what figure skating is all about. Kwan is a legend...and a standard that everyone will be judged against. Brilliant.
Me too! It's been years since the first time I saw this, on television, and it still gets me EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. Incredible. I wish we had skaters like her today. Mirai Nagasu, I think, comes closest in artistry and for the "feel" she has when she is "on" on the ice, but our skating association has done absolutely ZERO to help her. Seems they want pretty "Middle America" girls these days, or something. I don't know. Since Kwan retired from the scene, and after Mirai got shut out of the medals at whatever Olympics it was, although I felt she earned the bronze medal for sure, I pretty much have stopped watching. They're all just "jumpers" now. Sad.
I agree. I remember dropping everything to watch her skate on the competition nights. A lot of skaters now are obviously great, but none has drawn me into the sport as much as Michelle has. It's just such a joy to watch her skate.
BEAUTIFUL.... she is my olympic champion. i cry everytime i watch her get those perfect 6.0 that NOBODY ELSE will ever get in the competition of ice skating ever. She will the be holding this record for the rest of her life. I love you Michelle
I watched Yu Na Kim's 2013 World's LP and then Michelle's 1998 National's LP. Yu Na is a great jumper and her program was flawless, but no one compares with Kwan's 1998 National's SP and LP. She is in a league of her own, even now. Her movements all had incomparable grace and not one was superfluous. No arm flailing for the sake of it. She was and is the greatest skater of all time.
In my opinion, the thumbs downs are from people who were back in the day trying to put other less skilled and loved skaters at her level; international fans of skaters from their countries (mentioning no names), and from people today who think skating around and doing quads, multiple triple-triples, and lots of jumps with no artistry in-between, is figure skating. 🙄
Just randomly going through videos n stumble on to this. Wow, I know nothing about ice skating but this is beautiful. I can actually feel, cant describe what I feel but it's a wonderful feeling.
I too watched Yuna's 2013 WC LP. Then I compared it to exactly 10 years ago in 2003 when Michelle won her 5th and final world title, which was one of many Michelle's amazing, memorable, perfectly skated program. And it's no wonder Yuna, in one of her ice shows, called Michelle her role model.
There is only one NObody can given the performance that Michelle Kwan can.....you can skate from one end of ice to another and jump 50 times but the complete emotional feeling and work she does will NEVER be matched...she should have won gold ..........will always love her
There are skaters who have better jumps, better spins, and better spirals, but no one presents their heart and soul to the audience like she does! She's absolutely extraordinary!!!
I have absolutely no idea how she draws the audience in the way she does. I really think it was a quality she was born with. She is such a fantastic skater!
I'm not superstitious, and yet I always feel like Terry Gannon put the jinx on Michelle at 1:56 where he says, "She has seen tapes of the Olympic performance where she (Janet Lynn) fell and got up smiling, and she said - 'that's how I want to be'"
+Grace Gold My thoughts exactly. Glad I'm not alone in thinking that way. They(including DICK BUTTON) should have mentioned that Michelle's artistry is reminiscent of PEGGY FLEMING. hahaha Perhaps that would have changed SKATING HISTORY.
@Grace Gold. Terry Gannon said at the 2004 us nationals LP "If they are any doubts in the next Olympics games. They have just been erased!" We all know what happen in 2006.
Huge YuNa fan here...and I must say, this performance of Michelle's is magical like I've never seen. I don't know how the audience remembers to applaud; the whole thing is captivating from start to finish. I especially like how her 3T at 4:11 takes off with a gentle tap onto the ice with her pick. Jumps are the signature "power moves" of Figure Skating, and yet she manages to do even them in complete grace. Love and respect.
FnA King tut, totally irreplaceable, when she left the arena 15 years ago all of us were waiting for somebody to take over the way she did and 15 years later were still waiting. Still the true Queen.
This is undoubtedly my favorite performance of hers. So light and elegant, just a joy to watch. I especially love the way she uses her arms--they're always so beautifully extended and add so much to the choreography. Not to mention her posture, which is wonderful to see after seeing so many skaters today who can't seem to stand up straight. If only she could have skated this performance at the Olympics! But even without her Olympic gold, she's certainly one of the best ever. Tara and Sarah who?
After watching Michelle's induction into the Hall of Fame this weekend, I'm rewatching many of her beautiful performances. I get as teary now as the first time I watched them. Just beautiful.
Wow, just wow! They don't make them like this anymore. Skating skills and edge control so perfected that she doesn't need to think about it and can focus on the PERFORMANCE.
I completely agree muscleboi! Just look at Kwan's face at the beginning of this program, right before she starts. What joy :) I don't know if you read this, but right after these Nationals, the US press interviewed some of the judges, and two veteran male judges admitted crying during this performance, calling it something they had never done in their 30 plus years of judging. Hope you're doing well buddy.
It's the 2nd 3loop that gets me every time I watch this. It was right on the beat and it floated. The loop was always her worst jump but that one was just beautiful.
I'm with you, kip. I rewatch a lot of classic figure skating routines with a couple of hankies, but with this particular performance I need a bucket. Beautiful.
Maybe i've said it before but this program seems to look better and better the more I watch it and understand how brilliant Lori Nichol's choreography was and how perfect Michelle executed it! Even though there were no 3A or 3-3 jumps and the spins were not more difficult, she's just in one with the music, and imo no other current skaters can achieve that quality even if they are really good and expressive. Furthermore, no other skaters can inspire/ touch/ uplift people as much as Michelle Kwan.
I showed this performance to my 90 year old Aunt who knows nothing about skating, but was a professional piano player back in the day... she lost it (as I think we all do) when she hit that second lutz and was overcome with joy... THAT is the magic of Kwan. It's like she's revealing her soul out there.... sorry, I just could go on and on. There needs to be a place where we can just write and write about how Kwan is special.
this is not all about the perfection of every move you make or how great your triple axel is.. its about how you touch every audience's heart, figure skating is supposed to be full of passion or emotion.. what happened to that now? this is why michelle kwan is a legend.. she skates with heart....
Michelle Kwan may not have won the OGM, but her skating changed the sport by raising the level of quality in jumps AND presentation! Not only that, her programs (from many different competitions - nationals, grand prix, worlds, etc.) are *memorable* - how many past OGM can say that!
i agree. this considering that lori mentioned that 97-98 seasons was the biggest roller coaster rise for her as she had to re-choreographed the entire middle part of the program due to michelle's injury and it became even better.
Totally agree! What many people nowadays don't realize is how much she revolutionized the sport, especially with artistry. No one else was skating like she was back then.
It is a testament to her appeal as an athlete and as an artist that people are still watching this performance and commenting 13 years later. I grew up alongside her and felt I knew her personally. In my eyes, she is the most feminine skater. I feel bad that she never won Olympic gold. But she has got to be proud that she has influenced a generation who themselves won and will win gold.Long live Michelle...Queen of the Ice.
I don't care how flexible Sasha Cohen is, or how many extra rotations the skaters can do today - NOBODY moved the audience like Michelle Kwan. She brought respect back to figure skating after the Kerrigan/Harding fiasco. She is, in my opinion, the most complete skater I've ever seen. She is an artist, not just a robot racking up the points, which is how all the skaters look like today. Michelle Kwan will always be the face of figure skating for me. I miss her.
Keir Basilio 7 years ago you wrote this comment, in the Mao/Yuna/Caro era .. I think it would be most appropriate for today’s figure skating lol
@@joaocampelo3725 How much we missed Michelle & Yuna/Mao/Caro's eras. Nowadays figure skating is a joke with the Russian ladies team...what so great about quad jumps without artistry. Disrespect to the beautiful sport of figure skating.
Keir, we will never see this kind of beauty, this kind of magic on ice ever again, so sad. She's the goat, nobody is even close, nobody does it better.
It's just too bad Michelle's formidable coach, Frank Carroll, didn't see the jumping frenzy the sport was heading in and didn't emphasize the importance of adding a triple-triple combination jump.
Tara already had triple-triple combos in her long programs by this point.
I know Michelle was having all sorts of physical ailments in 97 and she took out the triple-triple combo in her programs.
But the problem is she never put the triple combo back into her programs later on when her health improved and it hurt her in big int'l competitions.
Even at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, the pressure of triple combo jumps got to her and she finished third with a Bronze.
@@shihlin1 However, Tara was overrated and Michelle was robbed. Tara didn't really make a correct 3+3, and her performance was like a kid. Michelle's performance was classic, beautiful and womanly. Actually, Tara had a kid's body and weight so easier to jump, nothing more. Tara retired because she got hurt and grew up, then everything changed. Michelle kept top for more than 10 years, Michelle's technique was great to made it happen.
This is EXACTLY what figure skating needs today. More Edging and more Artistry. Not just jumping bots.
That's why so many people thought Tara didn't deserve to win the 1998 Olympics gold , because she was a jumper, and she didn't really make a correct 3+3.......Like the Russian girls today.
The Lyra Angelica program was, simply put, Michelle's moment of transcendence. Singularly gorgeous.
Absolute magic !!!!!!!!!!!! You can't take your eyes off her. When I watch her skate ( or should I say float ) across the ice in those moments I haven't a care in the world. I find absolute peace and joy. THE MOST INCREDIBLE YOUNG WOMAN. She's not just an athlete, she's a therapist. She exudes love, joy and peace. GOD BLESS MICHELLE. THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOURSELF WITH THE WORLD. WE NEED YOU.!
Figure skating is no longer the same without Michelle Kwan!!!
No
we will never see this type of artistry again....
And not only artistry but flawless skating skills!! Which makes such a PERFORMANCE possible
@@comment6864 Michelle finished no lower than 3rd place between 1995~2004, her longevity was unreal. For that, Michelle's artistry and technique were hard to close for the other skaters.
Yuna is better
@@fnb8171 So many years, you changed your name again and again to slander Michelle. （∩▽∩）So what ? Nobody cares......🤣😜
@@fnb8171 Tara Lipinski said : Michelle Kwan is an idol of mine. One of the best skaters all the time was making me work harder and harder. （∩▽∩）● ( Michelle was robbed and Tara was overrated at the 1998 Olympics. )
Almost sixteen years after Michelle's last competition, I come back to this program. I am still waiting for a skater to make me feel the way she did (very difficult with today's robotic, quad filled junk). I will admit now that her skating brought out the kind of emotions very few experience in their lifetime while watching a sport. I actually choked up and shed a few tears over a couple of her performances. Watching on TV was was great if you couldn't be there, but it was nothing like seeing and feeling her skating in person. I recall being at the Vancouver World Championships in 2001, sitting close to the very top row of the arena, and feeling like she was handing me her soul on her small, graceful hands.
At that time, a gaggle of hate-filled fans and a few media cronies were going crazy over the new comer who was very, very flexible and hit lovely positions who skimmed the ice surface and lacked the deep edges that could give control over the body and blade. That skater looked great on TV but when seen in person you realized how small the radius of her skating was on the circumference of the ice surface, and that she didn't emote and couldn't reach the person sitting way up top. Michelle used every inch of the rink surface, corner to corner pouring her heart out, and did so without the ugly pumping of the back when gaining speed for jumps. She is so iconic and will forever cement a place in my heart. Kween Kwan Forever!
Well..Sasha...out of control....fell everywhere on the ice......She was close to perfect but never................
Michelle Kwan is the greatest skater of all time. Amen
Yuna kim
The best there ever was, the best that ever will be, nobody even comes close. The great Michelle Kwan.
Truth. We will never see this kind of beauty, this kind of magic on ice ever again. Quite Simply, The G.O.A.T...
I know that is true nobody ever comes close. Michelle has it all
After all these years, this program never gets old. It was simply perfect in so many ways. One of the best ladies free skating program in the history of the sport if you ask me.
Dwayne Parker amen ✔✔✔✔💯💯💯
This one and both programs (SP and LP) from 2001. Goosebumps every time I watch them.
Michelle Kwan changed Ice Skating into a beautiful artistic sport. The obsession over the jumps may be what the judges wanted but for me Michelle knew how to make the audience feel the emotion of the program. Michelle is by far the most decorated and well known female figure skater.
I hope Michelle knows how much we love her still. The more I watch today's Olympics, the more I watch these videos to remember what ice skating should really be.
This is still THE program to beat....never have I seen a woman skate and make me emotional the way Michelle Kwan has. It just simply has not been the same since she's been gone from the game. Olympic Gold metal or not...to me personally this is the greatest figure skater of all time. LOVE YOU MICHELLE!
**sigh** I'm just captivated by her each time she skates....this might be my favorite performance!!! We LOVE YOU Michelle!!! We need you back, skating's not the same anymore!!! BEAUTIFUL!!!
Still get the chills especially when she does her spiral while the harp is going crazy. So perfectly timed.
This is one of the very few ice skating performances that brings tears. Sheer beauty
Biggest injustice of all is Tara wining the 98 Olympics skating to a song from a cartoon. A cartoon, people! While Michelle skated not only maturely but to a mature music, by Alwyn and a real Satie in the middle.
She FLOATED through this program! And I cried when she landed the 2nd triple lutz. Her Rachmaninoff SP and this Lyra Angelica LP are masterpieces. No one has the emotional impact or seamlessness that she has. Michelle embodies the music and that's something you can't teach.
Wow! I felt the exactly the same while watching this and the Rachmaninoff. What an amazing artist.
This performance was just simply magical.
I've seen this presentation many times, but today, I cried. She's the most elegant ice skater, her motions, her feelings that she puts when she is skating, all that make me watching her again and again. I miss you Michelle, my ice skater queen.
this is pure art. when they look back hundreds of years from now, this will stand the test of time.
Greatest figure skater of all time imo. An athlete, a performer, and an artist. Her technique is unquestionable; her honesty, undeniable. And the passion she has for figure skating is poignant. So much beauty in her performances. She is the Shakespeare of figure skating- timeless and legendary.
SO TRUE this is hands down the BEST long program performance of Skating history....absolutely a classic. So angelic, free and joy to this program that makes it in a league of its own. I'm going to be completely honest, I really haven't followed Figure skating since Kwan left the game. She was really the only reason why I watched figure skating. I now follow Venus and Serena in the tennis circuit lol but I do miss REAL figure skating where ARTISTY was just as important as the jump fest i see now.
The best performance of 1998.
👍💯
I don't think anyone can argue that this is a classic and epic performance not only from Kwan but from figure skating in general. It all came together, from the athleticism, the artistry, the costumes and the moment. What a routine
This performance is what figureskating is all about. Athleticism stamina artistry and pure joy are what strike me. This is the single BEST performance I have ever seen by a skater. Lifelong fan. What a joy to watch---MAGNIFICO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've seen this so many times since 1998, still put tears in my eyes
One of the finest LPs ever. I'm not crazy about the new code but at least no one will ever better Michelle's LP scores here--what a program for the ages! Sometimes I think it's a blessing when the great ones don't get the OGM--Shannon Miller didn't get the AA gold in '92 and went on to become the most decorated US gymnast ever. If Michelle had won in Nagano perhaps she wouldn't have become such a legend. One of the most beloved (and deservedly so) skaters in US and international history.
This was Figure Skating's Finest Moment. Michelle Kwan. 1998 Nationals. Lyrica Angelica. From Peggy to Janet to Dorothy to Michelle...🌹
However Michelle still deserved the 1998 Olympics gold and she was robbed when Tara Lipinski was overrated to win with her Disney Cartoon program.
@@TT-ee4qp In today's scoring where they review jumps, Tara's as well as Sara Hughes' triple/triples would be severely downgraded. Their second jumps in the combination were always finished on the ice and their Lutz jumps were obliviously taking off on the wrong edge (Flutzing -- Flip/Lutz combination for those who don't know the terminology). When my group of figure skating friends and I went to competitions, we also went to all of the disciplines' practices where you could easily see the tracings on the ice as well as see it with the naked eye. Michelle's Lutz was on a flat edge about 45% of the time and the other 55% on the correct back outside edge. The discussions around Flutzing was crazy back then! 🤭
@@Evilene52 One thing I've noticed is no one uses the long back outiside edge to get into a proper Lutz anymore! They all use step over technique while on inside edge then try to switch to outside but it just don't work. I love the older technique as it's how it was meant to be. The counter rotation is what makes the Lutz a Lutz and what makes it so difficult.
I miss this time in skating and life terribly. I think this is why I tend to come back to these videos often...
There will never be another like her
Reminds me why Michelle is a legend in my heart
It hurts my heart that this graceful, elegant and superstar skater didn't win a gold medal in the Olympics the 2 times she tried 💔 ... Probably one of the best US ladies figure skaters of all time.
Some people deserved the Olympics gold but never got it, like Michelle. Some people didn't deserve the Olympics gold and got it, like......
However, Michelle still and always to be a legend.
Imo there is no greater US FEMALE FIGURE SKATER. TO ME, SHES THE MOST COMPLETE & ACCOMPLISHED FEMALE SKATER OF ALL TIME. THE TRUE GOAT
Some of my favorite things about this program:
1. The combination spin, followed by footwork into the second triple lutz that perfectly follows the musical buildup to the climax of the piece.
2. The very last triple toe loop - the way she holds the landing position and turns her her arms and leg even more upward at the very end to gracefully accent it
3. The very manner in which her demeanor, presence, costume, facial expression, and execution perfectly reflect the music.
4. Her final pose.
Quite simply, it is the greatest skating performance ever--I can recall where I was in 98 when I saw it, I can recall how I felt, how even I had tears running down my face watching this. Stunning, 12 years later it still moves me.
Legend.
"She just takes your breath away."
And make you to be in heaven. Peace, love, air, joy......
That 1 judge!!! lol, Afterwards I read that that person regretted not giving her the 6.0
How many skaters are out there that we can say they've performed magical performances like this.. MULTIPLE times in their career? There may be a few performances from others that stick out, but Michelle? 96 World LP, 98 Nationals SP & LP, 2000 World LP, 2001 National SP, 2001 World LP, 2002 National LP, 2003 National LP, 2003 World SP & LP, 2004 Nationals LP, 2005 Nationals SP.. I'm sure I'm missing some. That many times!! Def. one of the most breathtaking skaters who will ever live!
The best performance ever by a woman in the history of this sport!
I honestly can say this is one of the beautiful things I've ever seen. The memory is so strong in my mind that all I have to do is say "Michelle Kwan Philadelphia" and the images come back to me. And yes, I cried too after watching this. How a person could create something so perfect is beyond me.
As did I. I had never cried over skating or any other sport. Yet, I was in tears by the end of this. Hey, I even remember where I was. 14y.o. watching in my sister's room. lol
Anthonio, a thousand years from now, when most of humanity is gone from this planet, and a super intelligent alien race invaded the earth, and they ask, what is so special about the human race, we will show them this program and they will cry. This is simply magic on ice.
She takes you to the journey of her emotions
Best. Skater. Ever. Miss you Mi!!!
This is what's missing from figure skating today. We need artists who skate complete performances, not jumping bots.
The new scoring system gutted the artistry and soul from figure skating. Now it's all about how much can one possibly cram into 4.5 minutes.
After being a lifelong skater (since 3) and rabid skating fan (in my 60s), I no longer watch skating, or even care. So sad as I used to block off time for every major skating competition and have watching parties. But the COP has stripped all excitement and soul from it. Too bad the old system wasn't enforced and 'fixed' (no ordinals) yet kept the basic idea. So here I am, watching old skating, to get my 'fix', on Christmas day.
LemonLadyRecords I know what you mean about the artistry. Watch Karen Chen and Star Andrews do their 2018 Nationals. You may fall in love with the sport again!
I hate to admit it, but figure skating, for me, has actually gotten a bit boring with there being jump after jump after jump.... and meaningless skating in between just to set up for the next jump. I sincerely miss great skating by the likes of Michelle, Boitano, Hamilton, Fleming, and the whole bunch pre early 2000's. There are so many injuries now also with the skaters attempting so many quads in one routine.
@@patlarimore6960 Pat, we will never see this kind of beauty , this kind of magic on ice ever again.
Michelle Kwan, I followed you since you were entered Figure Skating. I love all your performances, hurt me when you did not won gold, but bronze and silver. You've grown to be an elegant lady. Wish you well.
Thank you and thanks Michelle.
Michelle truly took the audience on an emotional journey with her. The jumps were seamlessly enmeshed within the choreography and done to the crescendos of the music, the second triple lutz in particular.
I was there - and yes she did!!!
She just FLOATS on those edges! So amazing
I think this is one of Michelle's best performances.
Well, I think she didn't the greatest choreographies, but she had so much emotion on ice and I don't think that anyone else could ever make such connection with the audience!
She is one of greatest skaters ever!
This is one of my favorite skating routines to watch. She is so graceful and elegant. She became an angel herself.
It's an amazing program, just told everything without a word.
Breathtaking. Pure ballet on ice.
It doesn't get better than this. This performance, the Rach short program, her Salome and her Tosca...these are what figure skating is all about. Kwan is a legend...and a standard that everyone will be judged against. Brilliant.
THIS is how figure skating should be. It doesn't get any better than this.
I still tear up watching this epic unmatched iconic figure skating moment. I watched this on abc 18 years ago
Me too! It's been years since the first time I saw this, on television, and it still gets me EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. Incredible. I wish we had skaters like her today. Mirai Nagasu, I think, comes closest in artistry and for the "feel" she has when she is "on" on the ice, but our skating association has done absolutely ZERO to help her. Seems they want pretty "Middle America" girls these days, or something. I don't know. Since Kwan retired from the scene, and after Mirai got shut out of the medals at whatever Olympics it was, although I felt she earned the bronze medal for sure, I pretty much have stopped watching. They're all just "jumpers" now. Sad.
Michelle Kwan is a LEGEND. She's so gracious and makes figure skating that much more beautiful to watch. Yuna Kim looks up to her as her idol.
I agree. I remember dropping everything to watch her skate on the competition nights. A lot of skaters now are obviously great, but none has drawn me into the sport as much as Michelle has. It's just such a joy to watch her skate.
BEAUTIFUL.... she is my olympic champion. i cry everytime i watch her get those perfect 6.0 that NOBODY ELSE will ever get in the competition of ice skating ever. She will the be holding this record for the rest of her life. I love you Michelle
I watched Yu Na Kim's 2013 World's LP and then Michelle's 1998 National's LP. Yu Na is a great jumper and her program was flawless, but no one compares with Kwan's 1998 National's SP and LP. She is in a league of her own, even now. Her movements all had incomparable grace and not one was superfluous. No arm flailing for the sake of it. She was and is the greatest skater of all time.
Yuna kim inspired by Michelle Kwan. Michelle is Yuna's idol. Both they are artists.
who in their right mind would give this a thumbs down?? what more could you ask from this performance? It was poetry in motion!!!!
In my opinion, the thumbs downs are from people who were back in the day trying to put other less skilled and loved skaters at her level; international fans of skaters from their countries (mentioning no names), and from people today who think skating around and doing quads, multiple triple-triples, and lots of jumps with no artistry in-between, is figure skating. 🙄
A performance for the ages!!!
This program left one of the judges in tears...it did for me too. Absolutely stunning...an angel floating on ice!
Just randomly going through videos n stumble on to this. Wow, I know nothing about ice skating but this is beautiful. I can actually feel, cant describe what I feel but it's a wonderful feeling.
Joe Black being on the ice gives you the same feeling - it’s indescribable
This program is amazing, told you everything without a word, just feeling and emotion.
I have to admit, I STILL get major chills every time I see this video! Wow!
I too watched Yuna's 2013 WC LP. Then I compared it to exactly 10 years ago in 2003 when Michelle won her 5th and final world title, which was one of many Michelle's amazing, memorable, perfectly skated program. And it's no wonder Yuna, in one of her ice shows, called Michelle her role model.
There is only one
NObody can given the performance that Michelle Kwan can.....you can skate from one end of ice to another and jump 50 times but the complete emotional feeling and work she does will NEVER be matched...she should have won gold ..........will always love her
Not ashamed to say I cried watching this in 98'! What a moment!
There are skaters who have better jumps, better spins, and better spirals, but no one presents their heart and soul to the audience like she does! She's absolutely extraordinary!!!
In my opinion one of the best performances of all time! She is stunning
I have absolutely no idea how she draws the audience in the way she does. I really think it was a quality she was born with. She is such a fantastic skater!
I'm not superstitious, and yet I always feel like Terry Gannon put the jinx on Michelle at 1:56 where he says, "She has seen tapes of the Olympic performance where she (Janet Lynn) fell and got up smiling, and she said - 'that's how I want to be'"
+Grace Gold My thoughts exactly. Glad I'm not alone in thinking that way. They(including DICK BUTTON) should have mentioned that Michelle's artistry is reminiscent of PEGGY FLEMING. hahaha Perhaps that would have changed SKATING HISTORY.
@Grace Gold. Terry Gannon said at the 2004 us nationals LP "If they are any doubts in the next Olympics games. They have just been erased!" We all know what happen in 2006.
She absolutely FLOATS!
I still get teary eyed watching this clip. Such a beautiful skater.
Huge YuNa fan here...and I must say, this performance of Michelle's is magical like I've never seen. I don't know how the audience remembers to applaud; the whole thing is captivating from start to finish. I especially like how her 3T at 4:11 takes off with a gentle tap onto the ice with her pick. Jumps are the signature "power moves" of Figure Skating, and yet she manages to do even them in complete grace. Love and respect.
What I loved about Michelle was not her jumps but her beautiful artistry and the joy of her skating.
However, Michelle's technique and jumps were great. Her longevity was unreal.
Dwayne you are so right---another-if not the single BEST performance-I have EVER seen !!! GOOSBUMPS after allmost 20 years never to be repeated !!!
Mitch Grube 💯💯✔✔✔✔
"Michelle Kwan IS Figure Skating." --- Dan Hollander
FnA King tut, totally irreplaceable, when she left the arena 15 years ago all of us were waiting for somebody to take over the way she did and 15 years later were still waiting. Still the true Queen.
my favourite skater! She's just magical, I really adore her. Beautiful performance.
i cried every time i see her skate ever since 1996
This is undoubtedly my favorite performance of hers. So light and elegant, just a joy to watch. I especially love the way she uses her arms--they're always so beautifully extended and add so much to the choreography. Not to mention her posture, which is wonderful to see after seeing so many skaters today who can't seem to stand up straight. If only she could have skated this performance at the Olympics! But even without her Olympic gold, she's certainly one of the best ever. Tara and Sarah who?
After watching Michelle's induction into the Hall of Fame this weekend, I'm rewatching many of her beautiful performances. I get as teary now as the first time I watched them. Just beautiful.
Absolutely STUNNING! My favorite of all time! Go Michelle! Thank you for giving your fan such wonderful performances and memories!
Up there with Oksana's Swan Lake. The detail was amazing she handled this like a virtuoso performer.
Artists are more greater than jumpers in the figure skating history.
She hovered over the ice, she was so smooth.
Michelle skated like an angel on ice, Tara skated like a happy puppy running in the park.
Wow, just wow! They don't make them like this anymore. Skating skills and edge control so perfected that she doesn't need to think about it and can focus on the PERFORMANCE.
I completely agree muscleboi! Just look at Kwan's face at the beginning of this program, right before she starts. What joy :) I don't know if you read this, but right after these Nationals, the US press interviewed some of the judges, and two veteran male judges admitted crying during this performance, calling it something they had never done in their 30 plus years of judging. Hope you're doing well buddy.
The great program of all time. I never get bored watching it, like every time I watch it I get chills or cry lmaooo
It's the 2nd 3loop that gets me every time I watch this. It was right on the beat and it floated. The loop was always her worst jump but that one was just beautiful.
I'm with you, kip. I rewatch a lot of classic figure skating routines with a couple of hankies, but with this particular performance I need a bucket. Beautiful.
Maybe i've said it before but this program seems to look better and better the more I watch it and understand how brilliant Lori Nichol's choreography was and how perfect Michelle executed it! Even though there were no 3A or 3-3 jumps and the spins were not more difficult, she's just in one with the music, and imo no other current skaters can achieve that quality even if they are really good and expressive. Furthermore, no other skaters can inspire/ touch/ uplift people as much as Michelle Kwan.
I remember watching this live and with tears in my eyes. I was 13
Her smiling at the end is just amazing :)
breathtaking
I showed this performance to my 90 year old Aunt who knows nothing about skating, but was a professional piano player back in the day... she lost it (as I think we all do) when she hit that second lutz and was overcome with joy... THAT is the magic of Kwan. It's like she's revealing her soul out there.... sorry, I just could go on and on. There needs to be a place where we can just write and write about how Kwan is special.
this is not all about the perfection of every move you make or how great your triple axel is.. its about how you touch every audience's heart, figure skating is supposed to be full of passion or emotion.. what happened to that now? this is why michelle kwan is a legend.. she skates with heart....
This is the best program of the 1998 in the figure skating history.
One of the greatest performances on ice.
just so beautiful, epitome of figure skating in my book
Michelle Kwan may not have won the OGM, but her skating changed the sport by raising the level of quality in jumps AND presentation! Not only that, her programs (from many different competitions - nationals, grand prix, worlds, etc.) are *memorable* - how many past OGM can say that!
She was an artist ⛸
The best. Ever.
LOVE this program, as well as her Rachmaninoff short program! best combo of programs she's ever had.
i agree. this considering that lori mentioned that 97-98 seasons was the biggest roller coaster rise for her as she had to re-choreographed the entire middle part of the program due to michelle's injury and it became even better.
Totally agree! What many people nowadays don't realize is how much she revolutionized the sport, especially with artistry. No one else was skating like she was back then.
Simply the best LP. 🌹
It is a testament to her appeal as an athlete and as an artist that people are still watching this performance and commenting 13 years later. I grew up alongside her and felt I knew her personally. In my eyes, she is the most feminine skater. I feel bad that she never won Olympic gold. But she has got to be proud that she has influenced a generation who themselves won and will win gold.Long live Michelle...Queen of the Ice.