Michelle Kwan
(born July 7, 1980,
Torrance
, California, U.S.) is an American
figure skater
who was one of the most decorated athletes in the sport.
Combining
artistry and elegance with athleticism, she won more than 40 championships, including a record-tying nine U.S. titles (1996, 1998?2005). Kwan later served as U.S. ambassador to
Belize
(2022? ).
Kwan began skating at age five and won her first competition two years later. In 1994 she landed the alternate spot on the U.S.
Olympic
team and the following year placed fourth at the world championships. In 1996, sporting a new, more grown-up look, she won her first U.S. and world titles. After a growth spurt that added both height and weight, Kwan finished second to
Tara Lipinski
at the U.S. and world championships in 1997. She entered the
1998 Olympic Games in Nagano
, Japan, as the gold-medal favourite, having defeated Lipinski at the U.S. championships earlier in the year. Lipinski, however, won the closely contested event, and Kwan had to settle for a silver medal. She captured a bronze medal at the
2002 Games in Salt Lake City
, Utah, and the following year won her fifth world championship (1996, 1998, 2000?01, 2003).
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In 2005 Kwan claimed her ninth U.S. title, tying a record set by Maribel Vinson in 1937. Later that year, however, she finished fourth at the world championships?the first time since 1995 that she had not won a world medal. The event would ultimately be the last of her competitive career. She qualified for the 2006 U.S. Olympic team but was forced to
withdraw
after she suffered an injury during her first practice at the
Games in Turin
, Italy. Kwan did not compete during the 2007 and 2008 seasons while pursuing studies at the
University of Denver
.
Although Kwan contemplated competing at the
2010 Olympics in Vancouver
, she instead enrolled at
Tufts University
’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, earning a
master’s degree
in
international relations
in 2011. She subsequently became a senior adviser at the
U.S. State Department
, having earlier served as an envoy for
public diplomacy
at the department. During this time she also became involved in
Special Olympics
International. In addition, Kwan was active in the
Democratic Party
, and she worked on the presidential campaigns of
Hillary Clinton
(2016) and
Joe Biden
(2020). After the latter won, in 2021 he nominated Kwan to serve as U.S.
ambassador
to Belize. She was confirmed by the Senate in September 2022 and assumed the post the following month. Her autobiography,
Michelle Kwan: Heart of a Champion
, was published in 1997.