Michelle Kwan Returns to the Olympics for Fox Sports

Michelle Kwan’s Olympic days aren’t behind her. The world champion figure skater is returning to the Olympics as a television analyst. Fox Sports hired Michelle Kwan to cover the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Michelle Kwan will cover a variety of sports for Fox Sports 1, the network’s new cable channel, which launches this month. This isn’t the first time Kwan has covered the Olympics. She was an ABC correspondent in 2010 at the Vancouver Games.

Michelle Kwan is a nine-time U.S. champion figure skater who won the world championship five times. Michelle Kwan won two Olympic medals, a silver in 1998 and a bronze in 2002. Michelle Kwan says she was tapped by Fox to cover sports outside the Olympics too. She hopes to be part of Fox’s Super Bowl coverage.

Michelle Kwan said, "When they asked, they were really encouraging to me to try it out. They said, 'We are going to be innovative and fun and open to different angles,' which really attracted me. Reporting and story-telling is what they want, so for me it will interesting to kind of let the public know about the stories of athletes, or their perspectives on the Olympics."

Fox also hired Olympic skiing champion Picabo Street as sports analyst. Kwan hopes the two Olympic winners will team up for assignments in Sochi for the Fox's TV networks, website and radio affiliates.
Kwan said, "There are so many sports to choose from and I hope I will do some curling and some hockey. Maybe ask skeleton athletes, 'How do you do that?' What they do is pretty scary. “

Fox is not an Olympics rights-holder, the Olympics are televised in the United States by NBC. Kwan explains "I won't be covering it like NBC would, but more doing insider stories. I also like the idea they are launching FS1 this month, and I will be able to be a part of it and see it take shape and form. And also, if I have some sort of ideas how I want to report the Olympics, I will have that freedom to do it."

Kwan was injured the last time she played the Olympics. She left the 2006 Turin Games in tears before they even began. Since the end of the games, Michelle Kwan graduated from the University of Denver with a degree in international studies. She earned a master's degree in 2011 from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Kwan currently works at the State Department as a senior adviser for public diplomacy and public affairs .

Rick Jaffe, Fox Sports senior vice president of news, said, "There is no bigger name in the sport of figure skating than Michelle Kwan, and we are delighted to welcome her to Fox Sports. Not only is she the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history, but she is also opinionated and insightful, and we're very lucky to have her as part of our Olympic team."

Kwan is hoping to also cover the Super Bowl team. She said, "They are encouraging me to find unique angles in all sports, so sure.”

Kwan plans to talk to Evan Lysacek, the 2010 men's figure skating gold medalist. Lysacek missed the past three seasons due to injuries but will he attempts a comeback this year. Kwan will also interview world champion ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White also are in the works.

Kwan says "I can talk about personal experiences, how it feels to be on the ice in the six-minute warm-up, or the last few seconds you get to talk to your coach, or that split second before the music starts. I know as a kid, I was watching Brian Boitano and Brian Orser at the (1988 Calgary) Olympics, and that was what I wanted to hear, too. Get inside the head of an athlete."

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world news
michelle kwan
olympics
fox sports
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