If Kwan wins gold, she'll hit jackpot

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With five world and nine U.S. titles, Michelle Kwan owns plenty of gold medals. She also possesses a portfolio of endorsements, including deals with Coca-Cola and Visa.

But should she win figure skating gold next month at the Torino Olympics -- and U.S. Figure Skating has stamped her a contender even though she has been rehabbing injuries all season -- she will enter another realm. Olympic gold is the only major prize that eludes her. With it would come a golden marketing opportunity.

"I liken it very much to National Football League athletes who have won the Super Bowl vs. those who have not," says Robert Prazmark, president of Olympic sales and marketing-worldwide for IMG, a sports marketing powerhouse.

He cites former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, who won two Super Bowls late in his career.

"Elway, if he'd never won the Super Bowl, would have been considered a great athlete, still would have gone to the Hall of Fame and still would have gotten great endorsements. But he would not have ever been known as a Super Bowl champion," says Prazmark, who does not represent Kwan.

"It's the same kind of thing with Michelle Kwan. ... She's done tremendously. America loves her, the world loves her, and she is very marketable. But if she were to win the gold, she would take it to a new level."

Kwan, 25, won Olympic silver in 1998 and bronze in 2002. But the field in Torino will include 2005 world champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia and 2005 world silver medalist Sasha Cohen of the USA. Kwan has skated once under the new scoring system, a fourth place at the 2005 worlds.

After Kwan skated programs before a five-member panel from U.S. Figure Skating at her home rink Friday in Artesia, Calif., her Olympic spot was reaffirmed.

"It's truly the opinion of this monitoring team that Michelle could win the Olympics and is definitely qualified to win a medal," panel member Bob Horen said.

Kwan had a hip problem earlier this season and most recently has been rehabbing a groin injury. At the Jan.14 conclusion of U.S. nationals, her petition for an Olympic berth was granted even though she sat out nationals. The spot was conditional on how she skated Friday.

Kwan fell once Friday on an attempted double axel in her short program but said she'd just started doing double axels the day before. Horen said she did four triple jumps in her long program. Kwan said she is working toward a triple-triple for the Olympics.

"I can't tell you what the percentages are of winning gold, but I have a shot," she said.

Friday's decision means Emily Hughes, third at nationals, isn't among the three U.S. women selected to skate in Torino. The sister of 2002 Olympic champ Sarah Hughes remains first alternate.

Also skating for the USA: Kimmie Meissner, 16, second to Cohen at nationals.

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