The Silver Lining

Philadelphia, 1998

Imagining angels and clouds, Michelle Kwan
glided along
She had been skating for little more than
a minute when the commentator said it
Perfect landing position, straight
up and down; reminiscent of Janet Lynn.

Kwan reeled off a triple salchow,
one of the jumps
that forced her to push off her injured toe
she glided into her second triple lutz,
and landed magnificently.
Across the middle of the ice she went,
launching herself into her lingering spiral.

With just fifteen seconds left,
Kwan had one jump remaining
the triple toe loop;
the one that required her
to launch herself off her bad toe.
She didn't need to do it.
She did it.

She flew into a death drop,
swirled into a sit spin,
and stood up, in the middle of the ice
by the stripes of the big US flag.
The audience was already standing--
the noise was deafening.
She was finished. Nobody, not even
Tara Lipinski, would come close.

Nagano, 1998

It was not going to be an easy four minutes.
She did not smile like she did
in Philadelphia; she was focused, and
she was thinking, and everyone could tell.
Her mind was working; and that wasn't the
idea of this long program.

Slowly but beautifully, she went about her work
"Opening triple lutz into double toe combination
She looks so confident and relaxed..."
she hung onto a jump seventy-five seconds
into the program--
"Triple flip--
she saved that one with one foot landing."
she ebbed and flowed
with her music.

"Thirty seconds left in her program
she has two triples left
this is one of them, the triple lutz
the hardest one in the program
and she does it beautifully!
On tired legs, bigger
than the one she did at the beginning
of the program on fresh legs--
Gorgeous position here."

She showed how strong she was
when her second triple lutz,
the most difficult jump any woman attempts,
was higher and more certain than the first
Olympic gold medals were won on such jumps.

She was slightly behind her music,
so her finishing pose--
her "Olympic moment,"
came one second too late, and not quite
at center ice; but no one in the arena noticed.
She was finished.

Kwan was spent. It was over. All the pressure,
the four years of building to that ending-
and she was done.
The first set of marks popped up:
5.7 5.7 5.8 5.7 5.8 5.8 5.7 5.7 5.8
Maybe she hasn't done it
The second marks popped up: all 5.9's
as spectacular as ever, but
what was with the 5.7s?
The girl lands seven triple jumps, fights
for the landing of just one of those jumps,
spins in two directions, and she gets 5.7s?
It was the perfect time
for Tara Lipinski to step onto the ice.

From the moment her music began
playing, Tara grabbed the judges
by the throat and all but yelled, Look at me!
She smiled and tore around the ice
and had a ball--she took the judges along
for quite a ride.

"One minute left in her program
Triple lutz here
YES! One jumping pass left
and it's so difficult.
Difficult for two reasons
One- it's a triple half loop triple combination
Second- it comes at three fifty six
in her long program
Triple toe loop.
Half loop.
Triple salchow."

When she hit her finishing pose
as close to the end of the music
as she had been all season--
she couldn't contain her joy.
What would the judges do?

Although skating had changed over the years
and the difference between gold and silver
wasn't as great as it once was,
when those numbers popped onto
the scoreboard in a few seconds,
they would forever change
the lives of two American teenagers.

"Tara Lipinski's program is more difficult
and the judges reward that difficulty.
5.9's. Oh my goodness."

Tara didn't look at the scores
she looked for the number of firsts that she won
Six.
Out of nine.

"She skates with incredible maturity
the second mark is coming up
this could do it
and it does!
Tara Lipinski upsets Michelle Kwan."

The 1998 Olympic gold medalist
leaped to her feet in joy.

Michelle's coach never saw the scores
He knew what Michelle had received
and he knew what he heard was better.
Oh shit, he said to no one. I guess
I've got to go tell Michelle.
He trudged down the hallway;
it was one of the longest walks in his
life. He found Michelle
She was with her mother; she was crying
He didn't have to tell her anything.

I wish there were two gold medals,
but it wouldn't mean as much
if there were two gold medals.