But was Michelle truly a contender in Torino?

I was very surprised when she petitioned the USFSA to enter Olympics in the first place. Michelle did not skate in the Grand Prix series this year and she has been pretty much absent from the international scene altogether. Non-skaters might think that doesn't matter, after all if she could pull it together for Olympics isn't that all that matters? And what's more... on her worst day she has a better shot than Emily and Kimmie right?

Well, the problem is that skating is about consistency. Skaters must practice and compete their programs over and over in order to have a prayer of doing it for the BIG EVENT. You always skate at your lowest ability when you compete your program. At competitions, warm ups are too short and practice ice is all too rare. You never compete how you practice. The trick is for your program to become muscle memory so that you can do it in your sleep--and hit every jump. How can Michelle have done that without really skating all year?

We'll never know if Michelle could have pulled it together and made it sufficiently through her long program. She certainly has proven in the past that she can pull it together when it counts. If the sport were speed skating, I would have believed she could do it at age 26. But Figure Skating is so much more like ballet--it requires young limber muscles and nerves of steel, both of which wane as you hit your 20's. That is just the way it is.

So we all must say farewell to the true Queen of Figure Skating and look forward to watching her other endeavors. I'm not at all sad for her because she has had tremendous success in a sport where that type of staying power is unheard of. I look forward to the bright stars of the future. It is surely Sasha's time, Kimmie and Emily will gather experience for 2010 and by then new stars will be on the horizon like Alissa Cizney and the many great novice-level skaters out there in rinks across America.