Originally Posted by
GinnySmith
Well, it always amazes me how the media picked apart every move of Michelle and when Sasha or Sarah or Tara do likewise, they were/are never called on it.
A few examples (there are more):
--Sasha's revolving door policy on coaches, which always sends her back to Nicks, as far as I recall, was always characterized as "switching coaches" (clap on/clap off) for good reasons to improve certain aspects of her skating, butt the "fired" word never came up. However, when Michelle left Frank, fired was about the only word used to describe the split by EVERYBODY.
-1998 Michelle remains in the US to give her broken toe a chance to heal as much as possible, skips the opening ceremonies and doesn't stay in the village. So when she was given the silver medal instead of the Gold that IMO she deserved, the press portrays her participation in the games as a "business trip for the Kwans" and many articles imply that somehow that was to "blame" for the outcome. :sarcastic
Come 2002, nobody seemed to care about any of this regarding Sasha and Sarah. I don't remember exactly how it went, but one or both flew in for the opening ceremonies and promptly left to go practice elsewhere for a week. Oh, except Michelle was there for the entire 2 weeks and in the Costas interview, he brought up 1998 and gave Michelle the 3rd degree about why she was handling it differently in 2002, as if there was something sinister in her motives. However, he didn't seem to care about any of this bunk when came to Sarah/Sasha. Oh, and on top of that, not much was made of Sarah skipping the closing ceremonies in 2002, allegedly because she was so sick she couldn 't and yet a day later seemed fine at the Wheaties Box press conference.
--In 2006, Michelle got crucified by many in the press as "Cruella De Kwan" for daring to ask for an injury by. According to those guys, big bad, mean Michelle had no business and should step aside and give Emily a chance. When asked, even Peggy Fleming expressed the opinion that Michelle shouldn't go. Fast forward to 2010 and nobody bats an eye that Sasha stopped competing for the last 4 years and shows up only for the one event that is essential if she wants to get to the Olympics.
--2002 Nationals-Sasha was very lucky that no one was injured as a result of her shameless stalking of the other skaters during practices and warm-ups. It all gets excused in one way or the other (because she was so "young", too focused, or merely clueless about her surroundings)...Nope, I don't like her because of that and never will. Am I being negative about Sasha???? Absolutely YES! Because IMO, to quote kwanette, "It is so well deserved."
Finally, please know that I don't give a rusty hoot about whether the athletes stay in the Olympic Village, attend opening and closing ceremonies, or change coaches to get additional perspectives and different approaches. It is the choice of the athlete. HOWEVER, I do give a rusty hoot that Michelle was always "accused, criticized, and abused" for her choices and that the same behavior in other athletes is completely ignored. It is the double standard that really ticks me off. :P