Michelle Kwan

Former Olympic figure skater and five-time world champion Michelle Kwan married Clay Pell on Saturday in Providence, R.I. Pell is director for strategic planning on the national security staff at the White House. The ceremony was attended by about 200 people, including Olympic champions Brian Boitano, Dick Button and Dorothy Hamill, People.com reports . At the wedding, "You could feel the love Michelle and Clay have for each other," a guest told People.com. "They are truly a perfect match.

Former Olympic figure skater and five-time world champion Michelle Kwan married Clay Pell on Saturday in Providence, R.I. Pell is director for strategic planning on the national security staff at the White House. The ceremony was attended by about 200 people, including Olympic champions Brian Boitano, Dick Button and Dorothy Hamill, People.com reports . At the wedding, "You could feel the love Michelle and Clay have for each other," a guest told People.com. "They are truly a perfect match.

Former figure skater Michelle Kwan announced that she is engaged to marry Clay Pell, a member of the White House's national security staff. "It was a simple decision and it made sense," Kwan, 32, told People magazine . Wow, that sounds so romantic. Kwan, 32, won nine U.S. figure-skating championships, five world championships and two Olympic medals before retiring in 2005. Pell, 30, proposed on Sept. 3 on Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island. The couple first met in April 2011.

Former figure skater Michelle Kwan announced that she is engaged to marry Clay Pell, a member of the White House's national security staff. "It was a simple decision and it made sense," Kwan, 32, told People magazine . Wow, that sounds so romantic. Kwan, 32, won nine U.S. figure-skating championships, five world championships and two Olympic medals before retiring in 2005. Pell, 30, proposed on Sept. 3 on Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island. The couple first met in April 2011.

Sarah Hughes skated brilliantly and deserved to win (Feb. 22), but when Michelle Kwan stood on the podium I thought her bronze medal looked gold. Maybe it was the gold from Michelle's heart shining through. She will always be an Olympic champion! J. Tucker Davis Salt Lake City

Leaning against the cinder-block wall of a small locker room, their skates at their feet, the two women chatted as if they had been friends all their lives. They talked of small things and big dreams, of dreams delayed or denied and entwined in the thread that united them at East West Ice Palace in Artesia last week.

Michelle Kwan's magnificent figure skating career will end without an Olympic gold medal. The Torrance native, a nine-time U.S. champion, five-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist, announced Friday she will not compete in the 2009-10 season. That means she won't be in Vancouver in February to try to add a gold medal to the silver she won in 1998 and the bronze she won in 2002. In a statement released by U.S.

No matter what happens, Michelle Kwan is Olympic material. She and her family deserve gold medals for graciousness and good sportsmanship. As the bizarre events unfold, the 13-year-old Torrance figure skater may yet strut her triple jumps and double axels on the Olympic ice rink in Lillehammer, Norway. But whatever the outcome, why was Kwan asked to step aside? Earlier this month, Kwan competed in Detroit, Mich. at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, which served as the Olympic trials.

From the time she won her first figure skating competition, Michelle Kwan has had one wish. "When I was younger, I always wanted to be remembered as a legend," she said. "Not necessarily for the number of medals, but just to be remembered as someone who made an impact on figure skating and left a lasting impression. Someone who made it better." Kwan, who heads a stellar cast in "Champions on Ice" today at the Arrowhead Pond, has made a remarkable impression, and continues to do so.

There are three words that give one pause when spoken by Danny Kwan. "Michelle, you drive." Then he hands his recently-licensed daughter the keys to the family's Toyota van, climbs into the seat on the passenger's side and gives a visitor a buckle-your-seat-belts smile. This short trip, from the Ice Castle International rink where Michelle Kwan trains at Lake Arrowhead to the quaint village for lunch, should not be an adventure.

About 225 people on Wednesday swept into the White House for a "quintessentially American" state dinner honoring Chinese President Hu Jintao. As tradition dictates, President Obama and Hu exchanged toasts. Obama saluted the people of both countries. "May they grow together in friendship. May they prosper together in peace. And may they realize their dream of the future for themselves, for their children and for their grandchildren," he said. Hu raised his glass to a "stronger friendship between the people of China and the United States" and the "steady growth of China-U.

New York City visitors can cut a fine figure on the Ice Rink at Rockefeller Center , which opened over the weekend for the 2010-11 winter season. But if you don’t want to travel so far to pretend you’re Michelle Kwan or Scott Hamilton, just wait a few weeks: "Downtown on Ice" at Pershing Square will open next month in Los Angeles and will run through Jan. 17.   Yes, I  know New York City’s rink is more famous—and offers more appropriate ice skating weather.

When her peers at the Fletcher School of International Relations at Tufts University would ask Michelle Kwan what she does outside the classroom, she'd say she used to be a figure skater. If they pressed her for details she had a standard response. "I'm like, 'I was OK. I went to the Olympics,' " she said. "They don't know that side of my life. They see me doing presentations on North Korea and talking about Kim Jong Il. " After decades of performing the gravity-defying jumps and dazzling spins that lifted her to nine U.S. championships, five world titles and silver and bronze Olympic medals, the Torrance native is building a fascinating second career as a budding expert on North Korea's dictator and other weighty matters.

Michelle Kwan was a 13-year-old whose parents were trying to scrape up money for her skating when Yankees owner George Steinbrenner stepped up to the plate. Kwan, who became the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history, never would meet Steinbrenner, who died Tuesday at age 80. But she still has the "wicked cool" Yankees jacket Steinbrenner sent in response to her thank-you letter for his $10,000 contribution to her funding in the fall of 1993. "He was like an angel to come and help us," Kwan said Tuesday.

About seven hours after learning her mother had died unexpectedly, Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette , the reigning world silver medalist, showed her resolve to compete in the Olympics as planned by coming to her scheduled Sunday afternoon practice at the Pacific Coliseum. "Joannie is a very courageous person," said her teammate Cynthia Phaneuf . "Just to be there at practice, I was very impressed. She is going to get through this. "I think she is doing the right thing.

If only the Winter Olympics had a polar bear swim event -- then we could send Michael Phelps, and everyone from the Wheaties account managers to the "Got Milk?" ad reps could take a deep cleansing breath. It's too late for NBC, of course, where beleaguered executives have jettisoned the First Commandment of the entertainment industry -- Thou Shalt Not Acknowledge Failure and Certainly Not Before It Has Cometh. For weeks, the network has been whining that it will lose $250 million by airing the games because host city Vancouver is struggling to produce enough snow, and the United States, lacking for the first time in years a high wattage figure skater, is struggling to produce a star.

With five world figure skating titles, seven U.S. titles and Olympic silver and bronze medals to her credit, Torrance native Michelle Kwan is in elite company. But this summer, she's just another student toting books around UCLA. The 23-year-old South Bay resident, who this year matched Carol Heiss' record for most world championships by a female U.S. skater, returned to the classroom after several years' absence.

As U.S. figure skater Michelle Kwan takes to the ice in pursuit of Olympic glory today and Friday, viewers around the world will finally have answers to their long-awaited questions: How well did Kwan skate? Did she land the triple lutz that cost her the world championship last year? And, as if this were prom night instead of the Olympics, what did she wear? Few people understand the importance of that last question better than Mare Talbot.

Michelle Kwan's magnificent figure skating career will end without an Olympic gold medal. The Torrance native, a nine-time U.S. champion, five-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist, announced Friday she will not compete in the 2009-10 season. That means she won't be in Vancouver in February to try to add a gold medal to the silver she won in 1998 and the bronze she won in 2002. In a statement released by U.S.

Most of the coverage of the World Figure Skating Championships this week at Staples Center has been hidden away on the Oxygen Network where even the most ardent of fans have had trouble locating the broadcasts. But finally, on Saturday for the women's finals, Channel 4 is taking the broadcast and bringing out the stars.