Emily Hughes

[ninian '72]

[quote Trotsky]Lots of blather all day on the sports radio circuit about the supposed grand gesture of Kwan stepping aside.  I thought the whole operetta across as a cynical effort to pump up NBC's ratings and that quitting rather than embarrass yourself is hardly worthy of the accolades of sportsmanship (it would have been truly sporting to just accept that you weren't going in the first place rather than accept a manufactured dispensation), but I've never cared for Kwan anyway.[/quote]

An interesting angle to all this is that the injury had to be diagnosed as a new one, not just a flare-up of the previous one.  Otherwise, the U.S. would not have been allowed substitute Emily Hughes, because Kwan would have been ineligible. Who knows what was really going on, but sounds like the USOC was on a thin edge right from the start of the Kwan appeal.  Personally, I think Hughes was screwed, but it's worked out for her in the end, and she's shown terrific poise and tact in dealing with the still sordid politics of her sport.

[Erica]

She fell on a triple flip in practice and [re] injured her groin. Either way, Emily should be preparing herself as an alternate.