Michelle Kwan once said, “When I was younger, I always dreamed of being a legend, to be remembered in figure skating.” Kwan has been a champion since the beginning. She started figure skating when she was five years old (Kwan 7). She was born on July 7, 1980 in Southern California and has lived there her whole life (Ramback 16). Kwan has won many national, international, and world competitions. At the age of seven, Kwan knew that she wanted to become a champion (Kwan 18). Michelle Kwan is an inspirational U.S figure skater starting with her early life, to how she never gave up, and through her many awards. Ever since a young age, Kwan has always been a fierce, competitive figure skater. Kwan has two siblings, Karen, who was also a competitive …show more content…
Carroll started coaching Kwan and Karen when they were at the junior level. There are eight testing levels in figure skating. The levels are pre-preliminary, preliminary, pre-juvenile, juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior, and senior. In order to compete with the top skaters in the world, a skater needs to be at the senior level (Kwan 37, 33). When Kwan was at the junior level she was only eleven years old and was the youngest in her level. As a matter of fact, when Carroll started coaching Kwan he knew that she would be a star and become a champion. The first thing that she learned from Carroll was that you have to always keep going during a program and that you cannot give up after making a mistake (Kwan 44, 37, 42). Kwan was Carroll's perfect student and star skater (Brennan 132, 125). He also taught her how to smile and perform while she skated (Brennan 131). Kwan then moved up and started to compete with the best skaters in the world at the senior level. She started her senior career at the age of twelve and she was only four feet and nine inches tall (Kwan 47) (Ramback 20). Kwan made the decision to move up to the senior level on her own even though once you take the senior test you cannot go back to any of the earlier levels. Since she took her senior test without Carrol knowing, he was furious and did not talk to the Kwans for days because of it (Kwan 49). Kwan thought that she was ready and that she could …show more content…
Kwan has been a champion since the beginning of her career. She has won nine United States Figure Skating Championships (otherwise known as Nationals) at the senior level which is the most out of any United States figure skater (Milton 103). She won her titles in 1996 and from 1998-2005 (Michelle). She was fifteen years old when she won her first title (Ramback 7). Also, Kwan is the fourth youngest and the tenth oldest United States champion is history (Milton 101). She competed at her first United States Championships at the age of twelve in Phoenix, Arizona in 1993 at the junior level after winning Regionals and getting third at Sectionals. At her first Nationals she forgot to polish her skates, which is a very important thing to do at Nationals especially. Not only did she forget some major steps in competing at Nationals, but both of her programs were a mess and she ended up getting ninth place (Kwan 45). Kwan has earned a total of forty-two 6.0 marks at the United States Championships which is three times more than any other United States figure skater (Milton 103). A 6.0 mark was a perfect score from the judges up until 2004 when the federation changed the judging system. Not only did Kwan win many National Competitions, but she won many International Competitions as well. She has won a total of nine World Championship medals which are five gold, three silver, and one bronze (Milton 103). Kwan was
Who has the most awards? By far Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers have the most awards. Now figuring out who has the most awards between Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers is gonna be close. Mia Hamm was 19 years old when she won her first World Cup. Mia Hamm and Michelle Akers, both played on the same US Women’s national soccer team.
At fifteen, Misty Copeland won the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Award. Winning this big award brought her a lot of recognition. She began to audition for summer intensives, New York City Ballet being one of the many. New York City ballet rejected Copeland for “not having the right body type” and her teacher read the letter and bluntly said that copeland was really rejected for the color of her skin.
On 07/13/2016, Lupita called her supervisor, Robert Sowell to let him know that she was not going to be able to return from her lunch break because she received a call that her grandmother was in the hospital. After this, Lupita called –off every day for the next three (3) days.
Atticus Finch is a very important character in the book To Kill A Mockingbird. Atticus is the father of Jem and Scout Finch. Atticus is middle aged and has graying black hair, when he talks to people he treats them with lots of respect no matter what that person's race, age or background is like. Atticus is in one of the most important events that occurred in this book, he was the lawyer for Tom Robinson when Tom was accused of Raping Mayella Ewell. A theme that Atticus shows is courage. He defended Tom in court knowing that he would lose from the start but he fought hard to make him innocent. A quote that Atticus says that represents this is, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with
Gabby Douglas was the first African-American female gymnast in Olympic history to become the individual All-Around champion. In the 2012 Olympic Games, she won gold in the team competition and the individual competition. She is a gymnastics phenom. From the beginning of her career to where she is today, she has been a true trooper through everything. Gabrielle Douglas is an inspiration to me and many others because she overcame being homeless,moved in with a new family, and won Olympic gold in gymnastics.
Tony Hawk was a professional skateboarder that was helping Shaun White with skateboarding. When Shaun was finally 17 years old he turned into a pro. For snowboarding he was trained by a man named Burton. He made Shaun white a famous professional at snowboarding. He then started his career which was snowboarding after he turned pro in Burton's
Shawn Johnson, sixteen years old at the time, was the reigning world champion in the all-around competition and was only the fourth American woman to win the event. She managed to win the all-around again the next year and went on to win that same event at the Olympic Trials just two weeks later. Not only is Shawn a gifted athlete, but she is an exceptional role model. Shawn Johnson impacted the world of gymnastics, by inspiring athletes and other gymnasts to follow their dreams, by standing up against haters, and by believing it is okay to fail.
Jackie Joyner Kersee is one of the top female athletes in US history. Her story is inspirational. She showed that even if you do not have a lot of money you could still follow your dreams and reach your goals. Jackie was poor when she grew up but still went to school and graduated. She even went on to be in the Olympics. She is a true inspiration to all ages even if your eighty years old.
She was born on March 10,1977 and in Rolla, Missouri. She was known as one of the best fighting, and never giving up gymnast in Olympic history. At age 11 she won her first ever junior division meet. Miller was the first ever American female gymnast to qualify for all four individual events. She did pretty well, winning two silver medals in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. The same year of the 1992 Dream Team, which is known for having the best sports team ever gathered. The same Olympic events she won two silver medals, and three bronze medals. In the 1993 World Championship, she won gold medals in the three following events; in the floor, uneven bar, and all-around. The same year she repeated , and led the U.S. team to the silver event. In 1996 Olympic games at Atlanta, Miller one another gold medal. She officially retired in 2001 nad she earned her law degree at Boston College. In 2007 she established the " Shannon Miller Foundation'. The foundation was made to help with childhood obesity. Miller was inducted into the U.S Olympic Hall of Fame in 2006 and in 2008 she became a Hall of Famer for
"I quit" (Copeland 34). Those were the first words out of Misty Copeland's mouth as she walked out of her first ballet class when she was only thirteen years old (Copeland 34). This quote illustrates just how hard Misty Copeland has had to work to achieve the greatness she has accomplished. If one would watch Misty Copeland today he/she may not believe this. The clean lines along with the stretched fingers would leave the viewer to think she has been doing this her whole life. Copeland, being black, has had to overcome many barriers the common ballerina would normally not have to deal with. With her being only thirty-four years old, she has worked many stressful hours to earn her spot in today's dance world. She was born on September 10, 1982 and grew up with six siblings (Biography.com). She moved often during her childhood due to her mother having multiple boyfriends and husbands. Although her family did not stay in one place long, the one constant thing in her life has always been dance. Dance, being her only outlet in her life, enabled her to focus extremely hard on her training. Every decision she made revolved around her dance career, even at the age of thirteen. Her unstable childhood and life events may lead the reader to question: what qualities did Misty Copeland obtain that enabled her to become a significant person in the dance
On April 15,1947 Jackie Roosevelt Robinson broke the color barrier. When he stepped out on to Ebbets Field everyone didn't think he could last long. Jackie was born in Cairo Georgia on January 31,1919, he was the youngest out of five children. He attended John Muir High School. He continued his education at the University Of California, where he became the university’s first student to win four varsity letters in all different sports. In 1941, he was forced to leave UCLA because of financial hardship. Jackie played baseball, football, basketball and was on the track team. From 1942 to 1944, Jackie served as a
Seven of the local athletes won a total of eight national titles - all in field events or the pentathlon.
The early life of Misty Copeland were lots of living problems. She was born September 10,1982. She lived in a poor motel with 6 kids! Her mom had many boyfriends so they had to move constantly but they finally settled in San Pedro. She went to the Boys and Girls club after school every day. Cindy offered Misty to live with her so Misty lived with her. Misty became a better dancer from living with Cindy but her mom wanted her back so Misty was back living with her mom. Misty also started dance. When Misty was told that she had the perfect ballerina body she tried dance. She started dance at the age of 13. She started at the Boys and Girls club and eventually made her way to San Pedro Ballet. She
Twyla Tharp was born on July 1, 1941 in Portland, Indiana. She began taking dance in 1950 when she was nine years old. Her family moved to Rialto, California where she began taking lessons at the Vera Lynn School of Dance as a high school student. For college, Tharp attended Pamona College in California. She then transferred to Barnard College in New York City. She graduated from there in 1963 with a degree in art history. While in New York she studied under Richard Thomas, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham. In 1966, she formed her own company, Twyla Tharp Dance. In that company, she traveled around the world performing original works.
Henie went on to win the first of her three Olympic gold medals the next year. She also won six consecutive European championships from 1931 to 1936She fortified her Olympic titles in 1932 and in 1936, and her World titles annually until 1936.Henie's exceptional three Olympic gold medals haven't been matched by any ladies single skater since; neither are her achievements as ten-time consecutive World