TORINO, Italy — The princess doesn't always get the golden tiara.
Sometimes, the Olympic script takes a twist.
Michelle Kwan, five-time world champion and nine-time U.S. champion, pulled out of the Torino Olympics early Sunday, citing a groin injury suffered Saturday in practice.
The 25-year-old Californian now must face the cold reality that after chasing a dream for two decades, scripting her life for that one spine-tingling moment atop the Olympic medal podium, she will probably never win the one prize she so craved.
Kwan will go down in history as the best figure skater never to have won an Olympic gold medal.
She is her sport's Dan Marino and Jim Kelly, Hall of Famers without Super Bowl championship rings.
Twice Kwan led going into the long program at the Olympics. Twice she lost to fearless American teeny-boppers, in 1998 to 15-year-old Tara Lipinski, and in 2002 to 16-year-old Sarah Hughes.
Emily Hughes, younger sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes, replaced Kwan on the U.S. team and will join national champion Sasha Cohen and Kimmie Meissner. The women's competition doesn't begin until Feb. 21, and Hughes plans to spend a few days at home in Great Neck, N.Y., and in school before leaving for Torino.
"It was fair that Michelle had all the opportunities to make the Olympic team," said Hughes, who finished third at the U.S. national championships last month but was bumped after Kwan got a medical bye onto the Olympic team. "It's unfortunate that she was injured."
Kwan knew something was wrong Saturday when she botched a triple flip. She felt a pull in her groin. She tried the jump again and fell. She cut her practice short.
As the day went on, the pain intensified.
By 2 a.m., she couldn't stand the agony any longer. She met with Dr. Jim Moeller in the Athletes Village. After examining her, he diagnosed an acute groin or adductor strain and recommended she withdraw.
"I don't believe I can be at 100 percent and I respect the Olympics too much," she said Sunday, her eyes brimming with tears. "It's always been a dream to win the Olympics. . . . My parents are here, they arrived last night and they always want me to be happy, for their baby to win the gold and make my dreams come true. But I have no regrets. I tried my hardest. And if I don't win the gold, it's OK. I've had a great career. I've been very lucky. This is a sport, and it's beautiful."
Kwan said she planned to leave Torino immediately.
"It's all about the U.S. bringing the best team and I don't want to be in the way of that," she said. "I don't want to be a distraction."
It is that kind of grace that makes Kwan a favorite in corporate boardrooms, with or without the gold medal. Her longtime agent, Shep Goldberg, said that while winning a gold certainly was Kwan's lifelong goal, it would not have had a profound effect on her Q Rating.
"It didn't make a difference in '98 when she won silver; it didn't make a difference in 2002 when she got bronze, and it's not going to make a difference this time, either," Goldberg said. "Michelle's character, class and integrity are what make her what she is, not the color of her medals."
Goldberg pointed out that during the past year, while Kwan was struggling with a hip injury, she signed new endorsement deals with Coca-Cola, VISA, AT&T and East West Bank. She was Coca-Cola's lead Olympic athlete in the 2006 ad plans, and her image is plastered on promotions for Dasani water and Minute Maid, both Coca-Cola products.
Though the groin injury isn't career-threatening, Kwan wouldn't speculate on her future, saying, "I can't think past right now." But the Olympic silver and bronze medalist will be 29 during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and a gold is highly unlikely.
For all the talk about Bode Miller, Apolo Anton Ohno, Chad Hedrick and Jeremy Bloom, no one owned the spotlight at these Games like Kwan — even if she was here only four days.
"Michelle Kwan means more to the United States Olympic Committee than maybe any athlete that's ever performed," USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth said. "She's been a leader, she's been gracious, she's somebody that cares for so many youngsters that are training in our country.
"She's a real loss to all of the United States Olympic Committee and to the United States of America, and I think to the world. She's made a courageous decision."
Kwan leaped into the figure skating consciousness 13 years ago, when two months before her 12th birthday, without telling her coach, she took — and passed — the senior level test that would allow her to skate "against the big guys."
In 1993, at age 12, she finished sixth at the U.S. nationals. That summer, she won the Olympic Festival. And in 1994, the ponytailed jumper finished second to Tonya Harding at the U.S. Olympic trials but did not get to compete in Lillehammer because Nancy Kerrigan was granted a medical waiver. Kerrigan had been whacked in the knee by Harding's hired hands and was unable to compete at nationals. Kwan attended the Olympics as an alternate.
But the real coming of age for Kwan was the 1995-96 season. In an effort to look more mature and artistic, she unveiled a dramatic "Salome" program, in which she wore heavy makeup for the first time and played the part of a seductress. Her youthful ponytail was tucked into a more sophisticated braided bun. Her artistry wowed the judges, who awarded her two perfect 6.0 scores and the world title.
Then, at the 1998 nationals, coming off an injury, she dazzled again. Of 18 possible marks, she got 15 perfect 6.0s.
As her skating evolved, so did her personality and her fan base.
"We've all watched her grow up and we bought into her dream," said Sandra Bezic, former Canadian Olympian, choreographer and NBC commentator. "We were all hoping for the fairy-tale ending. We wanted it to be written differently. It's just so sad. She is so loved."
Added Scott Hamilton, NBC commentator and former Olympic champion: "Walk a mile in those shoes. You can't. I mean for me personally, from '80 to '84 was a lifetime to wait for my chance at Olympic gold. She waited from '94 to '98, '98 to 2002, 2002 to 2006, with the eyes of the world being on her as an icon of the sport, being a nine-time U.S. champion, five-time world champion, two-time Olympic medalist.
"She's probably the most significant athlete at these Olympic Games. And so for her to pull out is a gigantic story."
But Bezic believes Kwan's legacy is not tarnished by her inability to win a gold medal.
"She won so many gold medals at worlds, so many perfect scores over the years. The Olympic gold would have been gravy and completed the dream for her. But I'm not sure the public needed for her to do it. If you ask any skater from my era who was the best, a lot of us would say Janet Lynn, and she never won gold. We don't care. That's not what makes a great skater. Michelle was so elegant in all she did, on and off the ice. She's probably the best skater never to win a gold, and she leaves behind an amazing legacy."
Faced with the loss of its biggest Winter Olympics star only two days into the Games, NBC tried to keep Kwan in Torino — in the broadcast booth. But she turned down the job offer, NBC Sports spokesman Michael McCarley said Sunday.
Kwan's withdrawal will most hurt NBC in attracting casual viewers who might not have watched much Olympics coverage otherwise — the type of person who transforms something merely popular into a television event, said Marc Berman, television analyst for Media Week Online.
The opening ceremony was seen by 22.8 million people on Friday — half the number of viewers for the opening of the Salt Lake City Games four years ago.
"Nobody expected them to do 45 million again," Berman said. "To lose about half the audience — that's big. That's dangerous. That's very dangerous."
NBC rebounded Saturday, when its viewership went up to 23.6 million people on what is usually the least-watched night of the week on television. It was still below the 29.4 million who watched the second night of Salt Lake City, but higher than Nagano eight years ago.
Contributing: Linda Robertson, Knight Ridder Newspapers; John Henderson, The Denver Post; Nancy Armour and David Bauder, Associated Press