Michelle Kwan will be covering the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, for the new Fox Sports 1 channel. Kwan, a two-time Olympic medalist, has taken on the sports anchor role before, covering some events during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics for ABC, but she looks forward to the unique opportunity to join Fox Sports 1 (FS1) in it’s formative phase.
“I also like the idea they are launching FS1 this month, and I will be able to be a part of it and see it take shape and form. And also, if I have some sort of ideas how I want to report the Olympics, I will have that freedom to do it,” Kwan said.
Fox is not a rights holder for the Olympics; NBC will be carrying the games in the United States. Kwan said she will not be covering the games as NBC does, but rather providing more insider stories. “Reporting and story-telling is what they want, so for me it will [be] interesting to kind of let the public know about the stories of athletes, or their perspectives on the Olympics,” Kwan said.
Kwan, whose last Olympic appearance as a figure skater in 2006 was cut short by an injury, adjusted to life on the sidelines when she covered the 2010 Olympics.
“I always get nervous watching friends and people that I know skate,” Kwan told TVGuide.com in February 2010. “I want them to do well, but it’s fun and exciting to be in Vancouver as a spectator now. When I was competing, I saw pretty much the village, the rink and the practice rink. Or physical therapy. That was my extent of the Olympics. Now I get to see a whole new side of the Olympics that I missed out on when I was competing.”
She told TVGuide that being at the Olympics brought back memories, but did not rekindle a desire to take part.
Kwan won a silver medal in 1998 and a bronze in 2002. “No, I wasn’t No. 1, and no, I didn’t bring home the gold, but I’m very, very happy. I’m very, very privileged that I won the silver and bronze,” she told TVGuide. “It’s not like a feeling of, ‘Ugh!’ anger, but it’s like, ‘Oh, bummer! So close!’ But life goes on.”
When she stopped competing, she completed her education with a degree in international studies at the University of Denver and a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She has been working as a senior adviser for public diplomacy and public affairs at the U.S. State Department.
In an interview published by Secrets to Your Success, a publication supported by the University of Phoenix, on Friday, Kwan commented on her transition from athlete to diplomat: “For 21 years, I dedicated myself to one thing only...figure skating. How am I going to find something that I love as much? You can’t find a job that when they say your name or when you walk into the office...applause, applause, applause.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
