Michelle Kwan Figure skater Age: 17 Birthplace: Torrance, California Residence: Lake Arrowhead, California Height & Weight: 5-feet-2, 98 pounds Events: Ladies singles Kwan was practically born with skates on (1 MB Quick Time)

A stunning fall from grace last year could have spelled the end of Michelle Kwan's promising figure skating career.

Kwan's climb back to the top really started after her failure in the short program had placed her fourth at the Worlds.

"I remember I was in tears and I didn't know what had happened in the short program," says Kwan. "I was tying my shoelace and my hand slipped and I hit my face and started laughing. I was like, `This is ridiculous. Why am I crying about something that anybody could've done?' And then I was thinking about Scott Hamilton [who is fighting cancer] and what he's going through and what he must be thinking. I mean I realized that nothing really matters except life. And skating is just an itty, bitty part of your life."

Kwan won the free skate, vaulted to second -- and her rebound already had started.

"On the medal podium, I had tears in my eyes," says Kwan. "It wasn't disappointment because I was second. It was because I did it. I pulled myself together. I came through it."

Kwan, now 17, is by now a veteran of skating's tough breaks.

At 13, she was second to Tonya Harding at the 1994 U.S. Championships and was training for the Lillehammer Games when the Nancy Kerrigan-Harding debacle came to a head. Kerrigan was given an injury waiver after being smacked on the knee at the U.S. Championships, and Harding was allowed to compete in the Lillehammer Games despite questions about her role in the assault. Kwan was left out in the cold.

Her longtime coach, Frank Carroll, said he has prepared Michelle to rebound from such disappointment.

"From the first time Michelle skated, her family and I have impressed on Michelle that there will be times when she's on top of the world and times when she's not," he said. "And you better be able to take the good with the bad or you're really in the wrong sport and you're in the wrong business."

Kwan has played different characters in her free skate, from the biblical temptress Salome to Mumtaz Mahal, the Indian empress for whom the Taj Mahal was named.

She will not play a character in the Olympics, electing instead to skate her short program to excerpts from Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto Number Three," used in the movie "Shine."

"We think of the short program as a declaration of war," says Carroll. "It's where you get out there and say, `This is what you're up against!' so we want it to be very strong and exciting. The second program is designed to show the joy of skating and beauty of skating. It doesn't have a theme like her previous programs. It's just about loving skating."

Her free skate is to music called "Lyra Anjelica," or "Angel's Song." Kwan does not plan on throwing a triple Axel into the program (only retired skaters Midori Ito and Harding have ever completed the 3-1/2 rotation jump), but Kwan's triple toe, triple-toe combination has been upgraded to a triple Lutz, triple-toe combination.

It is a response to teammate and rival Tara Lipinski's triple loop, triple-loop combination. Lipinski was the one who unseated Kwan in 1997. Lipinski was second at the '98 nationals and, along with Nicole Bobeck, will comprise the U.S. entry.

Kwan's parents emigrated from Hong Kong in 1971 and have given much of their life to making sure their daughters have been able to skate (Michelle has an older sister, Karen, who was seventh at the 1997 U.S. Championships). They sold their house and a restaurant they owned in Torrance, California, to move to Lake Arrowhead, California, to train.

Now, Michelle is on the verge of making history.

"It's a great pleasure for me as a coach to sit back and look at her new program and sort of wonder at it," says Carroll, "like how it came about from a little girl who was a jumping jack and did all these triples when she was 12, and was quick and cute and all of that. And the she turned into this musical wonder to me. It's a real rewarding feeling to me to watch her skate the way she can."

Each day during the Olympics, CNN/SI will bring you TNT's Athlete of the Day, a detailed look at the personalities that spice up the Games. Check back every day for a new athlete, and be sure to catch TNT's daily in-depth coverage of the Winter Olympics.

Athletes of the Day

• February 20 - KC Boutiette • February 19 - Alberto Tomba • February 18 - Michelle Kwan • February 17 - Eric Bergoust • February 16 - Todd Lodwick • February 15 - Kirstin Holum • February 14 - Thorpe/Sheer • February 13 - Masahiko Harada • February 12 - Todd Eldredge • February 11 - Elvis Stojko • February 10 - Donna Weinbrecht • February 9 - The Forsbergs • February 8 - Picabo Street • February 7 - Cammi Granato • February 6 - Tommy Moe

Watch TNT's coverage of the Winter Olympics!