Jim: I see that below I’m credited with jinxing Michelle Kwan. I can’t take the credit. Her most recent cosmic injustice, a groin injury knocking her out of this year’s games, is simply the latest chapter in a tale of remarkable talent and drive, taking her almost all the way to the top… and then stumbling on the last step. She’s the Sisyphus of athletics, the Buffalo Bills of figure skating. Had she just won the gold her first time out, she would have been just another champion. Now she stands out as a living example that you can have all the talent in the world, and sometimes, the fates are just against you.

Year in, year out, she proves she’s among the most talented in the sport, winning World Championship after World Championship, the media adores her… and yet, when she is put on the stage for the ultimate goal in her sport, time and time again something goes wrong. She’s a tragic hero.

“In a remarkable display of bad luck, Michelle Kwan was seconds away from clinching her first Olympic gold medal when she was struck by lightning.”