Certainly athletes want to win gold medals at the Olympics, there's no doubt about that. But for true fans, the Olympic gold is not the measure of greatness. That title really only matters to marketing gurus.

Tara Lipinski was great at one competition. It just happened to be the Olympics. And for that, ad writers, skating promoters and sports writers will always refer to her as an Olympic champion to remind of us her one great performance. But millions of skaters, fans and supporters, Michelle Kwan's hundreds of breathtaking performances are far more meaningful and historical than the two times she wasn't perfect.

From a technical perspective, her skating is as near to perfect as any skater in modern history - from her in-air jump positions to her spins, footwork and artistry. No medal, or lack of one, will change her legacy to the sport of figure skating.

1. Any truly great individual or team in a sport will be included in a video game of their respective sport (typically as an unlockable bonus team or character).

2. It is reasonable to assume that a figure skating video game (both now and in the future) would include Kwan.

3. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that Kwan is a truly great figure skater.

e.g. early 90s Buffalo Bills (great team, no super bowl), and 50s Hungarian national soccer (great team, no world cup) have been included in their sport's respective video games as unlockable "greats".

QED.

"Marino was a selfish hack who never learned the skills that emphasized his teammates instead of himself, like handing off well."

This is so ridiculous I'd like to think its writer is making a bad joke. Except I don't really think so. Memo to NFL coaches: if your team's running game is struggling, don't waste a draft pick on a young running back or O-lineman, and certainly don't waste valuable practice time working with the O-line on run blocking. Just focus on teaching your QB how to hand off well and everything will be OK. Really, it's a miracle that Marino made the Hall of Fame with that appalling hand-off technique.

King's point with respect to comparing Kwan to Marino and Williams is valid not only because of the almost singular focus on the Olympics in certain sports, but also because of the contrast between team and individual sports. Notwithstanding his poor handing off technique, there is no doubt that Marino was hamstrung throughout his career by a poor running game and some atrocious defense (dirty little secret: Marino was also a terrible tackler and couldn't cover a wide receiver for shit), and Williams had the misfortune of playing a sport in which he was only allowed to bat once out of every nine times. Michelle Kwan has only herself to blame for her failures and can revel in her successes wihout sharing any glory. Such is the fate of the athlete in an individual sport.

I don't really know that much about figure skating. Like a lot of guys, I will watch it during the Olympics when it is also on during the same broadcast of other sports I enjoy a great deal more. Since I don't follow this "sport," I have to believe everyone when they say how "classy" and "elegant" and "great" Michelle Kwan is. But the fact of the matter is, she really screwed over Emily Hughes.

King, you are correct when you say that replacing Kwan with Hughes was a "wrong righted" but because Kwan selfishly put herself on a pedestal and petitioned for a "secret" skating session with a few guys from the USOC (who, I am sure, were not possibly motivated by TV ratings or Kwan's status as Olympic celebrity). That secret session eventually led to Kwan making the team and the person that beat her was made to stay at home. Emily Hughes wasn't allowed to attend the opening ceremonies, a spectacle that, to all appearances, seems like an integral part of the games to so many athletes. She wasn't allowed to be with the team, she had her training regimen disrupted and now has to find a way out of the east coast of the United States when all airports have been recently shut down because of a mammoth blizzard.

So, because Kwan could not gracefully accept that time destroys athletic careers, she used her influence to get a few guys to kick off the competitor that rightfully beat her when it was supposed to have counted. As a result, Emily Hughes, who is truly innocent of anything in this whole drama, was not able to wring every last drop out of what could be her only Olympic experience. She now has to get to Turin and force her way through jet lag to train for a competition at a frazzled and greatly truncated pace nobody else in the tournament has to accept.

I don't pretend to know just how complicit Kwan was in all of this and I do not mean to say that she is a bad person. But it appears that this act of selfishness will not only hurt Kwan's legacy, but also the chances of Emily Hughes and the United States of getting a medal.

Gavin Fritton

The defining fact of Kwan's career is that she won nine national and five world championships. How many athletes in any sport can say that?

Lipinski and Sarah Hughes are both younger than Kwan, yet both are out of competitive skating. Kwan is a veteran in a sport in which one is old at 18.

Give me her class and poise over the T.O.'s and Artests any day. She embodies the true spirit of athletics at a time when most star athletes won't even show up for a Super Bowl if they don't get paid.

Many years ago I read an article by a guy named Lewis Grossberger, who had a column in Adweek called Media Person, about the winter Olympics. The two points I remember were: (1) Luge can't be a sport because you can't tell if the person is doing it on purpose, and (2) Downhill skiing is nothing special becasue ANYONE can ski downhill, but uphill skiing would be interesting. He also mentioned that luge would be more fun if they all went down at once. Are you listening, X-Games?