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Billie Jean King, Michelle Kwan and Grammy winner Sheryl Crow. (Getty Images)

By Linda Przygodski

(10/16/2007) - Michelle Kwan, the most decorated figure skater in US history, was honored Monday evening by the Women's Sports Foundation. Kwan received the Billie Jean King Contribution Award at the Foundation's 28th Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

"I am a firm believer that an active lifestyle has a positive effect on girls and women," said the champion athlete. "I became involved with the Women's Sports Foundation because it shares my belief and is a force for creating new, far-reaching programs," stated Kwan about being honored with the prestigious award for outstanding contributions to women's sports.

While Kwan still skates professionally, in 2006 U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named her America's first Public Diplomacy Envoy. In this capacity, Kwan travels the world and meets with young people to speak about leadership and to engage them in dialogue on social and educational issues.

In her career, Kwan has won 43 championships, including five world championships, eight consecutive and nine overall U.S. national championships and two Olympic medals. In 2003 she earned her seventh U.S. Figure Skating Skater of the Year award; she is the only multiple winner of the award. With that, U.S. Figure Skating renamed the award in her honor, now called the Michelle Kwan Trophy.