icenetwork.com

Rachael Flatt with former rhythmic gymnast and past president of the Women's Sports Foundation, Wendy Hilliard. (Lois Elfman)

By Lois Elfman, special to icenetwork.com

(10/14/2009) - Things happened fast and furious on the red carpet at the Women's Sports Foundation's Annual Salute to Women in Sports held last night at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. But, icenetwork.com managed to squeeze in a few questions with two famous figure skaters.

Michelle Kwan beamed while recounting her first performance in more than three years, which took place in Korea this past summer. She skated to "Winter Song" by Sara Bareilles with Ingrid Michaelson, which I admitted is a song I absolutely love.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Kwan said. "My sister choreographed that. It was so nice working with my sister [Karen Kwan Oppegard]. I was thinking about that as we were choreographing. That song was something we both enjoyed."

A video clip of Kwan's performance hit the Internet within hours and soon Bareilles was posting her appreciation on Twitter. "She said something like, 'Michelle Kwan danced to my music,' and 'I am bloated with love.' She immediately heard. That's technology for you, right?" said Kwan.

She described her comeback as emotional. "But such a great feeling," she noted. After finishing her undergraduate degree at the University of Denver last fall, Kwan got back on the ice to see if she could get her jumps back.

"It was a challenge for me because I'd stopped skating, stopped jumping, stopped everything," she said.

"To be back on the ice, and to be in front of an audience and to have my sister choreograph a program was wonderful," she added. Although Karen had previously helped her with little details and accents in programs, this was the first time she'd choreographed a complete program for Kwan.

Kwan said her right hip, on which she had surgery in 2006, is in great shape.

"I'm healthy and I'm back on the ice. Now I don't have as much time as I would like because I'm in grad school," she said.

Kwan is currently enrolled in a two-year master's program at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston.

"It's an amazing program with 40 percent international students," she said. "You learn from the students as well as the professors. The classes that I'm taking are so what I love."

After Kwan took off, Rachael Flatt made her way down the red carpet. She was a little overwhelmed by all the woman-power in attendance.

"I'm incredibly inspired and motivated," Flatt said. "All these women have accomplished so much. During the rehearsal earlier today I was listening to all the accomplishments and thinking, 'Oh my gosh.' It was inspiring and incredible."

Flatt's two Grand Prix assignments are Cup of China and Skate America. While getting ready, she's also juggling some serious schoolwork. She's taking "just four" advanced placement courses this semester: AP English Literature, AP Physics, AP Calculus and AP French.