WHO'D HAVE FIGURED? KWAN FALLS TO THIRD; HUGHES IS GOLDEN.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

SALT LAKE CITY - This is not the way we wanted to see her go. Deep brown eyes welling with tears. Fighting so hard to battle her disappointment. Acting heroic in defeat.

Michelle Kwan, one of the greatest skaters in history, deserved a fitting finale. A glorious last chapter, not another heartbreak.

Kwan is a four-time world champion. A six-time national champion. Maybe the most recognized figure skater of all time. A wonderful spokeswoman for her sport.

Only now her legacy will be what she didn't accomplish, the one thing she never won, what twice slipped so painfully away.

Olympic champion, it's what ultimately distinguishes, what stamps a great skater from a legendary one. What elevates a career.

It was there for her Thursday at the Delta Center, there once again to be taken. When Kwan skated onto the ice, an adoring crowd almost implored her toward a golden moment.

And she started well, looking confident and elegant, like the Kwan we've known for the past six years.

But then came the fall, and an entire crowd's breath was sucked out of the arena. Partly in disbelief, partly with instant sadness. A rushed triple-flip and it was over.

Kwan, the queen of her sport for nearly 10 years, beaten by yet another American teen-ager. Just as she had been upset four years ago at the Nagano Winter Olympics, Kwan's dream slipped away with a single slip of her skate.

Four years of waiting for her coronation, of denying how much it meant. For a final coronation that now would never come.

The crowd tried to bring her back, and if the rest of her program was near flawless, on a night when four young women were so close, it would not be enough.

When she completed her program, she put up the brave front. Blew kisses to the crowd, managed to smile.

Yet as she skated off the ice, she knew. Her father, Danny, wearing his now familiar leather jacket, greeted her and she sat clearly nervous as she awaited the scores.

The gold was now there for Russia's Irina Slutskaya, the final skater, to grasp. The same Slutskaya who had beaten Kwan in their past three competitions.

Twice Slutskaya slipped on her spins, her scores higher than Kwan's, but not enough to keep 16-year-old Sarah Hughes from stunning the field. Hughes, who was fourth after the short program and skating without the pressure of those ahead of her.

Who knows exactly what Kwan felt before she skated. Her career had been going sideways for the past several years. She had lost speed, they said. Her jumps weren't as high. Her career had peaked.

She battled the tremendous pressure without a coach, having dropped Frank Carroll, her coach of the past 10 years just four months before the Olympics and leaving her open to second-guessing with failure here.

Kwan had to settle again at the Winter Olympics, this time not even for silver, but bronze. Third place and Kwan, and it seemed so wrong.

``I heard the audience try to lift my spirits when they started clapping in the middle of the program,'' Kwan said. ``I made a few mistakes, but I kept on going strong. It just wasn't meant to be tonight.''

And she was fighting tears again. Now trying to win the battle of her emotions as she skated onto the ice for the medal ceremony. When she skated out first. Looking up from the podium at the big-eyed, beaming Hughes.

``I wanted Olympic gold,'' she said. ``I wanted to be put in the same category as Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill and Brian Boitano.

``I have to remind myself to keep my head up.''

So what now becomes of Michelle Kwan? She is 21, not too old to consider coming back in four years. But her skating leveled out a while ago, and what would four more years bring?

Hughes is now the new star of figure skating, and challenger Sasha Cohen - who finished fourth and may have won if not for a lone fall - is only 17. The next generation of female American skaters is in place. Kwan's time came, and left without the happy ending it demanded.

Kwan was noncommittal about her future in the post-competition press conference. She looked emotionally spent, sitting again without a coach.

Someone actually asked her whether she had a cold.

``My health is fine,'' she said. ``I was just crying.''

It was not the final image we wanted of Kwan. A legacy left incomplete.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Sarah Hughes of the United States receives the gold medal Thursday as bronze medalist and fellow U.S. skater Michelle Kwan watches.

Amy Sancetta/Associated Press

(2) Southland skating icon Michelle Kwan slips up during Thursday's free skating program en route to her bronze medal at the Winter Olympics.

Doug Mills/Associated Press