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Smilin' Emily Hughes Makes Turin Debut
2006-02-17
It only took a few Olympic moments before someone called Emily Hughes by the wrong name. "I'm Emily," she quickly corrected the questioner who addressed her as Sarah during a news conference Friday. The rest of the audience laughed -- and Hughes shrugged it off, as she always does. Sarah is the other Hughes these days. Sure, she won a gold medal at the 2002 Olympics. But now it's her sister in the figure skating spotlight, pretty heady stuff for a 17-year-old whose best international finish was third at the world championships. The junior world championships. Emily Hughes arrived in Turin on Thursday as the replacement for Michelle Kwan, who dropped out after re-injuring her groin in her only practice session here. For anyone with ideas that she'll repeat her sister's Olympic feat, well, that would be an even bigger stunner than Sarah Hughes' upset. "I'm definitely a different person than Sarah, but she is my sister and everyone eventually will compare us," Hughes said. "I don't think it's too bad to be compared to the gold medalist." She said the whole family was in Salt Lake City, cheering for her sister. "We were really high up in the third tier. Whatever -- I got to experience the Olympics on the outside, and now that I am here and she is on the outside, I think that helped me coming into these Olympics," she said. The rest of the Hughes family will arrive in Turin before Tuesday's women's short program. Sarah Hughes likely will keep a low profile to avoid stealing attention from her sister. When Sarah Hughes skated in Salt Lake City, she came off a third-place finish at the U.S. championships, just as Emily Hughes does. She was considered a threat for a medal, but wasn't expected to challenge Kwan and Irina Slutskaya for the top spot on the podium. She was fourth in the short program, below less-heralded teammate Sasha Cohen, then staged one of the great free skates in Olympic history to grab the gold. A second Olympic championship for the Hughes clan would be "cool," to use Emily Hughes' pet word. It also is improbable. "Just making it here is such an accomplishment for me," she said. "I don't have expectations. I'll just go out and attack everything and skate my best."
Davis Does It His Way, and Makes History (2006-02-18)Speedskater Davis Proves Himself Right (2006-02-18)Smilin' Emily Hughes Makes Turin Debut (2006-02-17)Champion skater Kwan hired as Disney spokeswoman (2006-02-16)"American Idol" steals Olympic gold in TV ratings (2006-02-15)
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