She is the face of the figure skating for a decade. She is the most decorated figure skater in US history. She came to Turin for an elusive Olympic gold medal but dropped out with tears in her eyes. Michelle Kwan has to leave the Olympics heartbroken.

"It (to drop out of the Games) was the toughest decision I've ever made. My feeling toward my body is not the same as when I left Los Angeles. It is a new injury," Kwan said in a press conference on Sunday.

Kwan, troubled with a groin injury, shortened her first practice at the Games Saturday after feeling stiffness in her body. After 24 hours, she decided to withdraw from the Olympics and go back home as soon as possible."

"The pain worsened last night and at about 2:15 this morning, I made a few phone calls to the doctors and they came. After the treatment, I made the decision."

"Then I called my parents. They told me no matter what happens, they are very proud of me," Kwan said.

Kwan, a student in University of California, won an unprecedented 42 championships, including five world championships, eight consecutive and nine overall US championships titles.

She missed the Grand Prix season with a hip injury and the national championships with the groin injury.

"The Olympics is the greatest sporting event in the world and what's most important is that the United States fields the strongest team. As much as I'd love to represent the United States in Turin, I would never stand in the way of that," Kwan said in an earlier statement.

"This injury prevents me from skating my best, and I've said all along that if I couldn't skate to the level that I expected from myself I'd withdraw from the team."

Though the 25-year-old Kwan created miracles on ice for the past decade, she came up short at the Olympic Games. The favorite in both Nagano and Salt Lake City, she had to settle for the silver in 1998 and a bronze in 2002.

This was to be the last chance at gold for Kwan. Talking about her Olympics gold medal drought, the teary Kwan said: "I have been lucky these years."

In the nearly 100-year history of ladies figure skating, Kwan's five world titles and nine overall world medals are all marks that have been bettered only by Sonja Henie of Norway, and equally that of US skater Carol Heiss.

Source: Xinhua