URIN, Italy – When Emily Hughes reached Torino-Caselle airport yesterday afternoon, she received treatment usually afforded to foreign dignitaries.
The 17-year-old figure skater from Long Island was met at the gate by police officers, taken directly to a van on the tarmac, and was whisked away, avoiding waiting reporters.
Hughes may have to get accustomed to royal treatment. The Great Neck High School junior arrived in Turin with a chance to save what has been a dismal Olympics for the United States.
With Michelle Kwan back in Los Angeles, Bode Miller drinking and DQ’ing in the mountains, and Apolo Anton Ohno slipping on the ice, the U.S. stars counted on to win medals have come up empty thus far.
Entering last night’s men’s figure skating competition, the U.S. team had nine medals, trailing Norway (13), Germany (10) and Russia (10). If you eliminate snowboarding, a sport the United States owns, the medal count drops to four.
None of the medalists have captured the imagination of the U.S. public. Two weeks from now, Chad Hedrick and Joey Cheek will be forgotten. But Hughes has a chance to become the story of the Games, to take a ride that launches her from Syosset to Stardom.
At the moment, her story appears greater than her talent, but strange things happen at the Olympics. The last-minute replacement for Kwan, who watched sister Sarah stun the world in 2002, could be Turin’s Mary Lou Retton or Dorothy Hamill, an Olympic star with staying power.
Skating experts say Emily Hughes does not have the chops to top Sasha Cohen or Irina Slutskaya. They think if any American can steal the show, it’s Kimmie Meissner, not Hughes. But the experts also gave Sarah no shot in 2002, and we know how that ended.
Emily Hughes is scheduled to hold her first press conference today, followed by her first practice. She no doubt will be met by popping flashbulbs and a ton of media members.
America is waiting for a star to steal these Olympics. So far, TV watchers have been more interested in Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell than Hannah Teter and Johnny Weir. Hughes can change all that, vaulting her photo from the yearbook to the Wheaties box.
She could be the new “American Idol.”