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Kwan broke into tears at the end of her long program

Kwan, in contrast, watched the opening ceremonies the same way 56 million other Americans did, on the tube at home. Instead of sharing cramped quarters with Lipinski and the flu that took Germany's Tanja Szewczenko out of the running, she bunked with Mom and Dad at a hotel. (Its location was kept secret.) "I'm going to spend as much time as I can in the Olympic village," she declared firmly. "But I've got to focus on my own thing right now and do what's good for me." Conventional wisdom says that Kwan should have played it differently, a little looser perhaps. But she had lighter moments, visiting a Zenkoji temple and watching Harrison Ford kick butt in Air Force One hours before doing likewise in her short program.

Any semblance of fun disappeared Friday. "Right now I'm thinking, What can I do to be better for the next Olympics?" said a teary Kwan at a press conference. "I'll add a triple-triple and add more difficulty on the technical side, and hopefully I'll be really ready next time." It was a painful statement coming from the teen marvel widely considered the best of this decade--no matter the hue of her medal.

Once again Lipinski found life a little easier. "I'm just going to walk around enjoying being Olympic champion," she said, refusing to contemplate the next Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. For a girl who makes a yearly pilgrimage to Disney World, what can possibly come next? Multimillions in endorsements, surely, but not even a rich child-queen can reign safely in this sport of revolving crowns. Skating's next monarch-in-waiting could be anywhere in the world, hatching her own devastating coup. By 2002, who knows?

--Reported by Alice Park /Nagano