To the unseasoned eye, nothing about the jump -- a triple lutz performed during a prolonged practice session -- looked out of the ordinary.

And yet, Michelle Kwan, the Olympic silver medalist and reigning sweetheart of the figure skating world, was unhappy with it. Something about a slight wobble of her left foot as she came down for the landing.

Her brow wrinkled, she proceeded to skate to where her coach and choreographer, Frank Carroll, was sitting at rink side. After the two conferred for a moment, just out of ear-shot from a reporter, Kwan skated away with both her vigor and smile restored.

Pausing at center ice, over the large, black, blue and green stencil of the 1998 Goodwill Games, the 18-year-old Torrance, California native turned back toward her coach and, with a laugh, patted her backside.

Next time she comes out of a jump like that, she said, she very likely will fall right down on... er... the ice.

"You don't really coach anymore when it gets down to crunch time in a competition like this," Carroll said.

"My job here at the Goodwill Games has been to just keep Michelle going and to keep encouraging her. At the same time, as always, I have to keep an eye on her technique and help her remain at the top of her game."

Looking on as his charge continued her practice session alongside competitors Maria Butyrskaya of Russia, Laetitia Hubert of France, and Anna Rechnio of Poland, Carroll was alternately completely engrossed in what was transpiring before him and completely at ease.

"To do a clean program is tough at any time of year," he said as Kwan landed one triple and then another. "But this time of year, none of the skaters is in the greatest of shape. It's the middle of the summer, after all.

"So as far as the Goodwill Games are concerned, the figure skating is not an event that's earth-shattering -- everyone is up against the same challenges -- but it's still important to do well here.

"And when it comes to someone like Michelle, if they don't hit the technical stuff, that's a disaster."

The practice session Carroll was speaking at came just hours before the ladies' figure skating competition was to begin at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Two days later, the pair would bask in the final glow of Goodwill glory, Kwan securing the gold medal in her event before beginning a long overdue vacation.

"When I'm skating, I don't think about being the best," Kwan said. "I just try to be the best that I can be.

"At the Olympics, maybe I wasn't the best, but it's what you do out there [on the ice] that matters.. how you feel when you are skating... the love of the sport."

To be sure, Kwan does stand apart from the current field of international competitors. In a word, the difference is grace. While over the course of several practice sessions at the coliseum, her jumps and spins and turns seemed little different than those of say, Butyrskaya. Michelle Kwan appears to skate with the smoothness of gossamer.

On the ice in the heat of competition, it's that grace that sells her program even on those rare occasions, as during the ladies' long program last Saturday night, when she actually does stumble and fall down.

"When I perform, I usually don't let go until the end of my program," she said, explaining what can best be termed "the Kwan style."

"It's tough, you know, because, when I'm skating cleanly and know I'm doing well, I just want to let it all out.

"That's why it's great to have Frank tell me 'Don't let go -- don't give in to that excitement and break your composure -- until after you've arrived at the end position.'

"And even then, I have to hold it for three seconds," the skater said, holding her arms in a ballet-like pose over her head.

As for the smile that's constantly upon her lips as she competes, Kwan said simply, "It feels good to know that you're skating and performing well and that you've landed every jump cleanly."

Michelle Kwan began figure skating at the age of five, after she and her sister Karen had spent several days watching their brother Ron play ice hockey.

"It was one of those things where we decided, 'Hey, why just watch him skate?'" she recalled. "So one day we went out, rented skates and tried it for ourselves.

"It's the obstacles and challenges of figure skating that I like best. I love competing. And I love trying to be better. I guess you just make one goal after another, and one day you reach where you dreamed of being."

Kwan's pursuit of excellence extends well beyond the ice. During her high school career back home in California, she managed to maintain a 4.0 grade point average while competing in events that took her all over the world.

Over the course of Kwan's four days here -- days spent either at the coliseum or, more often than not, visiting with her sister, who lives in Manhattan, the champion was expected to field question after question about Tara Lipinski, who bested her at Nagano, and about her decision to forego a professional career to pursue her Olympic dream once again four years from now.

"I do miss Tara [who turned pro this past winter, immediately after the Olympics] because having that kind of competition is nice. It's a huge challenge.

"But I also feel that I challenge myself, too. I challenge myself to do well.

"Would skating be receiving more attention if she was still skating competitively? Probably. But then you never know who's going to come along and liven things up."

Hardly one to brood, Kwan said she watched tapes of her Olympic games performance almost immediately after the competition, and watched it again, just before coming to New York for the Goodwill Games.

"I had to," she said, "because at the moment, I'm still doing the same program. You know, it's funny, as I was watching it, I kept saying to myself, 'Push Michelle, push. You can do it.'

"I think in the end, what it all came down to was, I needed more 'oomph' in the program. My short program at the Olympics was pretty good, but my long program needed a little something more."

Looking back on the Olympics, Kwan admitted that she had been more nervous than usual going into her performance, and was even unable to take her usual, pre-competition nap.

"I couldn't sleep a wink," she said. "Now, I don't know if that really had anything to do with the eventual outcome or not, but I have to confess, I think I was just too overwhelmed with everything that was going on."

Of her decision to stay another four years at the amateur level to compete in the 2002 Winter Olympics, when she'll be 21, Kwan said, "There are a lot of things keeping me going.

"I do see that there are a lot of kids coming up. I was watching a recent competition, and I saw so many triples [executed] that I was amazed.

"But it's not so much what's out there that keeps me going, it's what I want inside. I love competing. I love the challenge, as I said before.

"That's what makes me keep going. I don't feel that I'll be that old, either. Just 21 -- I mean, please," she said laughing.