Kimmie Meissner

NEWARK, Del.-- --So the skier gets wasted before competing. And two female skeleton sliders accuse their coach of sexual harassment. Then the top men's slider fails a drug test. And what about that saucy U.S. women's luge team? They appeared on a Web site promoting a drinking game with only their sleds covering them. When did the Olympic rings become interchangeable with Dante's circles? The Winter Games are still three weeks away, yet the bad boys of the Olympics already have us shaking our heads.

She was ushered through the heart of her hometown as adoring fans snapped her picture and screamed her name, and she later listened as a bevy of elected officials sang her praises and handed her enough proclamations, gift baskets and bouquets to fill a wheelbarrow. Kimmie Meissner, the 16-year-old Olympic figure skater, then stepped to the podium on a stage at the Milton A. Reckford Armory in Bel Air, her voice raspy and cheeks flushed after a bout with the flu and a ruptured eardrum. "Wow, this is crazy," she said.

Just a week ago, Kimmie Meissner was talking about a comeback - from bad performances in recent years and from injuries that continued to nag her as she readied for a new season of figure skating. Now her dreams of a second trip to the Olympics in February are over. The former world and national figure skating champion from Bel Air has not recovered quickly enough from a dislocated right knee cap and tendinitis, which forced her to withdraw Thursday from both of her Grand Prix assignments.

Turin, Italy -- She's not supposed to be here. Kimmie Meissner's Olympic plan called for a showdown with the world's best figure skaters at the 2010 Winter Games. Tear up the blueprint. She's ready now. Like an escalator on full power, Meissner rose through the competition at each age level, stopping to win a title before surging past her peers. On Tuesday, she'll take the ice with skating's elite women, four years ahead of schedule. It is, she says, "the cherry on top" of a short but sparkling career.

PORTLAND, Ore. - For Kimmie Meissner and Shaun Rogers, the road to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships is called Interstate 95. The two Maryland skaters sometimes travel it together on the way to daily practice at the University of Delaware skating program. They have the same coaches. They goad each other on the ice to keep the competitive juices flowing. They will cheer for each other Thursday and Saturday during their short and long programs. But their destinations are likely to be different.

At 17, Katie Hoff and Kimmie Meissner are already Olympic veterans, each making her mark by bending water to her will. Hoff, of Towson, cuts an imposing figure as the fastest swimmer in the world in the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley. Meissner, of Bel Air, glides on the surface as the reigning world and national figure skating champion. This week the teens are half a world away from home, trying to burnish their international credentials with an eye toward the next Olympics.

Good morning --Kimmie Meissner -- Take Van Halen's advice: Might as well jump.

Good morning -- Kimmie Meissner -- Some advice taken from your Subway commercial: skate fresh.