By Michael Cummings
cummings@grinnell.edu

Grinnell received a visitor of Olympic proportions this week when the Hillary Clinton campaign brought two-time Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan to Saints Rest on Wednesday to promote early voting.

Kwan, who won medals for figure skating in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan as well as the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, has been hitting the campaign trail hard in recent weeks on behalf of Clinton’s campaign for president.

“The choice could not be more clear,” Kwan said. “The contrast between the two candidates could not be more clear. We have a candidate who is talking about building walls that divide us with dangerous, divisive rhetoric, but you have, luckily, Hillary Clinton.”

Kwan spoke about her parents’ status as immigrants who lived the American Dream, working hard and creating a better life for themselves and for her.

“I think plain and simple, this is why Hillary Clinton is running, to ensure that her grandkids, and your children, that all of us have that ability to dream the American Dream,” Kwan said.

Kwan noted her reasons for taking on political activism, considering how different this work is from her past as a figure skater. But as she explained, campaigning for a candidate she believes in is similar to performing at the Olympics on behalf of her country.

“I had to ask myself what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. … I think the transition was hard, but it was simple in so many ways. I wanted to build on what was always the highest honor, and that was representing this incredible country, you know, going to the Olympic Games,” Kwan said.

Between her figure skating years and her time on the 2016 campaign, Kwan worked with Hillary Clinton in the State Department, an experience that influenced her belief in Clinton as a candidate.

“I really saw firsthand her leadership, her vision for the country and how she is the most qualified, experienced … person to ever run for President.”

Kwan went on to tick off Clinton’s many accomplishments, including her many fights for children’s and women’s rights as a lawyer, as First Lady of Arkansas, as First Lady of the U.S. and more recently as Secretary of State.

Kwan’s visit seems to have paid off, as the early voting station at JRC 101 on Wednesday saw approximately 660 voters, according to County Auditor Diana Dawley.

— Contributed reporting by Jenny Dong ’17.