Gold medalist's sister in Olympics

TORINO, Italy — Emily Hughes was out for sushi with her family, eating what the local Japanese restaurant calls a "Sarah Gold Roll," when the phone rang.

"My dad got the call, and from his expression I could sort of tell it was really good news," Hughes said Sunday.

If she ordered the roll named for a certain Salt Lake City feat for good luck, well — it worked.

The 17-year-old sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes will travel from her Long Island home to Torino to compete in the Winter Olympics. She replaces Michelle Kwan, who dropped out with a groin injury Sunday.

"We were told to keep it a secret," she said on a conference call. "It was hard not to jump up and down, so we pretty much went right home so we could jump up and down."

Hughes will have plenty of jumping up and down to do next week on the ice. Tentative plans were for her to arrive in Torino later this week, but a blizzard in New York could hamper travel arrangements.

"Everything has been hectic," she said. "After nationals, I was focusing on school, on SATs, and now I am going to be on a flight to Torino.

"I think I have been training hard . . . I'll be ready to compete whatever it is, and right now it is the Olympics. I feel ready."

Emily Hughes has made a more meteoric rise in skating than Sarah did, even if she isn't quite at the level her sibling reached in 2002. She capped the 2004-05 season with a bronze medal at the world championships — the JUNIOR world championships.

In her first year as a senior competitor, Hughes was fifth at Skate America and Cup of Russia in the Grand Prix series, then placed third in a mediocre field at nationals. By her Olympic season, Sarah already had been third at worlds — yes, the real worlds — and had two thirds in Grand Prix finals. She had made the podium at nationals three times.

Comparing sisters is unfair, though. Few skaters develop as rapidly as Sarah Hughes did.

Or as Kwan did. She was a world champion at 15.

"The Olympics is an incredible experience," Kwan said. "I know she'll have an amazing time and I'm sure she'll make the country proud."