No performance was more touching or more elegant than Michelle Kwan’s, whose enduring popularity was evident. Mingling her radiant smile with tears, Kwan received a standing ovation as she walked onto the ice and another when she stepped off. If there was any irony in Kwan’s choice to skate to “Fields of Gold,” it didn’t dawn on the audience nor dim their veneration of the greatest skating star of her generation.

Though a whiff of scandal-make that a noseful-hovered over these Olympic games, figure skating once again delivered the goods. Even if Kwan walks away from Olympic competition, the future of ice skating is secure as the centerpiece of the Winter Games. Here’s a breakdown of what may lie ahead.

LADIES

There is certainly the makings here of a great rivalry here between the two American teens, Hughes, 16, and Sasha Cohen, 17, who finished in fourth place. Hughes is extraordinarily tough-minded, but she definitely fits into the American sweetheart tradition of her idol, Kwan. With the infusion of confidence that the Olympic gold should bring and a little refinement of her technique, Hughes should contend for years to come.

Cohen is decidedly edgier, pluck with a little barbed wire. (By Olympics’ end, her bickering act with coach John Nicks had grown a little stale.) Cohen got some bad press for bumping Kwan a few times in warmups at Nationals in what many suggested was a deliberate attempt to rattle her. Those who have watched her throughout the Olympic practices now conclude she is simply oblivious to everyone else on the ice-not an attractive quality, but not a bad one for a champion. At her best, she is dazzling, the most exciting young women’s skater in the world today.

But if you expect the Hughes-Cohen rivalry to be the sum total of the story in Turin, Italy, four years hence, you’re likely mistaken. The probable champ is some 12-year-old whose name hasn’t yet crossed your radar or mine. The last three ladies’ Olympic champs have been 16, 15 and 16 years old respectively. I have concluded that it is less about the flexibility of young girls that allows them to outjump their elders. It may be simply that they are too young to appreciate the magnitude of their challenge, leaving them less susceptible to nerves than the grownups.

Kwan, sadly, knew that truth. After losing to Tara Lipinski in Nagano, she resisted all press overtures to coronate her prematurely for Salt Lake. “There’s always some next young girl coming along,” she would say. She was right. And she’s coming again. We just don’t know who it will be or where she will come from.

MEN

Alexei Yagudin was the singular figure-skating star of the Salt Lake City Games. While Hughes’ upset was thrilling, no other skater approached the sheer thrills provided by Yagudin’s skating performance. Indeed nobody else came close-and Yagudin’s record scores, including four 6.0s for artistry, reflected that. He won’t turn 22 until next month, and he rededicated himself to his sport this past year, showing up in the best shape of his life. That takes a Herculean effort and, having captured the ultimate prize, it remains to be seen whether he will continue to compete or follow the entertainment path of Nagano champ Ilia Kulik. Here’s one fervent prayer for the former. His passion on the ice is unparalleled.

By contrast Evgeny Plushenko has every reason to set his sights on Turin. Only 19, Plushenko is a stellar talent, with incomparable lines. But he has a tendency to confuse schtik for theater and a wiggle here, a wiggle there for passion. As he grows older, let’s hope he grows up.

At the same time, a special plaudit for Timothy Goebel. In his two years of work with coach Frank Carroll, he has grown by leaps and bounds. While his artistry still pales in comparison to the Russians, he is no longer just a jumper. Like Yagudin, he delivered the very best performance he was capable of at this year’s Winter Games. There’s no reasons to think that in a few years he won’t be capable of much more.

PAIRS

By now everyone-especially the Canadian and Russian Olympic champions-are aware that the judging scandal that linked them forever in shared gold was the luckiest break of their lives. They are smart kids and, as they merged in a four-person death spiral at last night’s exhibition, they were providing a glimpse of their marketing savvy and their bright future together. Neither pair can compare to the great Russian champions who have won pairs at the last four Olympics. But only skating’s faithful know their names. The 2002 Olympic champs, Sale and Pelletier and Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, have a great gimmick.

JUDGING

There is bias. Every country’s judges are guilty of it to a greater or lesser extent. But the Russians’ complaints are ludicrous. No country has proved better at propping its own skaters. Since the new scoring system, minus compulsory figures, was launched in the Olympics, former Soviets have won 11 of the 17 gold medals awarded. (The U.S. has won three, with Canada and France winning one apiece.)

The new system proposed by the International Skating Union, which must have been cobbled up hastily on the back of a skating ticket over breakfast one morning, is a remarkably decent one. It borrows from diving and gymnastics, with specific points assigned to certain tricks, thus taking a lot of the mystery out of the scoring. With a little refinement, it might even succeed in stripping the sport of much of its bias-and, I hate to admit it, a fair share of its gossipy, backstage fun.

ICE DANCING

Who cares? None of the dance pairs here deserved to be mentioned in the same breath with Torvill and Dean or Klimova and Ponomarenko. And no scoring system in the world will ever sort out the moves, when there are no mandated jumps, throws, or lifts. Even under pressure, the judges in Salt Lake City couldn’t fake a scientific approach. They chose their favored order and just repeated it again and again through four dances. They could throw ice dancing out of the Olympics and few would care. I happen to think it’s pretty to watch. Maybe, instead of booting the sport, they should just throw out all the pretense that it’s anything more than a stacked deck.

That’s it from figure-skating central in Salt Lake City. The Olympic champions will cash in by touring all spring and summer, coming soon to an arena near you. And then the dozens of competitions, big and small, will resume. We’ll watch and enjoy. But, admit it, we won’t really care. Not until Italy in 2006, when those Olympic medals are once again on the line. So, see you in Torino for some pasta, some vino, and another peek at the shroud and the glory of Olympic figure skating.