Kirk decides to call it a career

Jennifer Kirk, who was a strong contender to make next winter's Olympic figure skating team, yesterday announced her retirement six weeks before the start of the Grand Prix season, saying her enthusiasm for competing had diminished.

''This has been a very tough decision for me to make, especially considering the magnitude of the upcoming season," the 21-year-old Newton native said in a statement. ''Although I still love skating very much, my passion and love for the competitive aspect of the sport has dwindled following the death of my mother in 2001 and nagging hip injuries."

Had Kirk, one of the sport's most graceful competitors, been able to recapture her stylish steadiness this winter, she would have been in the chase for one of the three Olympic berths for Turin, Italy, along with two-time medalist Michelle Kwan, Sasha Cohen, and teenagers Kimmie Meissner and Emily Hughes.

''I feel very blessed to have reached such a high level in this tough sport," said Kirk, who plans to return to the Boston area from Southern California to attend broadcasting school and coach skating. ''I feel that I'm leaving the sport on a very positive note."

Kirk, tabbed as a future star after winning the 2000 world junior title at 15, competed on three US world teams and was among the top five at the last five national championships. But her last two seasons were inconsistent, culminating in disappointing finishes at the global championships, where she placed 18th and 17th.

Still, Kirk had planned to compete this season, choreographing a new long program to the music from the movie ''Moulin Rouge" and signing up for the Cup of Russia in November. ''I am definitely going to give this next season my all . . . I can't wait for the year to begin. I'm so excited," Kirk wrote on her website diary in July. So her announcement yesterday caught much of the skating world by surprise.

''It wasn't one event or one thing that made my decision," said Kirk, who had moved from Cape Cod to Detroit to Los Angeles for training and changed coaches twice during the past three years. ''It's just something I've wanted for a while. I think I've finally grown up enough to make this decision and go with it."