In the life of Rachael Flatt, the figure skater, not one minute is wasted. She wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and is at school by 6:30. She takes two classes, then rushes to the rink for 9:05 practice. She stretches, does homework for 15-20 minutes, then eats lunch in the car on her way back to school. And that is just the first part of her day. 'I have to be efficient and effective,' said Flatt, a perky blonde who, despite her down-to-business demeanor, is quick to giggle. Flatt, the 17-year-old U.S. national champion, squeezed in three school days -- and four Advanced Placement classes -- last week, after checking into the Olympic Village and flying home to Colorado Springs. She reappeared here a few days before Tuesday's short program. Flatt is an A student at Cheyenne Mountain High School, but perfection at these Olympics will be much harder to achieve. The pressure is on Flatt and her teammate Mirai Nagasu to keep a streak alive. The U.S. women have won a medal in figure skating at every Olympics since 1968. But their chances do not look good. The American women have come up empty at the past three world championships, the team's worst showing in more than 40 years. 'It would be nice for me to have those titles,' Flatt, the 2008 junior world champion, said. 'But that's not what it's about for me. I do the best I can and if a medal comes with that, then great. I remember watching Sarah Hughes at the 2002 Olympics and I thought, I'd love to be in that position. I feel like I could totally do what she did.' In 2002, Hughes unexpectedly won the gold medal, going from fourth to first in the final. When her competition cracked, she remained consistent, knocking off triple jump after triple jump. Flatt, too, has consistency on her side. She has been criticized as lacking artistry, but her athleticism and mental strength remain unquestionable. When the usually untouchable Kim Yu-na, of South Korea, stumbled at Skate America last fall, Flatt performed as always -- even-keeled. She beat Kim in the free skate. 'This sport isn't a beauty pageant, it's a numbers game, and Rachael is one of the most reliable and athletic skaters in the world,' Tom Zakrajsek, her coach, said. 'She is the kind of skater who can have that amazing performance at the Olympics. She's just that solid.' Flatt won last month's national championships, but not without controversy. Some, even the 1984 Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, thought Nagasu was more artistic and should have won. But three of Nagasu's jumps were marked down for imperfections. Flatt's seven triples were clean. Nagasu's components score, considered the artistry score, was only 0.07 better than Flatt's. Flatt vowed to learn from it. 'In general, the artistry needs to improve a lot,' she said. 'There's a certain feeling of emotion that must come across. I'm certainly working on those aspects in training.' Ever since finishing fifth at the 2009 world championship, Flatt has been working with Dorothy Hamill, the 1976 Olympic champion, to improve her performances. Hamill has been teaching Flatt to sell her skating to the crowd by being more expressive. In some ways, Hamill said, Flatt reminds her of herself. Both are perfectionists who know the importance of training. The difference, though, is that Flatt can fall back on her schoolwork. 'It's really good to have that diversion,' Hamill said. 'Her mind is always doing something productive, so she can't worry about one thing for too long. Whether it's as an Olympic medalist or a college student, I think that gives her the ability to do great things in life.' Juggling schoolwork with skating has been Flatt's forte. This fall, she also applied to nine colleges, including Stanford, Princeton and Harvard. At her house, a row of thick, white binders rests on her kitchen table. Each organizes a part of her life: Rachael's College Applications. Physics. Calculus. English. French. Only a hint of her skating life peeks through. On the living room mantel are skating awards, a medal from the junior worlds, one from the nationals. In her bedroom with pink walls, pink twin bedspreads and a pink phone hangs the pink, sparkly dress she wears in her short program. 'Other families have their girls home-schooled or taking classes on the Internet, but we never put Rachael's education on the back burner for skating,' Jody Flatt, her mother, said. 'School isn't a backup plan. It's a life plan.' Jody Flatt is a retired molecular biologist. Jim Flatt, Rachael's father, is the president of a biofuels company. The family was living in Del Mar, Calif., when Rachael began skating as a toddler. Rachael met Zakrajsek when she was 9. He immediately saw brilliance in her skating -- and attitude. 'She skated right up to me with a smile on her face and said: 'I can't wait to have a lesson with you. What do you want me to do?'' he recalled. 'Then she was practicing her double loop on her own time. I raised my brow and said, 'I hope she comes back.'' Since then, there has been a push-and-pull between Flatt and Zakrajsek, with Flatt insisting on a tight schedule, so she can study. At the worlds last year, she wrote a paper about 'The Great Gatsby.' Here, she is writing about 'Pride and Prejudice' and studying for calculus and physics exams. Physics, she said, has not been as smooth as she would like. 'The teacher is more concerned with derivation than application,' she grumbled last fall, adding that she worried about receiving her first-ever B on a report card. When her grades came back, she exhaled. She had received an A-minus in physics. In the end, as usual, Flatt pulled it off. 