She always had the moves, she often won the high scores, but the judges were still always nagging her to show more emotion when she danced.

The normally reserved Kristi Yamaguchi let some true emotion show last Tuesday on "Dancing With the Stars" when fellow competitor Marissa Jaret Winokur was eliminated from going into this week's final round.

As host Tom Bergeron said goodbye to Winokur, a Broadway actress whom Yamaguchi once figured to be her toughest female competitor, the camera flashed briefly on the Olympic skating champ, who looked like she was about to cry.

"It's just emotional," Yamaguchi says. "Through 10 weeks in this competition, we've developed a friendship, and we were the last two girls in it. At this point, it's been hard to see everyone go. And, watching her video package, and the journey she'd taken over the last 10 weeks, it just hits home."

Before Yamaguchi started her own journey on the megahit ABC show, she was living the life of a semi-celebrity in North Raleigh, the wife of Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Bret Hedican, and mother to their two little girls Emma and Keara. She had given up professional skating a few years ago and devoted time to her Always Dream Foundation for disadvantaged children.

Now she's a consistent high-scorer and audience favorite who's poised to become the first celebrity female to take home the "Dancing" trophy since the first season, when soap star Kelly Monaco won. The two-hour season six finale airs tonight.

When she was first chosen for the show, she and her partner/trainer Mark Ballas downplayed her chances to win by pointing out that figure skating is much different from dancing, particularly in terms of foot and leg work.

As it turns out, the self-discipline that Yamaguchi began learning when she hit the rinks at age 6 in San Francisco has paid off in another way.

Ballas maintains that Yamaguchi's background as a champion skater didn't necessarily give her an advantage in learning the moves, but he acknowledges that athletes definitely have the right attitude for a competition like this.

"They know how to train, and they know how to get on with it," he says.

Yamaguchi's high opinion of Ballas even extends to comparing him a bit to Christy Ness, the figure-skating coach that guided Yamaguchi to Olympic gold in 1992.

"I think he's as much a perfectionist as she is," Yamaguchi says. "He is good at reading what I'm capable of, and how to push me to get the best out of me. His attention to detail is definitely up to that standard."

In one episode of the show this season, Hedican and the kids visited the dancers during a rehearsal for a sexy dance, and he teased his wife by congratulating Ballas for bringing something out of her he'd never seen before.

Like any other TV shows, "Dancing With the Stars" has story lines, and one of those this season was Yamaguchi's struggle to overcome shyness when performing those sexy dances.

Yamaguchi acknowledges her public reserve is real, but Hedican knows another side of her, and that's what this experience has really brought out.

"Through this show, you're seeing her for who she is -- someone who loves to laugh, loves to have fun, doesn't take life too seriously," he says. "Even with [some of the judges] being critical, she takes it like she's always taken any criticism or judgment, and learned from it, and laughed at it, and tried to make herself better."

Whether Yamaguchi wins or loses tonight against fellow celebrity finalists Jason Taylor and Cristián de la Fuente, her experience with the show has changed her family's lives, in some ways they're not even sure of yet.

"I don't think it's changed us as people, per se, but it's probably changed our life in the way that we're obviously more recognizable," Hedican says. "Every day, it's another interview, and, obviously, after the show, you've got 'Entertainment Tonight,' you've got 'Access Hollywood.'"

The unknowns are in the career options. Hedican's contract with the Hurricanes is finished, and his future with them -- and maybe hockey -- is up in the air.

"I'm not sure what the future holds in Carolina, as far as I'm concerned," he says. "I haven't had a chance to talk to [general manager] Jim Rutherford, which I do plan on doing when I come back, sitting down with him. Right after the season ended, it was a day or two, and I left right away to come out and see Kristi, and I'm down here taking care of the two girls."

Both Hedican and Yamaguchi say that, even if "Dancing" hadn't happened, they probably would be considering plans to move to Northern California, where they've had a summer home for a few years. Hedican says they'll likely sell their Raleigh home, in any case, as they've "grown out of it" since they had kids.

"I'm a California girl," Yamaguchi says. "I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. It's pretty much the place where we figure we're going to settle and raise our children. Right now, Bret doesn't have a contract, so we're just planning to settle in California through the summer and see what happens."

Soon, Hedican says, they will sit down and talk about future career plans for both of them. "Dancing With the Stars," he says, "has opened a lot of doors for her."

Yamaguchi has expressed a desire to do some reporting at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and says there have been some talks with NBC about that. This fall, she'll co-produce the seventh "Kristi Yamaguchi: Friends & Family" ice show special for NBC. She and Ballas say they'll be glad to participate in a winter "Dancing With the Stars" tour if they're invited, and they'll dance for special fundraising events.

Other than that, Yamaguchi tends to emphasize home life. With 20 or 30 million viewers watching her twice a week, and her face on the cover of TV Guide and other magazines, she may be more famous now than ever. But she doesn't see that lasting for too long.

"You know, I'm just kind of riding a wave at this point," she says. " 'Dancing With the Stars' is this amazing experience and kind of has a life of its own. It's been fun. I'm enjoying it while it lasts. I know it's short-lived, and something that's only going to keep going on as long as I'm on the show."

So, how does she see her chances tonight?

"One in three," she ventures, and laughs.

When pressed for some trash talk, she goes so far as to say: "I want a shot at that trophy. I want it as bad as those two boys. And I think it's about time a girl takes it. It's been five seasons since a girl has won."

You can almost hear "Dancing" judge Bruno Tonioli scream: "That's the attitude I want, darling! I love it!"