13 Things to Know About Nathan Chen, Team USA’s Record-Breaking Figure Skater
Nathan Chen’s list of accomplishments as a figure skater is impressive, to say the least. The three-time World Champion (he won the title in 2018, 2019, and 2021) is gearing up for his third Olympic Games as a member of Team USA and is a major contender to bring home a gold medal from Beijing. Here’s a primer on what you need to know about the 22-year-old ahead of the 2022 Olympics since, TBH, you’re going to be hearing a lot about him during the Games:
1. He’s from Salt Lake City, Utah. It’s fitting that Nathan was born in Salt Lake City, which was the last U.S. city to host the Winter Olympics. Even more fitting? Salt Lake City hosted the Olympics in 2002, when Nathan was 3 years old—which happened to be the age at which he first laced up a pair of skates himself.
2. He’s been skating since he was 3. That’s right: Nathan’s own journey to figure-skating stardom started when he was just 3 years old. According to his Team USA bio, Nathan was originally inspired to skate after watching his older brothers play hockey.
3. He’s a master of the quadruple jump. Quadruple jumps (in figure skating, these are jumps that involve a minimum of four full rotations) are pivotal to success in men’s figure skating and Nathan is a record holder in this area. In 2017, he became the first skater in history to land five quad jumps in a single program.
4. He’s majoring in data science and statistics at Yale. In addition to being one of the top athletes in the world, Nathan is also brilliant and is studying statistics and data science at Yale University. According to the Yale Daily News, he took a leave of absence to prepare for the Beijing Olympics—which is fair considering the demands of training for the Olympics and the short window athletes have to compete at the highest level.
“I know that my career is not that long in respect to other sports, so the goal is to make sure that I’m present at these competitions and really enjoying myself,” he explained in 2020.
5. He’s considering attending medical school in the future. In a 2017 Q&A with the International Skating Union, Nathan suggested that med school might be in his future.
“My dad has an MD and my sister was in med school, premed as well. It’s just kind of something that’s running through my family and I think it’s something that I picked up on,” he explained.
6. His Chinese name is Chen Wei. Nathan is Chinese American and the child of immigrant parents (both of his parents were born and raised in China and moved to the United States in their 20s). In his 2017 ISU interview, Nathan described his own Chinese as “not so good” though.
“My Chinese name is Chen Wei,” he told the outlet. “I can speak a tiny, tiny bit, just basically get around, but I understand it decently well. My mom speaks, like, a mix of Chinese and English, it’s not full Chinese, that’s why some words I really don’t pick up on. Both parents came from China. I have two brothers and two sisters, and initially, when my two sisters were really young, they spoke full Chinese, but as my brothers came and as time went on, they kind of switched from Chinese to English and they kind of lost it, unfortunately for me. Of course, it’s a good thing to have.”
7. He supports what Simone Biles did for athletes and mental health. During the Tokyo Olympics, Simone made headlines for her decision to withdraw from competition in order to prioritize her mental health. It was a precedent-setting moment and one that Nathan definitely supports.
“I think that being able to put her mental health first, then worrying about her physical health and then worrying about all the rest…was a really noble move,” he told Vogue. “We are hyper-specialized humans that have been doing this for a long time, and at the end of the day, it’s our responsibility to compete. But at the same time, if you are starting to take that responsibility over who you are as a human being, then that’s unacceptable.”
8. He was inspired by Michelle Kwan and Kristi Yamaguchi. In 2021, Nathan told Yale News that Michelle and Kristi were inspirations for him as an Asian American figure skater.
“Growing up in Salt Lake City, where most of my classmates and fellow athletes were predominately white, you don’t see that reflection of yourself as easily,” he said. “I see myself in these athletes and I see how capable they are and how talented they are. If they can do it, hopefully I can do the same thing too. Being able to see a face like yours helps a lot as an athlete.”
9. He studied ballet for six and a half years. In addition to his training as a figure skater, Nathan also spent six and a half years studying ballet at Ballet West Academy in Salt Lake City (he enrolled when he was just 7). Naturally, Nathan’s dance background has been an asset to him as a skater. “My training and ballet background definitely gives me the competitive edge,” he told NBC News (per Pointe).
10. He says his mom deserves a lot of credit for his success. Nathan has a tight-knit family, but his bond with his mom is especially close. In a Mother’s Day tribute post on Instagram, he reflected on how her support made his skating success possible.
“It made me emotional to think of how tirelessly she supported me in my skating career, not once complaining that the drive was too long or too hard,” he wrote, reminiscing about the many drives he and his mother made between Utah and California over the years. “Without her support, I never would have made it to where I am now.”
11. He sleeps 9 to 10 hours a night. Nathan takes self-care seriously and puts a high priority on getting plenty of rest. “I try to get as close to 10 hours of sleep each night, as sleep is the best form of recovery,” he told NBC during the 2018 Olympics. “I go to sleep anywhere between 9:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.” According to People, even when he’s on campus at Yale, he still manages to get nine hours of sleep per night.
12. His celebrity crush is Emma Watson. In 2018, Nathan shared several pop-culture-related fun facts about himself with Us Weekly, including the fact that his celebrity crush is none other than Hermione Granger herself, Emma Watson. He also revealed his very relatable TV preferences (although, admittedly, he has way less time to binge than most people). “When I get a chance to watch TV, I love Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother, and Parks and Recreation,” he said.
13. He admits he has anxiety about the future. One of the most incredible things about Nathan (and there are a lot of incredible things about him) is how relatable and down-to-earth he is, in spite of being one of the most talented and accomplished athletes on the planet. In a 2019 interview with People, he admitted that when he looks to his future after skating, it can be anxiety-inducing.
“I’ve done so much on skating and skating has been literally my true love since I’ve been a kid,” he shared candidly. “So it’s like, what if I don’t find something that I’m that passionate about in the future? But you know, I’ll just take it day by day.”
You Might Also Like
Solve the daily Crossword
