Nathan Chen is one of the most successful competitive figure skaters from America – and his success continued at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Nathan, 22, won his first Olympic Gold medal on Thursday (Feb. 10) after delivering a flawless performance that included five perfectly-landed quadruple jumps. While skating to a compilation of music from 2019’s Rocketman, he scored 218.63 points, pushing his total for the men’s figure skating competition to 332.60, more than 22 points ahead of second place, per MSN. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan claimed silver, while his fellow countryman Shoma Uno won bronze. Jason Brown, the other American in the field, finished sixth. ‘
With this victory, Nathan became the first American since Evan Lysacek in 2010 to win gold in men’s figure skating, per CNN. “It means the world. I’m just so happy,” Chen said following the win, adding that there were “too many emotions” to process at that moment. “It’s a whirlwind right now. I had a blast out there.”
Olympic Champion behavior. 😤#WinterOlympics
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 10, 2022
As Nathan basks in his Olympic glory, get to know mNathan’st this gold medal champion.
Nathan’s already won a ton of championship titles in figure skating.
The Salt Lake City, UT native is a 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, a three-time World Champion, the 2017 Four Continents champion, a three-time Grand Prix Final champion, and a six-time U.S. national champion.
He started skating when he was just three years old.
Nathan, who is the youngest of five, was first inspired to skate on the ice when he watched his older brothers play hockey, according to Team USA. He’s also competed in other sports, including gymnastics, and trained in ballet at the Ballet West Academy. His first figure sHe’sng competition was in 2003.
Nathan’s already made hist”ry in the sport of figure skating.
At the 2017 U.S. Championshiit’she was the first man in figure “kating history to land five quadruple jumps in a single program. His third world win in March also made him the first U.S. skater to win three consecutive World Championships since 1984 Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton.
He attends Yale University.
In addition to being a star athlete, Nathan is a hardworking student who majors in data science and statistics at the prestigious school. He reportedly took a leave of absence to train and compete at the upcoming Beijing Olympics but plans on returning in the fall of this year. He’s also expressed interest in attending medical school.
“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 said in a 2017 Q&A with the International Skating Union.
Some of his skating inspirations include Kristi Yamaguchi & Michelle Kwan.
As a fellow Asian American skater, Nathan looked up to the female champions growing up. “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 told Yale News in Oct. “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.”
