Nathan Chen makes the New York Times

[Mathman]

This was posted by Oatmella in the Nathan Chen fan fest. I thought it was worthy of its own thread in the Edge.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/17/sports/nathan-chen-yale.html

Chen zips around campus on a motorized skateboard, potentially sacrificing safety for sleep.

“I can get up at 9:15 and make it to my 9:30 class,” he said

For most of his post-lunch, hourlong practice at Ingalls (the Yale ice arena), Chen had the facility to himself, except for a women’s hockey player who ran up and down the arena steps. He skated over to the boards at regular intervals to manage the music on his phone. Upon finishing, he grabbed a bucket of ice shavings and repaired the divots in the ice that he had created with his toe pick when he pushed off for his jumps.

When Chen finished skating at Ingalls, he changed quickly and hopped into his sport utility vehicle for the 30-minute commute to Champions Skating Center in Cromwell, Conn., for additional practice. He couldn’t dawdle; he had to get his work done and return to campus in time for his 8 p.m. music class. (He has calculus, statistics and psychology in the mornings). For the next hour, Chen reeled off quads while maneuvering around more than a dozen skaters, including a little girl in hot pink skates and a youngster who was practicing her forward to backward transitions. He was struggling with one of his jumps, so he had one of the coaches at the facility take videos, which Chen planned to forward to Arutyunyan to critique.

For Chen, the risk was worth the reward of expanding his mind and his social circle. When he returned to campus after his victory at nationals, Chen’s suite mates greeted him with a box of doughnuts to celebrate. He then gleaned a palatable life lesson: One doughnut won’t bring him down.

 

[yelyoh]

Hectic life but he's growing and growing up. Obviously creating values independent of his past. Nice to read. I hope he does well at Worlds.

 

[LaArdilla]

Such a nice read, thanks for posting! I went all awwww when it was mentioned that he repaired the divots in the ice he had made.

 

[el henry]

Since I'm old, I read the "dead tree" NYTimes, and this was the entire first page of the Sunday sports section: very impressive!

Even though I have not always been Nathan's biggest fan as a skater, I am extraordinarily impressed by him as a person. I think his actual skating skills have improved this year. And since I have a personal link to the residential college mentioned in the article, I feel fondly....

(in fact, I showed the article from across the kitchen to Spousal Unit. He wouldn't know Nathan, or Jason for that matter, if they came up and said hi to him, so he had no idea what the article was about. But he did say "Why is the Whale on the front page of the sports section?" )

I hope Nathan finds a way to continue combining studying and skating at a high level

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Nathan is an amazing person and athlete. This doesn't surprise me one bit.

 

[demarinis5]

Great article! Nathan is quite a guy.

 

[Seruleane]

Great article, and count me in as someone who is really proud of Nathan! Neither training as an elite athlete nor attending college, especially one as elite and rigorous as Yale are easy tasks, but Nathan has managed to succeed at both, AT THE SAME TIME! That’s what blows my mind. I especially like what Raf said at the end:

Arutyunyan suggested that those who wonder if Chen can straddle the hypercompetitive world of sport and the hypercompetitive world of an Ivy League college are missing the point.

“I know Olympic champions whose gold medal didn’t help their lives,” said Arutyunyan, which is why, in his mind, there’s only one question worth asking: How can Chen not try?

Wishing him the best of luck at Worlds! Even if he doesn’t win, he has already “won” in my book.

 

[moriel]

Nathan is impressive.
And I say this as a person who had calculus.

 

[Skater Boy]

I am amazed by his ability to do so much so well. Brains, athleticism, charisma - the SUV got me though - 18 years old and first year in university. I was lucky to afford university, no phone and certainly no SUV. A lot of skaters make me wonder or envy - travelling, going on vacations to warm locations - I am not saying they should live as paupers but not a bad lifestyle.

 

[lurkz2]

I am amazed by his ability to do so much so well. Brains, athleticism, charisma - the SUV got me though - 18 years old and first year in university. I was lucky to afford university, no phone and certainly no SUV. A lot of skaters make me wonder or envy - travelling, going on vacations to warm locations - I am not saying they should live as paupers but not a bad lifestyle.

Both the SUV and skateboard came from corporate sponsors. Nathan has earned all of it through brains, skills and hard work.

 

[WeakAnkles]

Going off to college has done wonders for the qualities of his skating that aren't jumps: musicality, maturity, confidence. He holds himself differently. He's learning to take his time to finish moves. He's Growing Up.

 

[Mathman]

I was lucky to afford university, no phone and certainly no SUV. A lot of skaters make me wonder or envy - travelling, going on vacations to warm locations - I am not saying they should live as paupers but not a bad lifestyle.

Still ... the number of figure skaters who are even able to recoup a fraction of their expenses is a tiny handful. If you get to travel, you largely do so at your own expense (or at the expense of your parents).

Athletes in other sports sign hundred million dollar contracts. The minimum wage for an NBA basketball player who sits on the bench and never even gets in the game is $800,000 a year for a rookie up to 2 million year for a veteran. Not to mention corporate CEOs who guided their companies to billion dollar loses, but receive $20,000,000 bonuses for doing so.

I can't begrudge our figure skating heroes a chance to get ahead.

 

[Noxchild]

For the vast majority of skaters on social media, I think the stuff brands send them to show off on Instagram are as much celeb luxury as they get in a whole year. Also, who is going to post themselves sitting in a dark room and quietly digesting. People like to have fun.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Such a nice read, thanks for posting! I went all awwww when it was mentioned that he repaired the divots in the ice he had made.

I think I’m going to print this out, use a highlighter and tag it to the bullentin board at some our local rinks

Nice article. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[snowflake]

Nathan for GOLD!

Nathan is amazing! I can easily imagine his university friends enjoying hanging with him. He seems so positive and cool, funny and smart. When he has to stay and practice by himself he finds something good about that as well. I like this:

The serenity of the setting suits Chen, who said these solo sessions have allowed him to renew his relationship with the ice and deepen his connection to his music.

I kind of feel like when no one’s watching I feel the most attuned to my skating.

I would think that’s true for many skaters.

Since I'm old, I read the "dead tree" NYTimes, and this was the entire first page of the Sunday sports section: very impressive!

Very nice article. Lucky you to have it in real print to save. Smiled at ’dead tree’ NY Times. I’m lucky I could read it for free online. Says I have two more free articles to read. Any suggestions? Anything more about figure skating?

I think I’m going to print this out, use a highlighter and tag it to the bullentin board at some our local rinks

Nice article. Thanks for sharing!!

Or you could buy NY Times and tag the 'dead tree' article

 

[ElSoteroLoco]

Well grounded....humble...hard working... may he continue to flourish and succeed! God Bless Nathan!

 

[el henry]

“Even if you have a gold medal, you have that moment of glory, and then what happens? There’s so many moments that will happen after that that are more important”

Quote of the year, and one I intend to use in multiple threads at multiple times.

As for other skating articles, they are few and far between in the Times. I loved (of course) “The Unabashed Beauty of Jason Brown on Ice” which was in the Sunday magazine last year. That is the only dead tree article I have saved, along with Toller’s NYT obituary.

But I am slightly biased

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Such a nice read, thanks for posting! I went all awwww when it was mentioned that he repaired the divots in the ice he had made.

Yeah that was pretty cool to see. Even having achieved the peak of his sport, he still has the humility and kindness to clean up after himself instead of just leaving it for someone else to take care of. Great article and insight into Chen.

 

[thedude]

and since i have a personal link to the residential college mentioned in the article, i feel fondly....

JE Sux

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Yeah that was pretty cool to see. Even having achieved the peak of his sport, he still has the humility and kindness to clean up after himself instead of just leaving it for someone else to take care of. Great article and insight into Chen.

I was not surprised by the mention of cleaning up the ice, there are many skaters that would do that, it's a skater personality trait at the top of the sport.