^^ Well, obviously you refuse to accept the fact that Nathan's programs are not inferior. You can even look at his entertaining Michael Jackson sp from his final season competing in juniors and see that Nathan has always possessed good performance abilities. He has been a phenom since the ages of 10 and 11, winning a number of U.S. novice and junior titles before breaking out onto the international junior and senior scenes. Along the way, Nathan has battled a number of injury setbacks that have only added to his strength of character and his determination to win.
Why won't they when they finally have a genuine Worlds and Olympic gold contender since Kwan? At least Nathan is hype worthy and may be the reviver of figure skating in the US.
Uh, there have been a number of worthy medal contenders and winners from the U.S. in all disciplines except for pairs both pre and post Michelle Kwan. U.S. ladies have gone through a Worlds and Olympics medal drought since 2006, but they have still contended on the international stage before and since Michelle Kwan. U.S. ice dancers have been very dominant for quite awhile, and we've had a number of talented winners and contenders in the men's division who have impacted the sport, even despite not being as competitive in the arena of quads in recent years. But that's not to say that U.S. men haven't trained and competed quads well before Nathan came along. U.S. men helped to pioneer quads from the 1980s onward.
A U.S. man, Brandon Mroz, was the first skater to land a quad lutz in a sanctioned ISU competition. Timothy Goebel was the first skater to land 3 quads in a free program. Evan Lysacek landed a quad/triple combo in 2007 at U.S. Nationals to win his first national championship. Evan did not need a quad to win 2010 Olympics because the sport was not ahead of the curve regarding the quad. Of course after 2010, the sport began to over-react in regard to quad development. Johnny Weir landed quads in practice but did not try them in competition pre 2010. To his credit, Johnny impacted the sport with his amazing elegance, technical purity, and his perfect erect posture in landing effortless looking jumps. Johnny's triple axel was a beauty to behold. Jeremy Abbott is a wonderful artist and dancer on the ice who inspired many of his peers. Of course there are many, many other great U.S. skaters, including Matthew Savoie, Adam Rippon, Jason Brown, Todd Eldredge, Rudy Galindo, Paul Wylie, Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano, Charlie Tickner, Jon Misha Petkevich, Dick Button, et al.
Obviously, Nathan Chen is just one in a long line of groundbreaking American skaters. Nathan may or may not revive interest in figure skating in the U.S. That remains to be seen.
