Nathan Chen

[jackattack]

@yyyskate i probably can't answer as well because I don't know Nathan super well, but Vincent is pretty shy until he gets comfortable. I grew up with him and we're really close family friends and he's usually quiet and reserved is he's nervous and isn't 100% comfortable but once you get to know him better he's super easy to talk to!

 

[yyyskate]

@yyyskate i probably can't answer as well because I don't know Nathan super well, but Vincent is pretty shy until he gets comfortable. I grew up with him and we're really close family friends and he's usually quiet and reserved is he's nervous and isn't 100% comfortable but once you get to know him better he's super easy to talk to!

send-off banquet is a celebration dinner with Olympic team members, officials and journalist and fans. It happened right after gala, and it is the last chance that fans can interact of skaters. Send the beloved athletes off to their final preparation to 2018 OG.

Great to know that you are a family friends with Vincent. So will Vincent feel comfortable in situation like the send-off banquet. People in the practice repo thread mentioned Vincent is really shy. I am just curious, don't think shyness is necessarily a bad thing, it is his personality and it is kinda cute at time.

 

[penniavaswen]

@penniavaswen
can I ask you little bit more about Vincent
I read in the practice report thread, some poster said Vincent is very very shy, but you seems imply here Vincent is more out there than Nathan.
What is exactly their personalities?

Hmm, so unfortunately Vincent skedaddled before I got a chance to talk to him. I did creep on him while waiting my turn to talk to Nathan. He was definitely quieter and/or softer-spoken than everyone except maybe Bradie and Nathan. He left the dinner much earlier than everyone else, so perhaps he is a bit shier.
I was trying to observe them based on their working the room; I did notice that there didn't seem to be nearly as many people or press crowding for his attention. On the other hand he didn't appear to have an agent there like Nathan did. He did have a sizable collection of Japanese fans. He didn't seem particularly uncomfortable, just less experienced?

I do have a audio recording somewhere of him answering some questions during my oh-so-subtle eavesdropping, so I can try to glean more from that in a bit. I wish I had known he would be leaving so quickly, cause I would have tried a bit harder earlier in the night. Alas, I missed the ID/pairs teams as well.

ETA: ah, slower than the family friend above. Good to know that my observation wasn't too far off. Vincent hung around a standing table, but wasn't backed into the corner of the room like Nathan.

 

[penniavaswen]

haha ya i saw! what exactly is the send-off banquet?

The USFSA sent some sort of pre- competition promo email before the new year, which included a special event in which tickets were $100 that would benefit the families wanting to attend the Games with their athletes. I really wasn't sure if there was going to be any chance to talk to them individually, but we got lucky. I thought there would be kind of a panel discussion, like with the press conferences, but I guess they needed to give the whale donors a good chance to press the flesh and meet-and-greet. Like I mentioned earlier, considering that "normal" fans like me got tickets and possibly bumped out the press, it could have been a little better organized to get more money from us.

This actually ended up being the highlight of Nationals for me, which I hope tells you how cool it was (and does not imply that the rest was lame or anything like that).

^^ you can read @penniavaswen part 1,2,3 detailed account of her interaction with Nathan in the send-off banquet in this thread. It is not only informative but funny read.

Well, aren't you sweet :
I'm still trying to decide if I have much to add, but might not be 100% appropriate for the fanfest. I like to think that it comes from a place of love and expectation of greatness (which would be difficult for anyone to withstand!)

 

[Kelly]

I'm really looking forward to Nathan's exhibition this Sunday on NBC. Heard a lot of praise although he only did one jump (I guess he really
wants to conserve his energy or is healing something?).

 

[yyyskate]

@penniavaswen oh you are the sweetest one.:
Your part4 is eagerly waited.
I don't know about others, but I make jokes (hope my jokes come across as funny) about my fav skaters ALL the time. I also criticize them even on their fan thread(really hope did not offend anymore). But that is what I do only to my fav skaters. I believe most true fans will appreciate your intention (a place of love and expectation of greatness) right away. You know, on this fan thread, we have lots of "fastidious" fans.

I am also really interested in your interaction with Vincent, you may posted it Vincent's fanthread. much appreciated

 

[sheetz]

Nathan comes from behind to snatch the December Team USA Award! I didn't think there'd be enough time since he was still behind with only a few hours remaining, but looks like Japan came through in the end. Shibs also win comfortably.
https://awards.teamusa.org/

More photos
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdwQKnBhj91/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdv2SkkBNGV/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdur9vXnj5l/

 

[shine]

I'm really looking forward to Nathan's exhibition this Sunday on NBC. Heard a lot of praise although he only did one jump (I guess he really
wants to conserve his energy or is healing something?).

Hey, doing only one jump and still (alledgedly) able to bring the house down, that’s the hallmark of a great performer

 

[Bookworm]

Hey, doing only one jump and still (alledgedly) able to bring the house down, that’s the hallmark of a great performer

Nathan did two jumps in his program, if I am recalling correctly. No quads (he is getting wiser with time :thumbsup), but two nice triples.

 

[elysium8]

I'm at the Olympics send off event, met his mother and is creeping on his family eating the hors d'oeuvre. I can confirm the curls are natural, and his brother had them as well as glasses

Was this the 9pm to midnight event on Sunday at the Fairmont or was this something else?

 

[penniavaswen]

Was this the 9pm to midnight event on Sunday at the Fairmont or was this something else?

Yup, the Fairmont ballroom special event. About half the seats were reserved for high level donors, then I saw some press that I recognized (Rocker Skating, FS Magazine etc). I had a few officials pointed out, but didn't have a lot of face-memory capacity left at that point. Many of the previous Champions that were at the Gala were in attendance briefly at the beginning, then it was all about the new selectees. It was much more informal that I thought it would be once the keynotes were concluded. Highlight of the week for sure!

 

[sheetz]

TV segment on the men's olympic team. Shows a clip of Nathan landing 4T-1Lo-3F.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IESZ4gBhGgw

Speaking to reporters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVXvyx4yKeU

Skate America medalists on the cover of Skating Magazine
https://twitter.com/USFigureSkating/status/951112188839673857

 

[yyyskate]

4T-1l-3F

 

[sheetz]

Nathan is guest on the latest IceTalk
http://web.icenetwork.com/fans/icetalk

 

[jackattack]

I'm really looking forward to Nathan's exhibition this Sunday on NBC. Heard a lot of praise although he only did one jump (I guess he really
wants to conserve his energy or is healing something?).

I actually was at the exhibition, met Nathan and Vincent. Nathan's exhibition didn't have many jumps but his choreography was amazing! He looked like he was having such a nice time and he was really interacting with the crowd. Also not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet, but before he went on he received the Michelle Kwan trophy! :luv17: so crazy seeing him grow up in figure skating and become a skating legend

 

[Pacafla1]

TV segment on the men's olympic team. Shows a clip of Nathan landing 4T-1Lo-3F.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IESZ4gBhGgw
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That is a beautiful 4T-1Lo-3F! Thanks for posting it here sheetz!

Jonathan the TSL guy had some good words about Nathan’s new costumes as he saw them at nationals. He basically said white lines of sp costume well extend and reflect those arm movement, and the zipper of LP costume has visual effect makes the feel of speed., etc. I hope he is right!

He talks about Nathan's costume at 1:16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj8Z92HpLac&feature=youtu.be

 

[sheetz]

Nathan's exhibition didn't have many jumps but his choreography was amazing! He looked like he was having such a nice time and he was really interacting with the crowd.

I love how Nathan's EX programs aren't usually too jump heavy because it gives his body a break and allows him to work on other parts of his skating. His Parachute step sequences look a lot harder than what he does in his competitive programs.

Also not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet, but before he went on he received the Michelle Kwan trophy! :luv17: so crazy seeing him grow up in figure skating and become a skating legend

Here's a video clip of him receiving the award.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bds_EqkBcKt/

Another TV news segment about Nathan.
http://www.wralsportsfan.com/olympics/video/17240635/

Photo from the Olympic send off. Nathan is soooo underdressed compared to everyone--even Vincent.
https://twitter.com/gorachael/status/951143466540531712

 

[yyyskate]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS7ll5ZUQAIn_IC.jpg
from this image, you can really see how the FS costume worked magic to make Nathan's limbs looked so long comparing to before.

"His Parachute step sequences look a lot harder than what he does in his competitive programs." it just LOOKED a lot harder, his competitive programs steps are definitely more difficult.

 

[shine]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS7ll5ZUQAIn_IC.jpg
from this image, you can really see how the FS costume worked magic to make Nathan's limbs looked so long comparing to before.

"His Parachute step sequences look a lot harder than what he does in his competitive programs." it just LOOKED a lot harder, his competitive programs steps are definitely more difficult.

Agree about Parachute here. I think the footwork looks busier, but not necessarily harder than, say, his SP sequence. On a related note, I kinda miss the days when men were required to do 2 step sequences in the SP. I think that really set the great skaters apart from the rest, and I think Nathan would be awesome at it.

 

[1111bm]

Agree about Parachute here. I think the footwork looks busier, but not necessarily harder...

Yep, definitely. It's mostly threeturns... the speed at which he does it is cool though.
Actually I first took notice of Nathan when I saw his step sequences... that's basically why I became his fan, so...

ETA:

Jonathan the TSL guy had some good words about...
...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj8Z92HpLac&feature=youtu.be

I love how he also mentions (later in the video) that Nathan basically "hurled his body into the moves"... that is exactly what I admire about his skating and it's the type of skating that I find exciting.