The skater, hailed “Quad King,” wins in men’s single skating after a disappointing 2018 performance.
American skater Nathan Chen won his first Olympic gold medal this year in Beijing, China. After landing a historic four quads in his free program, Chen beat his competitors by almost ten points, a difference that Chen has made evident in his various competitive appearances in the last few years.
The 22 year old remains undefeated in the competitive season for the past three years, save for a third place finish at Skate America 2022. Chen is also currently a student at Yale University where he studies statistics and data sciences.
During The Olympics, Chen set out to distance himself from his performance at Pyeongchang in 2018, where a disappointing short program dashed his chances of becoming a medalist. Chen finished fifth at Pyeongchang, even after an 18th place finish following the shorts.
Chen’s main competition for these Olympics has been Yuzuru Hanyu, the Japanese skater who has won Olympic gold for the past two winter Olympics. Hanyu has also set a variety of records in the sport.
Chen and Hanyu’s matchup has been surrounded by multiple charges of corruption against the Olympics and the societal standards of figure skating in general. Hanyu, who finished in a surprising fourth place, claimed that large holes in the ice prevented him from landing a quadruple axel, a jump never before executed in the Olympics. This mistake cost him valuable points in his short program.
Additionally, Chen has faced backlash for comments made on a podcast during the summer of 2021, where he said that he faced hardships in a “homosexual dominated sport.”
Chen apologized for his comments, but has also faced criticism by Chinese media for his decision to compete as an American even with Chinese heritage. Many athletes have faced something similar, including Gu Ailing, who decided to compete for China, even as an American citizen.
The figure skating world has been under an especially watchful public eye ever since Russian superstar Kamila Valieva landed the first quadruple ever for women in the Olympics, but then tested positive for the banned drug trimetazidine (TMZ).
In Men’s Singles, Chen won gold, with a score of 332.60 in the combined short skate and free skate. Chen’s skate won by over 22 points, after a world-record short program. Chen danced in his free to an Elton John mashup, ending in a climactic Rocket Man where he pointed at the audience for “the greatest of all time” lyric. Behind him, Kagiyama Yuma and Uno Shoma from Japan took silver and bronze.
Both of Chen’s skates were defined by quadruple jumps, a classic when it comes to Chen’s skating. His go-to jump, the quad lutz, was executed perfectly, with the only jump-related mistakes coming at the end of the program where a missed quad landing led to a single jump before his dance break.
As figure skating continues to evolve, both men’s and women’s skating have a lot to answer for, from the treatment of the athletes to the societal standards that have overtaken the sport. For now, however, Chen remains the reigning World Champion, and now, an Olympic gold medalist.
