Домой United States USA — Sport The US Figure Skating Team Is Already Making History Before The Olympics

The US Figure Skating Team Is Already Making History Before The Olympics

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As they prepare for the Beijing Olympics 2022, meet the members of the U.S. figure skating team.
Celebrity There are multiple record-setters in the bunch. It may seem like summer’s athletes only just hung up their leotards and gold medals, but another Olympics is already upon us — a much colder one, of course. After the summer games were postponed a year due to COVID, the 2022 Winter Olympics are here to get the international competition back on schedule. Figure skating is one of the most popular (and most Googled) Winter Olympics sports, and how could it not be? From the dramatic costumes to the moves so majestic they defy everything you thought you knew about balance, the event is a guaranteed good time. Going into the Beijing Olympics, Team USA writes that it “[expects] to battle Russia and Japan for podium spots.” (The latter country is the sport’s most awarded in history, per The Atlantic.) It’s a daunting task, but on Jan.10, the organization announced the lineup of skaters who might just help them do it. Here are the individuals and pairs going for gold on the U.S. figure skating team at the 2022 Winter Olympics, which hit the ice Feb.4. At 25, Mariah Bell is the oldest U.S. woman’s figure skating champion in nearly 100 years, per Team USA. (Much like gymnastics, the sport skews super young.) Though she only just secured her first U.S. title in January, she already has three Grand Prix medals and has been skating for a long time. In fact, she and fellow Team USA skater Nathan Chen (who you’ll meet soon on this list) grew up together and are best friends, according to Fan Zone. Since competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics,22-year-old Karen Chen’s been pretty busy — from promoting her memoir, Finding the Edge, to becoming a student at Cornell University. Though she’s on leave to compete at the 2022 games, Chen told the school’s alumni magazine that she was “committed to [her] decision” to being a student. “It was hard that year, trying to train while being a normal college student, but I do feel like I grew and learned a lot about myself… I think it helped me prioritize my goals.” The U.S. silver medalist has some help figuring it all out, of course — her mentor and fellow Fremont native, Kristi Yamaguchi, has been supporting Chen for 10 years and counting. Alysa Liu became the first woman to pull off a triple axel and quadruple jump in the same program in 2019, the year she became the youngest-ever U.S. champion at just 13 years old. Even though Liu had to withdraw from the U.

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