Nathan Chen Pulls Back the Curtain on Life in the Media Spotlight

As has become tradition, Nathan Chen was the star of the show during the press conference that followed the men's free skate at last month's 2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
 
Instead of being asked much about his performances in Las Vegas, winning a fifth consecutive title – a feat last seen by the legendary Dick Button roughly 70 years prior – or even his winning streak of now 13 competitions, Chen found himself answering a slew of questions about potentially competing at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 (still more than a year away at the time) and even some on his performance at the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games from three years earlier.
 
In fact, those were the primary topics of conversation any time Chen was in front of reporters that weekend.
 
"One of the interviewers was asking me if there's Olympic real estate in my head," Chen recalled, "and I'm like, honestly, not really until you bring it up."
 
So how does one of the sport's marquee stars handle having to focus on an event so far in the future – or past – every time a reporter chooses to bring it up?
 
"It is what it is, and I am expecting that to happen, but at the same time it's not my favorite to talk about," he admitted. "It's fine. … On the bright side, it really feels like not much time has elapsed between the last Games and the next one. I'm really looking forward to hopefully competing, it's going to be pretty crazy. Having the experience [and knowing] that that's likely going to happen again, I can sort of prepare myself for that earlier this time."
 
Chen also offered up that being forced to relive his Olympic short program performance from PyeongChang is one of his least favorite lines of questioning.
 
Only 18 years old at the time, he absolutely entered those Games as a favorite to win gold. Chen was coming off a win at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, and one year earlier had topped reigning Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan for the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships title, at the Olympic venue to boot.
 
As has been told countless times, Chen had a "disastrous" short program, sitting 17th after the first day of competition. He then earned the highest free skate score – with six quadruple jumps attempted, five of which were landed cleanly – and improved to fifth at his Olympic debut. He went on to earn the World title the following month and has won every individual competition he's entered in the nearly three years that followed.
 
Just as it has become expected that Chen will be atop a podium, it is also canon that he has frequent interview requests. Leading up to an event, throughout the competition and even in the off-season, Chen speaks to members of both domestic and international media frequently, via mixed zones, press conferences, phone interviews or video shoots.
 
At times repetitive, it is a part of his life he has learned to accept and even appreciate.
 
"It's cool because, especially as a fan of other sports, you see these athletes on the field of play and it's like, wow, they're pretty incredible, but you don't actually know this person; you don't what their voice sounds like or how they talk," Chen said. "It's cool to be able to hear the way they think, the way they act off the field of play, as well as their mindset."
 
Chen sees interviews as a rare way for fans like himself to connect with athletes and have insight into their experiences on the field of play and personality off of it. As an athlete, he finds it helpful to have the opportunity to explain why he laid out the jumps in his program a certain way or what may have gone wrong during a performance, given he is the only one out there experiencing it all firsthand.
 
As a rising star in the sport since winning the U.S. junior title in 2014, and a bona fide one since earning the nickname "quad king" circa 2016, Chen has hundreds of interview requests, remarking that he definitely hopes he has improved at the art of being interviewed over the years.
 
"I think my time in college helped me as far as interviews too. Sometimes when interviews come my way, I can't formulate exactly what I'm trying to say as I'm trying to say it, and then when I look back, I'm like, 'Oh man, I should've said it this way!' But it is what it is."
 
His next opportunity to speak to a large group of reporters will come at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021, scheduled for March 22-28 in Stockholm,.
 
Between U.S. Championships being moved up nearly two weeks this year and Chen taking time off from his studies at Yale, this window of two-plus months is the most ice time Chen has had in his senior career leading up to Worlds, which has allowed him to take training more slowly this time.
 
"I think now the focus should just be on making sure that I stay healthy because with the additional volume of me on the ice, it sometimes correlates to having higher risk of injury," he explained.
 
The two-time reigning World champion is thrilled by the thought of competing against a full international field for the first time in two years – after last year's event was canceled at the onset of the pandemic – which is expected to include Hanyu.
 
The world's two most prominent names in men's figure skating have not faced off since the 2019 Grand Prix Final. Hanyu's only competition so far this season has been Japan's national championships, which he won for the fifth time in his career. Chen followed closely and was impressed by what he saw, noting Hanyu is clearly at the top of his game.
 
"I always look forward to competing against him," Chen said of Japan's two-time Olympic champion. "You have to respect the amount of popularity he's brought to the sport; without him, the sport would not have the amount of success that it's had. He definitely has brought a lot of attention to myself, to other people, just because he's present there. …
 
"As great of a competitor he is, as great of a skater he is, imagine the NFL without [Tom] Brady. It feels different, so it would feel less impressive. It's always great to have opportunities to compete against him."