His father, Zhidong Chen, met his future wife in the Chinese capital. I don’t want them to go out in the park to walk and then get beat up or worse things to happen to them."Ĭhen’s mother, Hetty Wang, grew up in Beijing. I worry about my parents more so than myself. "Of course it has impacted me because I am disgusted by the amount of hate and violence that has occurred upon Asian-Americans and Asians in general in the U.S." "Thank you for bringing that up," he said. In a media Zoom call soon after he won a third straight world championship last March, Chen was sadly grateful to be asked about how he dealt with that situation as a high-profile athlete. The two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have been a fraught time for Asian-Americans in the United States, who have been subject to hate crimes and aggressions, both physical and verbal, as a result of their ethnicity. The newcomer is Alysa Liu, who also cites Kwan as the influence that led her to the sport.įittingly, when TIME magazine in 2019 chose Liu as one of its "100 Next" people who could shape the future of fields including business, entertainment, sports, politics and science, it asked Kwan to write a brief essay about the then-14-year-old Liu. Two, Vincent Zhouand Karen Chen, had also been on the 2018 team with him. "I was so touched to hear that from Nathan," she said in a text message Thursday.Ĭhen is one of four Chinese-Americans among the six singles skaters on the 2022 U.S. Kwan, a two-time Olympic medalist and five-time world champion, was moved by Chen’s words. Olympic Flame Extinguished in Beijing, Italy Waves in Milano Cortina 2026 "Of course, I’ll never reach Michelle Kwan stature," he said. That goes back to the power of representation."Ĭhen expressed hope he could be the same inspiration for other children. "Having an athlete that looks like you gives you the hope you can do the same. "Growing up in Salt Lake City and having a face like Michelle Kwan is very inspirational," he said. In interviews following his Olympic triumph Thursday, the first gold medal by a singles skater of Chinese ethnicity, Chen acknowledged more than once how much Kwan had meant to his career as a figure skater. titles in Salt Lake City three months before Chen was born in 1999. That was Michelle Kwan, one of the most decorated and most admired skaters in history, who won an Olympic bronze medal in 2002 - and, coincidentally, the third of her nine U.S. and others in the Chinese-American community. What captivated Chen equally was seeing - both at the Olympics and in the following years - a skater who was not only a champion but also a person who looked like him. He began skating at 3, not long after watching snippets of NBC’s Olympic broadcasts. Where speakers use Kriol, we attempt to faithfully reproduce the quotes using a standard spelling system.Nathan Chen has talked frequently about the motivational impact of growing up in Salt Lake City, where reminders of the 2002 Winter Games were widely visible around town throughout his childhood. Viewers please note: This Internet newscast is a verbatim transcript of our evening television newscast. This morning she wasn’t really on her game but she came out, she ran, she had to stop a few times but she made it and she’s really looking for forward to going outside of the country for one of those games.” But this is mine, Jamie and she’s only hearing impaired and she’s been getting so much experience just from being a part of Special Olympics. Special Olympics has been helping children for many years now just getting to be open and most of the time people hide their children and we don’t really know what’s going on with them. “ As you can see, I have a daughter that is a special needs child so whatever I need to do to support her, I’ll have to do. Sophia Muschamp, Mother of Special Needs Student It’s a great challenge and its going to help you keep your body in shape and make you as active as possible and keep you out of trouble especially for the youths of today.” They’re not like us and they deserve to be equally challenged just like us because they are human beings as well. “I normally run at the national level and I decided to come do this to encourage other youths to come out and make something of their selves because basically the kids are non-average. Open Your Eyes broadcast live the even here are some snippets of how that went this morning.įrederick Gabourel, Winner, Three Mile Fun Run They were joined this morning by the organization known as One World Running, which donated tennis shoes to the kids. Early this morning hundreds of kids and supporters of the Special Olympics took part in their annual sporting event that concluded at the Stella Maris School compound on Princess Margaret Drive.
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