Rafael Arutunian is going through a bit of deja vu right now. Some 12 years after taking on a young Japanese prodigy in Mao Asada, the Armenian coach is do
Ice Time moved on and queried Arutunian about Chen, who will be moving across the U.S. to attend Yale in the fall in New Haven, Connecticut.
“I give everyone the chance to make their own decisions,” Arutunian said. “Basically, he was accepted at Yale, which is a very high-level university. I think he is so excited that they accepted him. So he wants to try to skate and study together.
“What he told me is, ‘I want to try it.’ He doesn’t want to leave me, and he knows that I am the coach that basically made him who he is,” Arutunian said confidently.
“He wants to try to study and skate, which in my opinion is very, very hard,” Arutunian stated. “But this is the only time he can try to do it. He told me, ‘Rafael, if it doesn’t work, we can do something about it.’ He will recalculate his life and start to do what would be necessary. Again, it’s his life, not my life.”
I asked if Arutunian would be able to work out a bicoastal arrangement where he could work with his prized pupil.
“It would be very hard to do it,” Arutunian acknowledged. “It was the same with Mao and Jeffrey. It was difficult. Sometimes Mao wanted me to go to Japan and I said, ‘No. I can’t do it.’
“Here I have Marin. I have Michal (Brezina). I have (Lim) Eun-soo from Korea,” Arutunian remarked. “I have some very good skaters. I will try my best. But it will be difficult.”
After finishing fifth in the Olympics, Nathan Chen won the world championship, cleanly landing five quadruple jumps in his free skate to become the first American man to win the title since Evan Lysacek prevailed in 2009.
"I don't regret anything at the Olympics. I honestly wouldn't change it if I could," said Chen, who is a featured performer in the Stars on Ice troupe that will make a stop in Anaheim on Saturday.
"I think I grew a lot as a person, I grew a lot as a skater, because of the mistakes. Obviously, that didn't happen at the greatest time, but people aren't always perfect and it was a good experience for me to know what it's like to be in that rut, to be that low in the rankings, because through the majority of my career I had been top-six at least. So it was a completely new situation that I wasn't prepared for, but because I wasn't prepared for it, I think that should help me in the long run."
Having conquered that challenge, Chen is preparing to take on another that's equally monumental and involves much more than reeling off an array of quadruple jumps.
Chen has committed to attending Yale in the fall with the intention of majoring in statistics, maybe to go into the field of medical statistics. That's pressure enough, but he also plans to continue competing in Grand Prix events, and the U.S. and world championships.
Intense study and elite figure skating aren't an easy mix because of the demands that come with each path. Sarah Hughes, the 2002 women's Olympic gold medalist, attended Yale but after her competitive career ended; she's now at Penn Law School. Michelle Kwan, a silver medalist in 1998 and bronze medalist in 2002, also waited until her competitive days ended before she graduated from the University of Denver and got a master's degree from Tufts. Going back in Olympic history, American Tenley Albright competed while studying at Radcliffe — often skating at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. before her classes — but took a break from school to prepare for the 1956 Winter Games, where she added a gold medal to the silver she had earned in 1952. She later enrolled at Harvard and became a renowned surgeon.
How will Chen manage to balance schoolwork and skating? "To be determined," he said, laughing, during a phone conversation. "There are rinks around campus that I can skate at and coaches, but we'll figure out something good. We already have a preliminary plan set out so it should be good."
That plan also involves Chen returning to Southern California to work with his coach, Rafael Arutunian, during breaks. "I'm going to be home probably four months out of the year, anyway, just for summer break, spring break, etc. I'd have to use that time to really work with him," Chen said. "I'll also try to bring him out every now and then if he's available. I know he has a lot of students back in California right now, but as much as he can. And outside of that I'll check in with him at the end of every week and go from there."
In the meantime, Chen is enjoying the team atmosphere of Stars on Ice. He skates in the opening and closing numbers, two individual performances, and two group numbers. But don't look for any six-quadruple jump routines. "I have been throwing in a quad toe in most of the shows, just to challenge myself a little bit," he said. "I don't want to put myself at risk of injury so I've been limiting the number that I'm doing, but I figured one a show — there's 22 total shows. I practice way more quads in practice than I would in a show. Just to put myself a little bit in spots, under pressure."
He's also in a dance routine in which he and Ashley Wagner perform with 2014 Olympic ice dance gold medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White, and U.S. ice dance champions Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue. For someone who likes challenges, an Olympic ice dance medal might be an interesting goal. "2022 is still quite a long ways away. 2026 is even longer," Chen said. "No, I'm joking."
His ambitions as a full-time college student and elite singles skater are no joke.
“I still have a lot of questions that I want answered.”
“I’ve committed,” to the Ivy League school, Chen said at the Figure Skating in Harlem gala in Manhattan on Tuesday night.
The 18-year-old world champion plans to move to New Haven, Conn., after U.S. Figure Skating’s preseason Champs Camp in Colorado Springs, Colo., typically in mid-to-late August. Classes start Aug. 29.
Chen spoke after attending Bulldog Days, a freshman orientation, in New Haven last week. Asked if he was recognized by other prospective students, Chen joked that he took about 400 or 500 photos. He also consolidated his belief that he can make this work.
“Trying to figure out a long-term academic progression,” he said. “Trying to figure out how to plan around [Beijing] ’22. I still have a lot of questions that I want answered, but I think that’ll come as time progresses.
“I want to have a test run, just to see how practice is going to work with school because I know there’s a rink about 30 minutes out from campus. I need to know what my course schedule will look like, like how many courses will be in the morning, afternoon and evening and when I can plan skating around that.
“Mostly right now it’s to make sure I’m willing to commit to Yale, they’re willing to commit with me, and that seems to be the case.”
Chen said he’s already brought up his ideal competition scenario for the fall — competing at Skate America in October and Grand Prix France in November. The Grand Prix Final in Vancouver in December starts on the last two days of classes before a weeklong break ahead of final exams. The world championships take place during spring break.
He would have to miss classes to compete at the U.S. Championships in January in Detroit.
“[Yale] said, typically, it should be OK,” said Chen, who is currently touring with Stars on Ice. “Those are some of the questions that I have that need to be answered.”
He has the option of taking up to two full semesters off before the 2022 Winter Games.
Chen would not be the first figure skater to attend Yale, but 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes did so after retiring from competition. Chen said he will probably have the same freshman adviser that Hughes had.
“This first year is to decide, see how much I can handle them both [school and skating], then go from there,” he said.
Chen does not plan to seek a second coach close to Yale to supplement his Southern California-based coach, Rafael Arutyunyan.
“I’ll try to get back [to California] as much as I can, slash bring Raf [to New Haven] as much as I can, but I think most of it will have to be done pretty remotely,” he said. “I’ll just stick with Raf and check in with him at the end of every week.
“I’ve spent 13 years of my life on the ice, so I already know the fundamentals of skating. Raf has educated me well to take the reins myself. We’ll try it. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, we’ll try to figure out something else.”
dailybridgerton
kaledo-art
andulkaphoto
titsay
izzy806
snowghoul
baratheonpilled
