An Interview With Nathan Chen, Winter Olympics 2018 Figure Skater
The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea are finally underway. That means all of our friends and family are glued to their televisions; decking themselves out in red, white, and blue (or whatever the colors of their chosen team); and asking "did you see that snowboard cross/luge/figure skating final?". Back in September, we caught up with Olympic hopefuls before their very busy fall of training and competitions leading to the Games. We ran each of them through our Teen Vogue Olympics questionnaire designed to help you get to know Team USA's top competitors as they hit the world stage in Pyeongchang. Read on to find out more about Team USA figure skater Nathan Chen.
What is your hidden talent, or something people don't know about you?
Nathan Chen: I play guitar.
What's your favorite junk food?
NC: My favorite junk food, currently brownies.
What's your favorite food in general?
NC: Differs on my mood but sushi, pizza, burgers.
What would you major in in college?
NC: Probably bio. Biology.
What subject in school are you best at?
NC: Best in science. I like biology a lot.
How do you wake up in the morning? Do you have to press your snooze a lot, do you get right out of bed?
NC: Oh I press snooze like a million times.
Who do you look up to?
NC: I look up to my parents, I look up to my siblings.
What is something that everybody gets wrong about your sport?
NC: Just again, the general misconception that all male figure skaters are gay.
What do you bring with you whenever you travel?
NC: I always carry my phone with me, I always have a computer on me. Basically that's it, yeah. Those are the two things I always like to have.
What's the last thing you posted to Instagram?
NC: Oh I posted a bunch of my training mates on the ice.
What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
NC: The weirdest thing? Probably pig feet or something. That was pretty gross.
What are you most excited about with regards to the Olympics?
NC: I think just being there at the Olympics, really realizing that I fulfilled my dream of going to the Olympic games, and then also hopefully being able to both be at the opening and closing ceremonies, just standing together as team USA and then seeing all the other athletes and just seeing everyone come together as one.
How young were you when you started?
NC: I was three years old when I started skating.
What drew you to skating?
NC: I wanted to be a hockey player, but again, my mom wanted me to learn how to skate first and thought that the figure skate looked easier.
If you weren't a figure skater, what would you be doing instead?
NC: Honestly, I just think I'd be a full-time student. Just a regular kid.
Other than figure skating, what's your dream career?
NC: I want to do something in medicine, for sure. I don't know what exactly that entails, but something along those lines.
What's the hardest part about being an athlete?
NC: Just days where you're super unmotivated, having to wake up super early in the morning to go train when you really don't want to. I think those are the most difficult things.
What's the best thing about being an athlete?
NC: Just seeing all your hard work come to fruition at different competitions.
Where's the coolest place you've traveled?
NC: I really enjoy traveling to ... I went to Spain. That was really cool. Japan was really cool. France was really cool.
What do you usually eat in a day?
NC: Kind of differs. In the morning I'll have some sort of protein, carb, sugar, dairy-based mix. Whether that's cereal or just a breakfast sandwich or something. Throughout the day I'll make sure that I drink a lot of Power aid or some sort of ... Just make sure that I'm hydrated throughout the day. I'll have a bunch of snacks throughout the day so I have a bunch of little meals throughout the day. Not one big one and then at the end of the day I'll have a nice dinner basically just portioned out with like a third carbs, a third protein, a third veggies with some soup or something to help with hydration.
What's something about your gear or your outfit that people may not realize?
NC: Just how much work goes into each thing that we wear on the ice. How much planning goes into it, how much thought goes into it, and then also how light all our gear is. It's super, super flowy, super really light and it's really nice.
What TV show are you obsessed with right now?
NC: Currently rewatching Parks and Rec, but super into that right now.
What's your biggest phobia?
NC: Well there's few things that I really hate. One is I hate spiders, I'm terrified of spiders. And then two is also when you're wearing headphones and they just get ripped out of your ears on accident but hitting something. Those are the worst. Those are the two things that I hate the most.
Do you have a favorite celebrity?
NC: I love Emma Watson. She's amazing. Also I'm a huge fan of Harry Potter so that helps.
Do you have a celebrity crush?
NC: Emma Watson.
If one celebrity could watch you compete in the Olympics, who would you want it to be?
NC: Emma Watson.
What's the one thing you always have to have when you're competing?
NC: Fresh socks. I like to have really, really thick socks. Not a lot of other skaters do that. I just like to have my feet completely compressed in my boot.
If you were reading about you on TeenVogue.com, what would you want people to know about you?
NC: Just that I'm like a normal kid outside of skating. Obviously I have skating, this is kind of my profession, this is what I'm really good at, but outside of that I'm just a typical normal kid.
To learn more, visit teamusa.org.
Related: Adam Rippon Is the Olympics Hero We Need Right Now
