Meet Karen Chen, the Olympic Figure Skater Kristi Yamaguchi Calls the ‘Complete Package’
February 20, 2018When figure skater Karen Chen takes the ice in her first Olympics in Pyeongchang this week, she’ll have a very famous fan cheering her on back home: 1992 gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi.
A native of Fremont, California, 18-year-old Chen hails from the same city as Yamaguchi. They first met almost six years ago, when Chen was 12 years old, and since then Yamaguchi has become her mentor.
It wasn’t long after they met that Yamaguchi, a Milk Life partner, says she saw the potential for greatness in the young skater. And now, she says that Chen has it all to succeed in the sport.
“She really is the complete package of power and artistry,” Yamaguchi tells PEOPLE. “She has the technical ability to keep up with the best in the world, but I think she has a special spark and a maturity, despite the fact that she’s only 18. When she turns it on, people take notice.”
Karen Chen
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Chen takes Yamaguchi’s advice and counsel to heart, and the two have even started a tradition where the latter will sign Chen’s right skate boot before a competition. Chen asked Yamaguchi to do so the first time they met, and the ritual stuck.
“She’s just been so so supportive,” Chen tells PEOPLE of her mentor. “She told me ‘When you’re out there, just skate dumb. Let your body take over.’ At Worlds, I did think about that, and there were some good things that happened.”
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Good things have been happening for Chen, who rose to national prominence in early 2017 after she won the gold medal at last year’s National Championship.
It was only her second season skating as a senior level — and she didn’t just win, but set a new record, with a new all-time high score in the short program: 72.82.
She continued her strong performance at last year’s World Championships, where she went on to skate to fourth place — a moved that secured the United States’s three spots for ladies singles skating at the 2018 Olympics.
Karen Chen after completing her free skate at the 2018 U.S. National Championships
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Clearly, her age and small stature — she stands at just 4 feet, 10 inches tall — don’t hinder the power of her skating. In fact, intensity is what she hopes comes across when she skates.
“To me, it’s both the music and the choreography that bring out that intensity that I really want to showcase,” she tells PEOPLE. “The music is very strong and intense, and hopefully my skating will showcase that.”
She started skating at age four, but didn’t get “serious” about it until age six. By the time she hit seventh grade, her training schedule had become so rigorous that she left a traditional school environment to be homeschooled. (Her family is well-used to the skating culture: Her younger brother, Jeffrey, is an ice dancer.)
She started competing on an international level in 2013, coming in ninth at the 2014 World Junior Championships. In 2016, she moved up to the senior U.S. Championships, coming in eighth. But it was with her National Championship win in 2017 that Chen truly became a household name, giving her an increased visibility that comes with added pressure, she says.
“People still watch me on the ice, and because I’m the national champ they expect me to have everything together all the time,” she told the Mercury News last May. “I feel like people, because they know who I am, they’ll expect things from me, and sometimes that can give me additional pressure. It becomes a little stressful to think that people are watching my step.”
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Karen Chen competes at the 2017 U.S. Figure Skating Championships
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Though she’s had a few weaker skates throughout this season — coming in eighth place at the 2017 Skate America competition — she came in a respectable third at this year’s National Championships. The finish ultimately clinched her spot on the Olympic team over veteran Ashley Wagner. Even more impressive? She did so while battling a cold.
“I was very sick yesterday, I couldn’t practice,” Chen said the day of Nationals, according to USA Today. “I spent the whole day speaking to one doctor or another and I was extremely worried. I am so proud that I was able to forget about all of the pain and remind myself that I would keep fighting to the end and not let some stupid sickness win.”
After the Olympics, Chen hopes to spend a bit more time off the ice — even if competing in 2022 in Beijing isn’t entirely out of the question. She wants to attend UC Berkeley, UCLA or Stanford and hopes to eventually work in the medical field. These ambitions developed after dealing with several injuries throughout her own skating career, which she says gave her a deeper appreciation for what medical professionals do.
But before she turns her focus to a future following skating, Chen has PyeongChang. She secured her spot on the team after earning third place at this year’s U.S. Championships and sets off for South Korea in less than a month. And although she won’t have her mentor in South Korea with her — Yamaguchi will be working with NBC Sports out of their Stamford, Connecticut office — Chen has her utmost confidence.
Yamaguchi says: “When she skates the way she can, everything will fall into place.”
The 2018 Winter Olympics will air live, starting Feb. 8. To learn more, visit teamusa.org.