Persistence: The Long Game
Idon’t really talk about figure skating much, but I’m a fan. Now, I’m not nearly as obsessed these days as I was in the 1990s and 2000s, when I was known to travel up to Canada to catch a competition. But I’ll still watch U.S. Nationals and Worlds, and of course I’ll watch the hell out of the Olympics.
Back in 2010, skating fans were charmed by the adorable U.S. novice men’s champion, 10-year-old Nathan Chen. The novice competitions aren’t televised, but Nathan skated an energetic exhibition performance to “Peter and the Wolf.” When a reporter asked him when he envisioned himself going to the Olympics, he said “2018.”
I chuckled when he said that, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone. I mean, it’s good to have goals, but figure skating is a demanding and expensive sport. The odds of Nathan lasting eight more years in the sport — surviving puberty, avoiding career-ending injuries, and being able to continue to afford to compete — were long. The odds of him actually staying competitive enough over eight years to make an Olympic team? Really, really long.
There are no more than three spots on a figure skating Olympic team, and a hell of a lot more skaters who want them. And if you miss your shot one Olympic year, you have to wait four more years for another chance. Nathan had his work cut out for him.
Well, who’s chuckling now?
Not only did Nathan make that 2018 Olympic team, he did it as the two-time U.S. national champion. And with the five quad jumps he has in his arsenal and the wins he’s racked up in the last couple of seasons, he’s considered a strong medal contender at the Olympics. (I refuse to call him a favorite for the gold. There are a lot of strong contenders this time around, and besides, I’m a Michelle Kwan fan. Hearing skaters pronounced Olympic gold medal favorites makes me break out in hives.)
As you might have already gathered, I’ve been thinking about persistence and goals a lot lately. I don’t know how the odds of getting a literary agent and getting a book published compare to the odds of becoming an Olympic figure skater. Both rely on talent and hard work but also a few pinches of luck, good timing, and other things that are completely out of the person’s control. (Querying agents probably involves a lot more sitting and a lot less falling on ice, though. And I don’t have to face a panel of judges.)
But it’s inspiring to know that the little 10-year-old kid from 2010 stuck to his guns and reached his goal against truly daunting odds. How do you stay focused on something that long, knowing that the likelihood you’ll get it is so remote?
I don’t know. I’ve given up too easily before; this year, I’m going to try to stick with it.
Update, 2/11/2022: If you follow figure skating at all, you know that Nathan had a rough go of things at the 2018 Olympics. You also probably know by now that the 2018 Olympics were the last time he lost a competition until the 2021/2022 season, and that at the Beijing Olympics in 2022, he skated three amazing programs and finally became the Olympic champion he’d always seemed destined to be. This is a postscript I couldn’t be more delighted to write.
Also, if you’d like to see one of grown-up Nathan’s routines, here is his breathtaking freeskate from the 2021 Worlds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iUzd5dUNRM
