As a long-time figure skating fan, I always look forward to watching the skating events at the Winter Olympics, even though I may not be as familiar with the skaters competing that year – which was certainly the case last month when I tuned into the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics and did not recognize any of the skaters, since majority of my favorite skaters are ones who were active in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, and are all mostly retired now. That said, I did see many familiar faces in the audience, as many retired skaters attended the figure skating events as either commentators or to support the skaters and their teams. While watching those events, I was delighted to see so many of my favorite skaters sitting in the crowd, especially given how the previous Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022 were held in a bubble due to COVID, with the arena mostly empty since spectators were not allowed to attend. Speaking of the Beijing Olympics, one of the skaters I saw in the audience during the Milan Cortina Olympics was Nathan Chen, who had won the gold medal in Men’s Figure Skating during those games – seeing Nathan reminded me that I’ve had his memoir on my TBR since it came out back in November 2022 and perhaps now would be a good chance to finally get around to reading it. As I’ve been doing with memoirs since the end of last year, I decided to listen to this one via audio so I could hear Nathan narrate his own story (this strategy of listening to the author narrate their own memoir / book has so far elevated the reading experience for me each time).
In his memoir, which is cowritten with Alice Park, Nathan recounts his journey to Olympic gold -- starting from the time he put on his first pair of skates at three years old, to his various experiences climbing the ranks of elite figure skating, all the way through to his disastrous performance at the 2018 Pyongchang games and how he rebounded four years later in Beijing to win gold at an Olympic games that was held under strict COVID protocols, a dynamic that added another layer of pressure to an already stressful and demanding sport. Along the way, Nathan reflects on the trials and tribulations of competing as a professional figure skater as well as the impact that his family’s unwavering support and sacrifices throughout the years have had on his journey. Especially significant for Nathan is the fact that he won the gold medal during the Olympics held in the country of his parents’ birth, giving his journey a sense of coming full circle. Nathan has always come across to me as humble and grateful, and this impression of him was definitely reinforced throughout the memoir, as Nathan brings up his family a lot and it’s pretty obvious that he holds them in high regard, which is refreshing to see.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this and it was fun getting to re-immerse myself in the figure skating world again (which I don’t do as often anymore), but I did feel that the audio experience was a bit lackluster, especially when compared to some of the other ones I’ve read / listened to recently. With that said, I would still recommend this one, especially to skating fans, as it is no doubt an inspiring and encouraging story – and of course, this book will definitely be a treat for Nathan’s fans.
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