4/11
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Age: 22
Events: Men's Singles, Team Event
Take one look at Chen's track record and you'll see why he's one of the biggest names in men's figure skating. He's won three World titles, six U.S. titles and 10 Grand Prix Series medals.
Chen competed at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, where he won bronze in the figure skating team event. And while he'd hoped to take home a medal in the individual men's event, he fell during his short program, dropping to 17th place.
"Honestly, it was bad," Chen said afterwards, per The Guardian. "I made as many mistakes as I possibly could have."
Still, he didn't give up and dominated the free skate, moving back up to fifth place. Now, he's going for gold again—and he's already landed the second highest short program score ever in the team event. However, this time around, it's about more than his medal count.
"Ultimately, I want to be able to go to Beijing and just you know, as cliché as it sounds, just enjoy that experience as much as I can," Chen, who was born in Utah and started skating at age 3, told Lester Holt for NBC's Nightly News. "You know, I have been thinking, like, five years, 10 years down the line, I want to be able to look back on my career and be like, 'Man, like, I loved it. I, you know, enjoyed every moment.' And I don't want to go back and be like, 'I don't remember. I just remember being stressed out.' I'm just trying to restructure my thinking so that, win or lose, I'll be able to look back and be like, 'That was a great experience.'"
Off the ice, Chen—who also competed in gymnastics at state and regional levels for seven years and has trained in ballet—enjoys playing guitar and biking. He's also a student at Yale but took a break from his studies to focus on getting ready for the Olympics.