Winter Olympics 2010 Team USA: Singles Figure Skating

The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver are bound to be exciting this year as the world’s top athletes come together in a friendly atmosphere to see who will win the gold. Figure Skating is one of the most graceful sports to watch. It is an art form as well as a sport. Not only do skaters need to be fit athletes, but they also combine music and dancing into their routines. Figure skating is one of the oldest sports in the Winter Olympics, taking its place in the first games in 1924.

There are to be three skating events at the Vancouver games: Ice Dancing, Pairs Skating, and Singles Skating. There are five young Americans competing in singles skating in 2010. They are some of the most talented figure skaters in the world.

Rachael Flatt, 17

Rachael Flatt, a native of California, now trains at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. She won the silver medal at the US Figure Skating Championships two years in a row before bringing home the gold in 2010. She has been named Athlete of the Month for January 2010 at the training center.

Rachael has been skating most of her life, since she was four years old. Although she is one of the top skaters in the world, Rachael is still a teenage girl. She goes to high school, watches “The Office,” loves to read, and hopes to go to college to pursue a degree in the sciences.

Mirai Nagasu, 16

Mirai Nagasu won the US Championships in 2008 at the age of 14, becoming the second youngest female skater to win, after Tara Lipinski. At the 2010 US Championships, Mirai won the silver. Her coach is the one and only Frank Carroll.

Mirai’s parents are Japanese immigrants. Her name means “future” in Japanese, and surely Mirai has an exciting future ahead of her. She is one of the youngest members of the US Olympic Team. This young skater from California attends Arcadia High School and loves to read (yet another Twilight fan).

Jeremy Abbott, 24

Jeremy Abbott is a two-time US Champion (2009, 2010). He has many other medals in competitions all over the world. Before competing in singles skating, Jeremy participated in ice dancing and pairs skating.

Jeremy is a native of Colorado, but now lives in Michigan. He has been skating literally his entire life; he started at the age of two. His sister Gwen was a competitive skier, competing in the X Games. Although skating has a been such a big part of his life, Jeremy has many other interests, including snowboarding and music.

Evan Lysacek, 24

Evan Lysacek has won the US Championships twice, in 2007 and 2008. He also won the 2009 World Championships. Evan shares the same coach (Frank Carroll) with Mirai Nagasu. The Olympics are nothing new to Evan: he competed at Torino 2006 and placed fourth.

Originally from Illinois, Evan now trains in California. Evan started skating with hopes to play hockey, but his talent as a figure skater took off instead. He has been extremely successful in his skating career. Fashion queen Vera Wang (who was a figure skater in high school, competing at Nationals) now designs his costumes.

Johnny Weir, 25

Johnny Weir is another former Olympian, finishing fifth at the Olympics 2006. Johnny won three US Championships in a row, 2004-2006. In 2008, he won the bronze medal at the World Championships.

Unlike most professional skaters, Johnny didn’t start to figure skate until he was twelve years old. Before settling on figure skating, Johnny was very involved in equestrianism. Johnny is from Pennsylvania, but now trains in New Jersey. He is slightly obsessed with Russian culture and taught himself to speak the language. Johnny recently wore a tuft of fox fur on his costume, causing an uproar among animal activists. After receiving death threats and hate mail, Johnny has decided to opt for faux instead of fox.