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But when Chen smiled he brought the house down. He finished with a standing ovation.
Chen’s coach Rafael Arutyunyan, the man who helped guide a young Michelle Kwan, said he knew that Chen would win.
“I knew when he came to Beijing, he is definitely better. Does anybody have any doubt now?,” he said.
Nathan Chen, 22, never looked like falling.Credit:Getty Images
Chen’s US teammate Mariah Bell was with him in the morning. They threw a football and did not talk about ice skating.
“This is the toughest part for him. The people around him were more nervous than he was. He deserves to be an Olympic champion. It’s so freaking cool.”
Hanyu, defeated by a force that he knew was coming, said he gave it all he could.
“Two mistakes, that’s the story of free skating,” he said. “I wanted to say thanks to the ice. I wanted to show my story.”
Hanyu may have left the sport he defined for good. The 27-year-old would not say if he would be at the world championships. “I need to take some time,” he said.
Australian Brendan Kerry finished 17th at the Beijing Olympics on Thursday.Credit:Getty Images
Australian skater Brendan Kerry, who finished 17th, said Hanyu would leave a huge mark on the ice and Chen was now seeing the reward of a decade of relentless commitment to a fast and often brutal sport.
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“[Hanyu’s] been on the top of his game for pretty much coming on to a decade now. The sacrifices he would have had to make, the injuries he would have had to manage, and the pressure of being a massive, massive celebrity,” he said.
“I just have nothing but respect and admiration for those guys.”
Kerry, who carried the flag for Australia in the final is going to take some of his own time to think about what is next.
“You know, everybody has goals, whether it’s to be in the top 10, top five to top eight,” he said.
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“Normally, I have those sorts of goals, but today, I don’t care. As cliche as that sounds. At the end of the day, when I have kids or grandkids no one’s gonna be like, well, where’d you come at the Olympics?
“They’re gonna be like, how was it? How’d you feel? And I’m gonna be like, well, I pretty much had the best day of my life at my third Olympic Games where I got to lead the country.”
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