It’s impossible to imagine what American skater Maxim Naumov has been through over the past 12 months.
Just a year earlier, his parents, former world pairs skating champions Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, were among 67 people killed in a plane crash in Washington, D.C. Twenty-eight of the people on the plane were athletes, coaches or parents associated with U.S. Figure Skating.
Naumov said his dream of making Team USA was one of the last things he talked to his parents about before they died.
“They are my superheroes, my role models and my biggest support system. I just wanted to be here and make them proud,” he told the BBC after the performance.
“My father once said, ‘Everything is practice until the Olympics.’ I can’t express in words how much it made me feel when he said that. And I hope he’s so proud that I was able to stand there.”
He competed in the Olympics and came second on ice on Tuesday, dancing to Frederic Chopin’s Nocturne No. 20.
After a slight slip on his triple axel, Naumov regained his composure and skated a technically solid routine.
After the game, the 24-year-old fell to his knees and looked up at the sky with tears in his eyes as the stadium erupted. He was captured on camera saying “Thank you” with a bright smile. That was probably true for everyone on and off the field.
And that was enough for the judges, who gave Naumov a season-high score of 85.65. That was enough to place her in the top 24 in Friday’s free skate.
As the scores came out, Naumov held up a photo of his parents, who died together when he was young.
“I take it with me wherever I go,” he said of the photo of him standing next to the ice rink and holding hands with his parents. “It’s in my bag, so it’s literally on my mind.
“They deserve to be here next to me and looking at the score together and saying, ‘Look what we just did!’”
