GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Out there on the ice at the Pyeongchang Olympics, with nearly 12,000 fans watching in the arena and millions tuning in on TV, Nathan Chen was finally alone.
Gone from his head were the marketers, reporters, coaches, publicists and fans who had labeled him America’s next Olympic star.
Gone, too, were the expectations for him to win a medal as the best American figure skater of his generation. A dreadful 17th-place finish in the short program had taken care of that.
Enough, already, he said to himself.
Enough of that noise.