Naomi Nari Nam Returns to U.S. Championships as a Pairs Skater
Jake Duhaime, Special to U.S. Figure Skating Online

But that isn't her style.

“I've wanted to go to the Olympics since I was 6 years old,” Nam told U.S. Figure Skating in early December. “It's something that still inspires me when I get on the ice.”

It has been a long and winding road to St. Louis for Nam. It's a journey that's included a devastating injury, a tumultuous comeback and a switch from singles to pairs. It's also given her a chance to enjoy life as a teenager, get her high school diploma and discover that her true calling is on the same ice she's been skating on since she was a child.

It was nearly seven years ago, at the 1999 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah, when Nam started to draw comparisons to Michelle Kwan and Kristi Yamaguchi. The then 13-year-old landed five triple jumps, electrified the crowd and won the ladies silver medal, finishing behind Kwan.

“I was just so excited to be competing against Michelle,” said Nam of that performance. “I didn't think of her as a competitor. Actually, I didn't think of anything. I just skated. There was no pressure, no anything.”

In the eyes of many Nam was the complete package, the future of U.S. Figure Skating. She had the jumps, spins and the gold-medal-winning smile. Her future was bright, and her potential was seemingly endless.

But fate has a way of toying with Olympic dreams.

In July of 2000 Nam started to experience tendonitis in her hip. At the time she thought nothing of it and gave the hip some rest before the 2000-01 season. A few months later, as she was training for a Junior Grand Prix event, she tried to do a triple Lutz, heard something pop and quickly fell to the ground in pain.

“I didn't know what happened,” Nam said, “But I knew it was bad.”

She went and saw two doctors, both of whom diagnosed her with a fracture in her growth plate. She had no choice but to rest and let the injury heal. Though sidelined, Nam hoped to still make it back in time for the 2001 U.S. Championships later that season. As the injury healed and her training progressed, Nam headed to the U.S. Championships in Boston hoping that the injury was behind her.

Unfortunately for her, it wasn't. She was forced to pull out of the event when her hip started to act up again the day before the competition.

“I was crushed,” Nam said. “Things were going really, really well. Then the day before nationals it started hurting again. I was just devastated.”

Upon the recommendation of 1998 Olympic champion Tara Lipinski, she went to Florida and saw the same doctor who operated on Lipinski's hip just a few months earlier. Nam was diagnosed with the same exact injury, torn cartilage in her hip joint. The next day she underwent surgery at Holy Cross Hospital in Florida. Her dream of competing at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake was dead. Her future in the sport was very much uncertain.

During the 2002 Olympics, Nam was trying to avoid the action as much as she could. She knew that she very well could have been there if her body had cooperated.

“It was the hardest thing about being injured,” Nam said. “I knew what was going on, but I just remember that I just really didn't want to watch it.”

As Sarah Hughes and Sasha Cohen basked in the spotlight following the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, Nam tried her best not only to recuperate but to live a normal teenager's life. She focused on graduating high school, going to her prom and landing her first job.

“I worked at a Coffee Bean near my house,” Nam said. “My cousin was the manager. I made espresso drinks and blended coffee. I wanted to work; I wanted a job. I wanted to go to high school and be relatively normal.”

She didn't want any special treatment when it came to her education. She describes herself as a procrastinator who ends up getting all of her work done. She enjoyed the friends she made and the fact that she got to be Naomi instead of “Naomi the Skater,” with a few exceptions.

“You know what high school's like…things travel quickly,” Nam said. “I had teachers ask me questions about skating, but that was about it.”

Though she kept on skating, she was consistently frustrated with her body's inability to keep up with her desire to get better.

“It was very hard emotionally,” Nam said. “I thought I was going really slow and at the doctor's pace, but I was actually going too fast. I kept focusing on what I needed to do to get back to competing, where it hurt my recovery.”

In addition to trying to come back, she also ventured into the world of coaching. The majority of her young students (ages 3-13) knew nothing about her talents and her accomplishments on the ice. They just appreciated her as their teacher, friend and big sister.

“I love little kids,” said Nam of her coaching experience. “It's an awesome feeling having them look up to you.”

She has no desire to become a full-time coach, but her experiences coaching have changed her life. She says she wants to become a third-grade teacher when she's done skating. But her coaching experience also sparked her desire to get back into the competitive aspect of the sport.

“I was coaching one day and thought ‘I love coaching, but I can't do this the rest of my life,'” Nam said. “I was still young. I could still have a career if I worked at it, so I decided to start skating again.”

When she tried out with Leftheris last year, she had no experience skating pairs. She had always been interested, yet her rapid ascent through the ladies ranks kept her from making the switch. She felt so comfortable and safe with Leftheris that she knew it was the right move.

Like Nam, Leftheris was a good jumper. He was also local and lived only 20 minutes away from the rink, meaning they could train together without having to move.

During the summer of 2005 Nam passed all of her pairs tests. She'll be the first to point out that making the adjustment isn't as easy as it seems.

“I had a lot to learn,” Nam said. “For girls (in pairs), you have to be so strong. You're getting thrown, getting lifted. You have to not only worry about yourself but the other person as well.”

The quick-gelling pair found its stride at last month's Pacific Coast Sectional Championships, winning the event by nearly 23 points with a score of 150.06 points. She'll head to her first U.S. Championships in six years next month as an older, more mature and grateful skater -- grateful that a second opportunity presented itself, and that her Olympic dreams are still very much alive.

“I feel like I've gotten a second chance from God,” she said. “I feel so blessed that I have the ability and love to skate. I just feel blessed.”

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