Costa Rica 9-Days $1295
Volcanoes, Beaches & Rainforests. Fully Guided Tour w/ All Hotels, Meals & Activities.
Join the smart shoppers and experienced travelers who have chosen Caravan since 1952.
Your Costa Rica Tour Itinerary Day 1. Welcome to San José, Costa Rica. Day 2. Explore the active Poás Volcano. Day 3. Visit a wildlife rescue center. Day 4. Cruise the Rio Frio. Relax and soak in volcanic hot springs. Day 5. Hike the Hanging Bridges. Continue to the Pacific Coast. Day 6. Enjoy your Beach Resort. Day 7. Cruise the Tarcoles River. Birdwatching & crocodile spotting. Day 8. Visit Manuel Antonio Park. Explore the rainforest and beaches. Day 9. Return with great memories. Hamilton was successfully treated for testicular cancer that had spread to his abdomen. He was diagnosed with benign brain tumors in 2004, 2010 and 2016, with treatment sometimes involving intricate surgery. Asked how he’s feeling today, he quips, “Older—I’ve never been this old before, so I have nothing to compare it to!” He likens his health battles to an anecdote in the Malcolm Gladwell book David and Goliath. “When Britain kept getting bombed during World War II, they didn’t surrender. They only became more emboldened. I can relate to that. I can survive life-threatening illnesses and know that I won’t be debilitated.”
Early to Rise
Despite the contrast in age and personalities, both stars say their lives fell into place once they discovered ice skating. Chen, a first-generation Taiwanese-American from Fremont, Calif., found her passion at age 6. “I was a shy kid and it was hard for me to venture out,” she says. “Once I laced up my skates and got out on the ice, I wasn’t shy anymore. Sure, I fell down. But I didn’t care what other people thought about me. I just got back up. I realized then that this was something I loved doing.”
Though she used to set her alarm for 4 a.m. for morning practices before school, “I was never exhausted, because I enjoyed skating so much.” (She’s now home-schooled.) By age 11, she could cleanly land triple jumps and the forward-pushing double axel. A year later, she won in the novice division. “It never hit me, like, ‘Oh, I’m really good at this! I’m amazing!’” she says. “As I worked, I just gradually got better.”
Hamilton spent his Ohio childhood in and out of hospitals due to a mysterious illness that stunted his growth (he’s 5 feet 3 inches). Once he started skating at age 9, his health began to improve. It took another few years until his talent matched his drive. “Oh, I was terrible!” he says. Every day at 6:45 a.m., he put on special soft-leather skates and spent six hours mastering the art of tracing figure eights on the ice, singing Kool and the Gang’s “Get Down on It” to get pumped.
“I learned through endless failure. I figured that I had nothing to lose because I was dead last all the time. Once you feel failure, it’s not a stranger anymore. That’s given me the ability to be resilient under really difficult circumstances.”
Chen’s lowest point came a few years ago when she suddenly felt throbbing pain in
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her back that shot down to her leg. Doctors discovered she had cracked a bone, which caused her lower vertebrae to slip forward. They advised her to stop skating. “It was a huge struggle and I was scared,” she admits. She got better with physical therapy. “Even now, the pain is just tolerable. It takes a lot of mental toughness to get over that.”
Hamilton estimates he fell down 41,600 times in his career— and got up 41,600 times. “That made me understand the process of facing a challenge,” he says. When he received his cancer diagnosis, “that didn’t make me happy. So I learned the process of getting better. Chemo, break, surgery, break, back to life. I can do that. It was not any different than failing a figures test and getting better at it. I just broke it down step by step, and I became more successful.”
Passing the Torch
Hamilton’s fondest memories are from his first games in 1980 at Lake Placid, N.Y. Team USA captains chose the 21-year-old to be the U.S. flag bearer as a reward for making the squad in the wake
of the death of his mom, Dorothy, from cancer. “That was an honor like no other, yet it was very comical,” he recalls, noting his shoes were nearly two sizes too big and his hat kept drooping over his eyes during the parade of nations.
He can still detail every day of those games, highlighted by the thrill of being in the arena when the U.S. upset Russia in the hockey semifinals, dubbed the “Miracle on Ice.”
To prepare for competitions when she was younger, Chen would play a recording of the 1998 ladies’ free skate, in which Tara Lipinski edged out fellow American Michelle Kwan in Nagano, Japan. “I would watch their programs right before I got on the ice,” she says. “I want to stand on that podium and wave to the crowd and have that medal around my neck.”
And if things don’t go exactly as planned in Pyeongchang? Well, that’s what makes the Olympics so compelling. “Everyone gets hooked on the drama because this only happens every four years,” says Hamilton. “It’s also the one time we set aside our differences, come together and celebrate the human spirit. I still can’t believe I got to be a part of it.”
Visit Parade.com/chen for a behind-thescenes video of the Olympians on ice plus Hamilton’s advice for Chen.